Need to re aquascape. Advice?

[Vilas]

We put in too much dead rock, now the tank is crowded and needs better placements for corals.

Put everything in buckets, remove it all, and redo? Should I expect an ammonia spike or anything? Do a water change at the same time?
Tank is about six weeks old now. Has had ammonia and nitrite at zero for five. Now houses four fish, of which two were intentional and quarantined, two were hitchikers. A flameback angel (1") a blue spotted shrimp goby (1.5") and two varied tidepool gobies. (Also small)
Have 50 lbs mature live rock, about 15 dead. Plenty of corals - zoas, mushrooms, a hammer, a kenya tree, a leather, and a pagoda/cup coral, star polyps, and a hh alveopora, all flourishing. Also have snails, hermits, an urchin and a cleaner shrimp.
Advice? Experiences? Caution? Flames? I have moved a tank across town a few times, I assume im on for similar. Or would you wait until the tank is a bit older?

[Whistl3r]

I recently did something similar, wanted to change out all the scape in an established tank.

I was working with a 210 so I siphoned out 40 gallons from my display into a brute, put in a heater, powerhead and then half my livestock. Then siphoned out another 40 gallons from the display into a second brute and put the last half of my livestock in there.

Left the tank about 1/2 full and rebuilt the scape with no livestock in the tank. It was more difficult than doing it empty but it also kept all my livestock and all my rock alive.

Doing it this way no I did not see any cycle at all and all my animals went back in once I was done. They lived in the brutes for 4 days, I was careful not to stir the sand excessively.

[Ztrain]

I got a new piece of rock however after getting it home and examining it closly I'm not sure I want to put it in a tank. A when wet it smells not bad but fairly strong, makes strange clicking noises(possibly water seeping in internal rock crevaces?), and has weird discolorations that I don't have on my other types of dry rock. What do you guy's think should I put it in a tank?

Z

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfWgv22Km4o

[shesacharmer]

Well it certainly doesn't look as though anything could be living in it. I'd give it a good soak in SW for a couple of weeks and see if anything changes.

[Ztrain]

Originally Posted by shesacharmer

Well it certainly doesn't look as though anything could be living in it. I'd give it a good soak in SW for a couple of weeks and see if anything changes.

Yeah it was on a fish stores shelf for dunno how long and sitting on one of mine for another month. I am concerned about the colorations or could that just be normal for whatever type of rock it is?