How to switch from Live Rock to CeramEco?

[MTWiley]

I'm terrible at aquascaping and stumbled onto CeramEco. I love the looks of their scapes, and decided to give it a try. I bought a piece for my 12 Gallon NanoCube and decided to give it a try. I setup the 12 G NC with nothing but the Cerameco and some Caribsea Special Grade Reef Sand to help buffer the water a bit. Cycled it with Stability and some live sand from my 29 Gallon Biocube.

I've had my smaller tank up and running with the Cerameco for about 2 months now and it seems to working out well so far. I've been moving my mushrooms and zoas over to the smaller tank for now and want to keep that just a small Mushroom & Zoa garden, but haven't decided what fish I'd like to put in there yet.

I've had a Biocube 29 up and running for about 9 months now with ~30-40 pounds of live rock in it. I've tried a few times but still can't arrange the rocks in a way that I like and always just wind up clouding up the tank when I move the rocks to the point that I can't see anything in it and thus can't scape it aat all let alone to my likings. After having messed with it more times than I can count I want to give up on trying to scape it and just replace the live rock for another piece from Cerameco which I think would look alot nicer. I'm wondering what would be the best way to make this switch in a tank that's already up and running?

[dc]

[moved]...

[MTWiley]

<i>This thread has been moved to the current forum.</i>...
This question isn't specific to Nano Reefs, Cerameco's Vida rock can be used in larger tanks as well.

[Jenna Ann]

Those "rocks" look interesting. Though, it would take far longer to cycle the tank I would guess and you wouldn't get the hitchhikers...good or bad.

[MTWiley]

Those "rocks" look interesting. Though, it would take far longer to cycle the tank I would guess and you wouldn't get the hitchhikers...good or bad.

Since my first experience with actual live rock was less than desirable and all I got for hitchhikers were the unpleasant kind(aiptasia, hair algae, and bristle works) I don't really feel like I'll be missing out on much.

[JasonBJones]

I would put the ceramic rock in another container with a couple of pieces of live rock for a few weeks. A rubbermaid container with a powerhead or two and a heater would be perfect. After I kept it in there for a few weeks or a month, I would put it into the tank and remove half of the rock. I would then wait another month and remove the rest of the rock you do not want. That should give it plenty of time to build up enough bacteria to handle the tank.

You might experience some algae bloom during the process, but that can be managed.

[MTWiley]

Any thoughts on using a product such as stability to help with the cycle? I've used it in fresh water in the past and had great success, but it also says that it's salt/reef safe as well.