Removing rock to rescape

[Murphs_Reef]

Morning,

I am really keen on removing my live rock to both secure it better and to rescape, my first attempt was poor.

If I decide to, what's the best approach? Can I remove my live rock for a period in time from the water without killing Coraline algae etc? If so how long can I remove rock from the water? Seconds, Minutes, Hours?

 

Thanks

[Jellyingabout]

10 or 15 minutes won't do it any harm as long as its damp, after that you may have a small amount of dye off but nothing noticeable until about an hour. Again this is only as long as it is damp. if its not kept damp it will die very quickly.

 

Get a bucket fill it with tank water, with some fresh SW mix on the side as you will no doubt loose some and foul whats in the bucket. Put the LR your working on in their, when you make you cuts etc remove the pieces from the bucket and spray them with tank water as you work on them, as soon as your done get them back in the bucket.

 

Drilling holes and using cable ties can work well if you need it to be really strong. Don't go over board with the putty, it can quickly strip the water of O2 and kill the tank off in a rescape.

 

Its not coraline that you don't want dying, its the bacteria and critters.

[Murphs_Reef]

Many thanks. I only need to remove a few key rocks as some I am happy with, Tonga branches are all I really want to move as they are kinda balanced against the java rock, not good when the hermits start crawling around over them...