Fmxmatt

its alright if I need to move any rock out as all of the smaller pieces are on the top of the pile. Midway through next year I plan on getting a 4ft tank with sump so everything will change again anyway

I syphon the sand about once a week with my water changes, but to be honest most of that just turns over and bugger all gets syphoned up. I dont find it too much of an issue if I can keep my PO4 down. I also scrub the front glass daily with an algae scrubber, because I"ll often get home from work to find a fine layer of brown algae on the glass. Got a pic of your tank jolliolli?

Nah its all in there

Yep process went well. Took just over an hour though so dont wanna go doing that again in a hurry

Before shot And actually reef, I believe the UV sterilizer HAS infact made a difference to the whitespot

Righto its all done. Very very simple aquascape... well more like a pile of rocks and corals placed where they would fit at this stage. I like it to be honest, not sure if I like it more than the cove setup, or whether the change makes it good, but I do like it Tiny bit concerned that my brittlestar may be trapped. It was hidden in a large piece of rock which I've positioned in a way that it should be able to escape from. Guess I'll just have to keep an eye out? Few interesting moments during the move. First was when I was attempting to move the torch coral which the Clownfish had taken posession of. While I was trying to make the polyps retract, 1 of the clown fish made a suicide dive right out of the tank and nailed me right between the eyes. Scared the living sh*t out of me! Second was the blenny. God he's a character! He had hidden himself in a piece of rock. I noticed and started moving other rocks and was planning on leaving the rock with him in it inside the tank. Next thing I know, he's swimming around inside the tub which had the liverock in it. I didn't think he'd be stupid enough to hitch hike again, but he did it as the rock went back into the tank aswel! Now i've just noticed him hiding inside my UV sterilizer output (its off at the mo) So yeah, all good and only concern is the brittlestar being stuck. Oh and to those who read about the Blue Tang wiht the whitespot.... it was the only fish that I COULDNT catch in the tank even with all of the liverock removed! LOL

I'd like to take squiggy, but because my 2 cleaners are big wusses, I think it could end up as a repeat of what happened to you

Along with more brittlestars and shrimps (I popped in yesterday)

Bloody good actually. Popped home just before, and despite the tank being dirty as cuz I haven't been home to scrub algae all week, the whitespot is only just visible on the Tang!

You make it sound like its going to end in disaster wilson!

Friday Morning is the plan all going well. Kinda looking forward to it

Its a Bicolour Blenny Wee character haha Theres a good spot for the shrimp to hide under the filter box where they can't get crushed. I'll be extra careful anyways And if the unthinkable does happen, i'll sulk for a week then come on here and have a cry about it

Hmm might go get the biggest net that John has for sale. I've got a decent sized one already but 2 probably helps. Got Friday morning off cuz of a mates wedding, so if I stop swearing until then I should be all good for swearing my head off haha

You'd think that, somehow I'm not sure its gunna be that easy :-? I'd rather my firegoby hid under the filterbox than try a suicide jump from the tank while i'm chasing him round with the net

Well I was just thinking I could probably leave the shrimp in the tank because they'll take refuge underneith the filter box and be out of the way of everything. Might just play it by ear, and put what fish I can catch easily in the bucket, and the ones who dont wanna be caught, just leave them in there because chasing them round the tank with the net is probably more stressful than just leaving them in the tank?

They're hardy enough tho aren't they? Was it you Conch who said Marine fish are hardier than freshwater?

Will there be bullying if they're all in the same bucket? Also, whats the best way to remove the cleaner shrimp? I dont wanna net them and damage them

Thats another concern, the fish & inverts while I'm doing it. It "should" only take 30 mins to pull the rock out, have a quick clean of the sand, then put it back in. I am at the point that if I add anything else, I'm basically committed and it would be too risky to change anything. I should probably keep a couple of bits of rock in the tank for the fish to hide behind while I do it? I've got the bit underneith the "factory" filterbox, but once you put 7 fish and 2 shrimp under it, it may be a bit crowded. Although thinking about it, the clowns wont give a shit and will just be concerned about where I'm putting their torch coral i'd imagine, and the blenny will just spend the time biting my hand like he always does haha

I should probably add some details about the bioload 350 Litre Tank 7 Fish (Largest about 3 inches) 2 Cleaner Shrimp 1 Brittlestar Tons of snails Running Deltec MCE600

Hey all So i've decided I want to re aquascape and scrap the whole "cove" setup as I'm having problems with coral placement, current flows, and accessing areas to clean that have diatoms/cyno algae because I use dirty Christchurch tap water (I put that in there for you reef . I'm thinking of something alot more simpler. Have done a bit of googling on aquascaping and am reading alot of "less is more" in respect to liverock. At the moment i've got HEAPS in the tank, thinking that this would be better in providing more biological filtration, but after all the reading, it would seem that this isn't always the case? What i'm thinking of at the moment is having less liverock than I currently have, unless of course my new idea requires more rock than I anticipate. What i'm concerned about though, is that if I remove liverock, I am changing the "balance" of bio filtration. Would it be wise to keep any "excess" liverock in the tank and remove it slowly, giving the whole tank time to build up the good bacteria? Or will it not matter a whole lot? From what I can tell, i'll be using 70 - 80% of my current liverock, with approx 20 - 30% being removed. Tank has had its current load for about 4 months (with the addition of a blenny not so long ago). I also got some what I'd call "mature" liverock from someone who broke their tank down. What do you people think? Cheers

No fair! Mine just hides!!!

Aww you have to put it in a bigger tank with a goby. Does anyone here have the goby/pistol shrimp alliance going on?

If its the same as the one I got from Organism (I'm assuming it is) then its the banded brittlestar. I dont think mine has eaten any coral yet, although there were a couple of hours of concern when I couldn't find my pregnant cleaner shrimp

jolli, thats the reason I didnt' take them. I'd LOVE to have both in my tank, but I was worried that they might starve. My next tank is gunna be twice the size of the one i've got now, so maybe then i'll be able to (months away tho)

Are you looking at the 2 awesome ones that John has? Wish I could have them