Re-scaping fairly new tank - RISKS?

[lunasedai]

Hi everyone, my first post here!


I’m new in the hobby and have set up my new aquarium late last year.
I bought the setup second hand with a with sand bag (last 3rd of the package) and many rocks that were left in the sun.
I’ve made a few mistakes that I only realised now.

#1 -- I used the final 1/3 of a sandbag and just put everything in the tank without rinsing it first. So now a have a lot of this very thin powder under the gravel and some areas of the tank, any movement makes the water a bit cloudy

#2 -- I regret the arrangement of the rocks, because there are too many areas with minimal light.


The tank is fairly new and I have added on average 2 corals a week after cycling.
I’m planning to re-do the aquascape and vacuum the bottom to remove the thin sand. Is it ok do these changes right now and then let the corals grow or should I wait for the tank to mature? I read that disturbing the sand could cause be harmful for the beneficial bacteria?

Tank:

• Tank was set-up October 2023 with dry sand and rock
• Cycled with the shrimp technique + Tim’s Bacteria bottle
• 50G + roller mat.
• A lot of the ceramic balls in my sump since day 1
• Refugium with chaeto was added this week.
• No ugly stage so far, some diatoms that was controlled by GFO. I got a second hand RODI so I think it isn’t working greatly. Plus the water in my city is known to have lots of silicates
• Livestock: 3 small fishes, and 15 corals frags LPS/SOFT, 3 snails, 1 peppermint shrimp
• Water parameters are under control, I’m having to use GFO a bit to remove the silica

 

[Macbalacano]

I’ve done this several times in the past. Only things to consider are the changes to flow and lighting because of the rocks being moved around and so it may impact your coral placement.

Also just watch out for any livestock that could be crushed (if any).

 

[Idech]

If you have never disturbed the sand in 3 months (at least every 6 weeks) and it’s 2-3 inches deep, you risk an ammonia spike that could kill some inhabitants if you disturb it all at once.

Proceed with caution, a little bit at a time. Maybe do it in 6 or 8 sections.

 

[lunasedai]

Thank you all

the sand is only 1/2 inch deep and I'm always disturbing it.

will perform the changes this weekend

 

[shakacuz]

Thank you all

the sand is only 1/2 inch deep and I'm always disturbing it.

will perform the changes this weekend

good luck! keep us posted of any changes

 

[CBonito]

Thank you all

the sand is only 1/2 inch deep and I'm always disturbing it.

will perform the changes this weekend

In a new tank, no need to overthink it. I did the same thing as you in that I added the sand after I added water and mixed salt in. It will eventually settle out. I vacuumed it out into one of the filter socks a few times and now it's negligible. You're eventually going to get more of it anyway, so it doesn't matter. It's not hurting anything.

 

[lunasedai]

It's done,

Took longer than I thought to vacuum all the fine powder through a filter socks as suggested.
Performed a 10-15% water change and still saw a bit of increase in nitrates and phosphates, probably detritus that were already in the sand.

I still have to glue the corals, still thinking where to fix them

thanks everyone

 

[shakacuz]

It's done,

Took longer than I thought to vacuum all the fine powder through a filter socks as suggested.
Performed a 10-15% water change and still saw a bit of increase in nitrates and phosphates, probably detritus that were already in the sand.

I still have to glue the corals, still thinking where to fix them

thanks everyone

beautiful scape. love it all

 

[Mikeltee]

Your fine man. Do whatever you want. If it was me, I would buy a large tub and take all of the rock and coral out and put it in it. I would then vacuum the sand until I was happy with the results. Just make sure your replacement water is up to temp and Salinity matched. I wouldn't leave my coral and rock out of the water for more than 15 minutes which is plenty of time to thoroughly vacuum the sand of a 1000 gal tank. I'd remove at minimum 50% of that water or whatever I had as replacement. After vacuuming, I'd fill the tank 3/4 of the way and then rescape. Draw sketch of what you want. Depending on the amount t of coral, I'd put them on magnetic frag racks until I was happy with the scape. You probably aren't going to get it right the first time and the water will be super cloudy. Make sure the rock isn't on the sandbed. You want it on the bottom glass. It took me a week after 5 rescapes before I was happy.