[mocker]

Ok so i have a 37 gallon full reef tank that has been up with fish and LR since November 2007. In the next week or so i want to redo my sand bed and rock work. In the tank i have 2 clowns, a diamond goby, a sailfin tang, 3 peppermint shrimp, and a BTA. I have talked to the LFS and i have a really deep sand bed so all the sand below to surface is gray and they said it was de-oxygenized. They said that i should not tough the sand while their are fish in the tank. so my plan is to syphon of about 10 gallons into 2 rubbermaid containers. Put a few fish in each container and then mix the sand up.

My question is what should i do with the BTA cause he is no a really big rock that i don't want to move if i have to!

Also the LFS said that LR is to be stopped importing to the US any one know if this is true?

How long is the maxiun the fish can be in the containers. And can i put that water back in the tank.

[pogodzib]

Why do you want to touch your sand at this point? It sounds like you actually have a LFS that may have some idea as to what they are talking about. Congratulations. Most LFS don't. The lower areas of your can bed could contain anaerobic bacteria and gases that would get released if disturbed so it would be a good idea to remove ALL livestock, except your LR while you disturb the sand and for the next hour or two afterward for the sand to settle down some and the gases to get out of the water column.

I haven't heard anything about not being able to import LR into the US. There are several places around the world that restrict or don't allow harvesting it. If they did restrict importing LR into the US, they'd come up with some other means of getting LR into the aquarium industry, probably through aquacultured LR. I wouldn't be too worried about it. They've been talking about and making changes to LR importing and harvesting for many years. BTW - They are talking about restricting fish collection even more in Hawaii and other parts of the world, along with corals. Things like these happen all the time within the hobby and people always talk about how much it is going to affect the hobby, although it rarely does.

Fish can be held in containers for as long as you want as long as you have a way of oxygenating the water through an air pump or surface agitation and remove waste, through water changes or a skimmer. Our aquariums a essentially no more than a glass container.

[mocker]

I want to just redo the whole rock scape and the way it is now i you can see the bottom in one part cause of flow and pump placement.

[reefcouple]

you can take the rock with the BTA and put that in the bucket with your fish....

sometimes when i want to move my BTA i hold the rock over the tank (out of the water) and he will losen enough for me to peel him off. I have been doing that with him for 4 years and it has never been inured, or even bothered by me handeling it...

good luck tho...

I wouldnt mess with the sand either if you dont have to..... the sand is maturing to where it should be now, since its only been since november...

sounds like you have some work to do this wknd....