tips for aquascaping?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by ProPs

should i do it like this
ie.
syphon some water off
remove corals n place 'em n containers
take rocks out
catch em fish
take sand out

Basically, that is what I did. I siphoned enough to half fill a 75g tank and then placed corals in it. When I ran out of room, I half filled a 40g and added the remainder of the corals to it. I took a heater from the main tank and added it to the 75. I added a 50w heater to the 40. Both had power heads.
I then removed the rock and filled 4 rubbermaid tubs. I topped these off with the rest of the water (after removing fish to 75g).
The rock had no heat or circulation.
I removed the sand from the tank and disposed of it.
I went to bed.
The next morning I added one bag of sand to the tank and started to replace rock. After building the basic structure of rock, I started pumping tank water back in the tank.
Realized I had a serious milk problem and couldn't see a thing in the tank.

I started to add corals back to the main tank becuase I needed the water they were in. (from the 40)
I knew I needed to get the pumps,heaters and skimmer running, but still didn't have enough water to fire the system.
I had only made about 15g of new water (biggest mistake).
I added corals back from the 75, which BTW had a failed heater and was now about 72 degrees, and pumped back some of that water. I was able to make another 20g of new water and add that also.
When I finally got the system running, I couldn't see 2 inches into the tank. I had placed the larger corals back in by feeling for bare spots. This left about 6 inches of water in the 75 with all the smaller colonies.
By 1am Sunday morning(I started 8pm Friday) I had all the corals back in heated running water. Some were in the sump, but they were back in the system.
Next morning I noticed a lot of tissue loss on some of the pieces, mostly the milliporas. I had lost all but a 3/4" frag from a nice blue stag, my green table was 50% gone, a yellow stag is mostly gone, I lost 2 shrimp and my anthias.
It looks like things have stabalized now.
The lesson here is to plan on every conceivable problem and be prepared for it. Oh, and make a lot of spare water. If you don't use it, you can save it for your next water change.