Need ideas on moving 75g tank from one room to another

[smokin reefer]

I currently have my 75g in the living room in front of my sliding glass doors. I am thinking about moving it into the bedroom. Anyone have any ideas on how to move it without taking all the LR and corals out.

 

[jdeets]

smokin'--here's my advice. Get a 12-pack and have some friends come over to help you. Get two of those Rubbermaid 36-gallon tubs. Drain the tank into the tubs and put some water in 5 gallon buckets for the corals. Put the fish and LR in the big tubs with a powerhead or two and heaters. Leave the substrate alone and try not to disturb it.

You and one friend pick up the tank, have two other friends move the stand and when you get it placed where you want it, put everything back in.

There's no way to safely move the tank with it filled up. The risk of overstressing and fracturing it by moving it when full is way too great. Just call in some friends and get some brews and be ready to spend 5-6 hours for the whole process.

(I've done this twice--once when I moved the 115 from the living room into the dining room, and once when I moved everything from the 115 in the dining room into the new 180 in the living room.)

It's not fun, but it's the only way to safely do it.

 

[smokin reefer]

Thanks jdeets for the quick response. I really like the idea about the cold beers. Thats what I thought I would have to do. Mabe ought to invent a mini-rollback so we all can move our tanks from one room to another without having to remove all the corals. Mabe about half of the water or so, thats all. Hmmm mabe a good idea, but may not sell to many. By the way, how much does 1gal. of salt water weigh?

 

[Anonymous]

I have a much easier 3 step process that will only take a few second:

1. Open mouth.
2. Insert gun.
3. Pull trigger.

 

[jdeets]

One gallon of pure water weighs 8 pounds. One gallon of salt water would be close to that--negligible difference for your purposes.

 

[Mickes]

I moved a 100g just to the other side of the room... Took over a case of beer... I drained about 80% of the water into trashcans, keeping enough water in the tank for the fish. I did remove the rock and corals from the tank. To move the tank, I put cardboard under the stand then slid the tank, stand, and cardboard over to the new local. It took just me and my wife, one pushing on the stand, and the other pulling the cardboard to move the tank around.

 

[Bobzarry]

A better option is get atleast a 180 put that in place then move everything into that.

oh yea and of course follow up with beer.


Bob

 

[Mickes]

I like Bob’s idea the best!!!

In the 100g tank I kept all the sand (aprox 300lbs), 4 in of water above the sand (aprox 20g), most of the corals, the fish and just the bottom layer of LR. The very large corals and Gorgonians went into 5g buckets. I didn’t want L/R falling all over the place, so most of that was removed. It was very easy to lift one end of the tank up to slide cardboard under, and really not bad sliding the tank across the room either. I think the whole process took about 4 hours…. And 3 of that were getting the rocks just right again.

As been mentioned, the tank takes a lot of stress while being moved with any water in it. I wouldn’t remove the tank from the stand with anything in it.. Case in point: knew someone moving a 55g tank about 4 foot, they took everything out of the tank except the sand and a small amount of water (5-10g). Two picked up the tank one moved the stand. Before they had time to put the tank back on the stand it started leaking. I think it was the uneven twisting of the bottom that did the tank in.

[ July 26, 2001: Message edited by: Mickes ]

 

[jethro]

Remove the roof from your house. Rent a crane. The company that you rent the crane from should have the necessary accessories to safely lift your completely filled tank from where it is and safely put it in your bedroom.

Only problem is that it will take a few days to remove and replace the roof. The crane operator will cost a few $ also.

 

[smokin reefer]

Mikes, I could do that with my 46g corner tank about half full of water without moving a thing. Those days are over. But that is kind of what I was brainstorming. Mabe drain out all the water but a few inches for the fish. Would the corals survive a small amount of time with mabe keeping them misted or something? Would the whole thing just be to damn heavy? Probaly so. Well add 110lbs. of LR, 175lbs. of HD sand, 6 inches of water( tank is 18inches tall, about 4 gal. a inch=24g.@ 8lbs. per gal.=192lbs.) Lets just say about 500lbs. is the total. Sounds like mabe to much to slide across the floor.

Louey, sounds like you have had a bad week. Hope it gets better, and hope you are just kidding. But this is defintaly NOT an option.

 

[smokin reefer]

Damn jethro, are you the real jethro from the beverly hillbillies.

Sounds like something he would do. Or mabe that is how you got you nick name, or real name, or hell I don't now.

 

[JohnD]

I have moved my 55 more times than I care to remember. I second James comments about removing the water to avoid stressing the tank. In all my moves I took out all but a gallon or 2 of the water.

Here is one of the most important points: cold beers are great, but only AFTER the move!!

Good luck on your move.