Replacing live rock with reef ceramics

[Miguel B]

Hi,

I`m going to replace my ALL my live rock (18kg) in my 90 gal with two big rock structures custom made with reef ceramics. The tank is 8 month old and has a aprox 2 inch sand bed corals and fish.

Is this a big problem for the tank and its inhabitants or is it ok as there is no dead mater as in uncured live rock?

How is the best way to do this?

Thanks

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

If you're going to do that without having bacteria colonies established on the new structure beforehand, you'll be at a very high risk of the tank crashing. You would have to treat the ceramic structure like its dry rock by letting cure long enough in a seperate container of saltwater and an ammonia source. Even then, its a big gamble to pull all your LR and toss in the new structure all at once. The best bet would be to cure it, and replace small portions of the rock over a period of time, waiting a couple/ few weeks in between to allow the bacteria colonies to catch up before replacing more. What makes you want to do this? I'm not sure the risk is worth the reward.

[Original Fin]

Right on with with everything FoMoCoTech said, assuming the live rock is your only source of biofiltration. If you're running a hybrid of rock and bio-balls like I've seen in some fish only tanks, the system might be a bit less sensitive to the swap. It should still be done in stages though.

Most people go with ceramics for two reasons...either to get a customized out of the box aquascape that would be difficult to duplicate with live rock, or they do it when starting a new tank to avoid the unwanted hitch-hikers and organic die off that often come with live rock. It can dump a lot of nutrients into the tank, which very often causes significant algae blooms. Using dry rock, or ceramics, and then seeding/curing them supposedly has the advantage of lighter algae blooms after the cycle. Swapping live rock for ceramic in an established tank sort of defeats that purpose, so I'm curious why you want to do this in the first place?


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[Reefing Madness]

If you're going to do that without having bacteria colonies established on the new structure beforehand, you'll be at a very high risk of the tank crashing. You would have to treat the ceramic structure like its dry rock by letting cure long enough in a seperate container of saltwater and an ammonia source. Even then, its a big gamble to pull all your LR and toss in the new structure all at once. The best bet would be to cure it, and replace small portions of the rock over a period of time, waiting a couple/ few weeks in between to allow the bacteria colonies to catch up before replacing more. What makes you want to do this? I'm not sure the risk is worth the reward.

Most definately. Remember that your current Live Rock is your water filter, its full of bacteria and other critters that are filtering your water.

[Miguel B]

Right on with with everything FoMoCoTech said, assuming the live rock is your only source of biofiltration. If you're running a hybrid of rock and bio-balls like I've seen in some fish only tanks, the system might be a bit less sensitive to the swap. It should still be done in stages though.

Most people go with ceramics for two reasons...either to get a customized out of the box aquascape that would be difficult to duplicate with live rock, or they do it when starting a new tank to avoid the unwanted hitch-hikers and organic die off that often come with live rock. It can dump a lot of nutrients into the tank, which very often causes significant algae blooms. Using dry rock, or ceramics, and then seeding/curing them supposedly has the advantage of lighter algae blooms after the cycle. Swapping live rock for ceramic in an established tank sort of defeats that purpose, so I'm curious why you want to do this in the first place?


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I need to do this because I have a very poor layout. I only have about 39 lbs of LR in my 90 gallon and have no place for placing corals. The customized out of the box aquascape that would be difficult to duplicate with live rock idea was what made me get these custom made ceramics for my tank.

IS there any way I can do this exchange without risking the entire tank?

[Original Fin]

What do you have for livestock in that tank? The amount of rock you have in there now, should only be capable of supporting a couple small fish. The live sand adds a bit more biofiltration capacity, but not a lot. Do you have any other type of biomedia; i.e., bioballs, filter floss, etc...?Does the manufacturer of the ceramic structures give any idea as to what their biofiltration capacity is? How much do your two structures weigh? Do you know if it's comparable to live rock kilo per kilo/ lb per lb?

[Miguel B]

What do you have for livestock in that tank? The amount of rock you have in there now, should only be capable of supporting a couple small fish. The live sand adds a bit more biofiltration capacity, but not a lot. Do you have any other type of biomedia; i.e., bioballs, filter floss, etc...?Does the manufacturer of the ceramic structures give any idea as to what their biofiltration capacity is? How much do your two structures weigh? Do you know if it's comparable to live rock kilo per kilo/ lb per lb?

Livestock:

Powder blue tang (medium size)
Tomini tang (medium size)
Geniacanthus Bellus angel (medium size)
Paracentropyge Multifasciatus ( small\medium)
Royal Gamma
Six line wrasse
Halichoeres trispilus
Neon gobie (couple)

20 cerith
10 Astreas
10 Bumblebee
2 conch (strombus spp)
mitrax crab

Clavularia
Caulastrea
Turbinaria
Euphyllia
Fungia
Lobophyllia ( x2 )
Scolymia ( x3 )
Montipora digitata
Seriatopora hystrix
seriatopora caliendrum
gorgonian (x2)

Added to the Live rock (18kg) I have a 1.6inch sand bed.
I use a Probiotic filtration method with Prodibio products: Biodigest and bioptim dosed together every 14 days.
Use a Mini BK 160 protein skimmer

Water parameters:

No2 - 0

No3 - < 5

Po4 - 0

[Miguel B]

Does the manufacturer of the ceramic structures give any idea as to what their biofiltration capacity is? How much do your two structures weigh? Do you know if it's comparable to live rock kilo per kilo/ lb per lb?

From what I understand the reef ceramics are colonised with bateria the same way rock does. they are light weighted compared to most rock but are very porous. I think this means that area is more inportant than weight in this case as bigger the area more bacteria can settle and colonise the material.

Compared to the rock area I have at the moment the new ceramics are much bigguer.

[Reefing Madness]

I need to do this because I have a very poor layout. I only have about 39 lbs of LR in my 90 gallon and have no place for placing corals. The customized out of the box aquascape that would be difficult to duplicate with live rock idea was what made me get these custom made ceramics for my tank.

IS there any way I can do this exchange without risking the entire tank?

Either cure the Rock before you put it in, or put it in alittle at a time with current setup. May look like crap, but it will keep your tank from cycling and killing off your live stock. But curing the rock is only part of it, because your current LR has a ton of beneficials in them to keep filtering the water. Absolute best bet is to put it in with your current setup and let it get seeded a couple of months before removing the other rock.