Any Ideas

[dsfdbutterfly]

We are in the process of ripping out our carpet and placing hardwood flooring down. My problem is moving the tank and keeping everyone happy while doing this. I'm thinking of buying a huge rubbermaid container and when they finish in one area place it there with a heater, pump some rock and the fish so we can move the tank. Has anyone had to move their tank? It's a 125 gal so it's no light task. More than likely they will have to stay this way for about 12 hours while they work in the area where the tank is. Any ideas of how to keep everyone happy and as calm as possible is much appreciated.

[perpetual98]

That's about your best option. Maybe put the liverock in one large tub and the inhabitants in another large tub. You might also want to do something with the live sand, or get a LOT of people to help you move it.

If you have a fairly deep sand bed, it might be best to not distrub it though. you can probably expect some sort of cycle when you get it set back up again.

[graphixx]

your on the right track. and like eric said you will see a spike in your parameters just from the die off you will get int he sand, but nothing to worry about just be carefull moving that monster!!!

[dsfdbutterfly]

Thank goodness for this tank it is a fish only no LR or LS. I was hoping not to disturb the sand or rock in the tank however. I was going to get a few guys from the department to come move the tank with half the water in it. Hopefully they will be able to lift some weight :) I have two filters on the tank now and I was going to keep one on the tank running and put one with the fish and some rock so that they can hide and feel safe. I also have extra equipment to keep each tank heated so that everything stays about the same. I'm hoping this will keep the impact as low as possible. I was just wondering if anyone else had ever had to do this. Since I'm just cycling my 30 gal reef me and my husband can move that and keep it intact.

[perpetual98]

You're going to probably want to remove more water than that. Figure water as weighing 8 pounds or so per gallon, so if you left 60 gallons in the tank, it's going to weigh a LOT. The tank itself added with the sand alone will probably require several burly men to move, let alone the weight of any water you keep in it.

[dsfdbutterfly]

I could remove as much water as needed to move the tank. The thing I'm worried about is keeping the water warm and cycling so that I don't have spikes or cool off. I don't want extra hours spent in trying to get the water warmed back up or to give it a chance to run through the filter a couple of times. Maybe if I dump out the water and put it back in once we move the tank and repeat the process once they are done but again this will slow the process of getting the fish back into the tank. I could be making a bigger deal out of this than what it is but I LOVE my fish and don't want to lose any considering I've had good luck with the ones I've got.

[reefgeek]

Heres something you might want to consider when you get the tank back in place, or before you put the tank back in place. Go to Walmart, and get yourself a polypropylene plastic cutting board (the slippery white ones). Cut strips to fit approximately 1' foot on center of your base, or closer if your more comfortable with that. Make the strips about 1.25 inches wide. Place your stand on top of these, and this will allow you to move ontop of the hardwood very easily with only having to drain about 1/2 of your water out if you ever had to move it again. It also provides an air gap for the hardwood if you should ever have a leak, it wont get under the wood, and you can get to the water with a shop vac. I did this to mine, and I can move a 70 gal with 30 gal sump 150 # of LR, and 3" of sand bed by myself when the tank is 1/2 empty. Slides like ice on the wood.

RG

[dsfdbutterfly]

Thanks for the idea. I will get those cut right away cuz the worst thing would be to have a leak and ruin this new floor that I'm working so hard to put in. Has anyone ever tried those things that are suppose to help move heavy furniture? You put them under it and your suppose to be able to move stuff easier. I'm wondering if we can scoot these under each corner while people are lifting and then push if we can move less water out of the tank. I'll certainly let everyone know if it's a success or a disaster. Things to do or never to try you know.

[reefgeek]

I thought about those before I did this. I dont know how thick those are. I mostly did this because it allowed a 1/2" gap on the base to allow me to get to the H20 if it leaked. I did this becaue I lost siphon in my overflow, and I had a leak. only about 2 gals, but it got under the tank, and I said thats it I need to do something so that wont happen again.

goodluck, and enjoy your new floor.

PS.... It looks like I need to clean under the tank, as I saw an errant cheerio there from the 2 year old.

RG

[KG]

That's a whole lotta tank and a whole lotta water. I think you have the right plan for your critters, but I'd completely drain the tank. Not only for weight, but to prevent stress on the tank as well. Good luck!

KG

[dakar]

Reefgeed, kudo's for the idea for making an easy way to move the tank, however are those strips under the stand while the tank is full (I guess I mean all the time) ?

From a structural point of view I'm not so sure that's a great plan, most prefab stands are design to handle little more than the weight of the tank and water weight (+some percentage mandated by some regulation or another), however that weight is expected to be distributed across the entire base of the stand, not just areas of it. Compare it to a partial foundation for a house... the load bearing surfaces only have a fraction of the designed surface to dissipate the load.

[Whoyah]

I think the strips are probably OK. If you think about it most heavy furniture (refrigerators, washing mashing, coaches, gun safes) all seat on very small feet. As along they are even shaped and the stand is sturdy I think you would be OK.

A couple things to consider is that weight is now focused on a much smalled area which may dent the floor. Also I would pretty hesitant to move a full tank on the strips as mentioned. I would be afraid the stand would slip off one strip tipping everything which could be a disaster. Just my two cents.

[dsfdbutterfly]

I want to thank everyone for their input. We successfully drained the tank with the fish in a 54 gal. tub. After it was drained we lifted one end and pushed a blanket under it and continued until it was all the way under. Then slid it across the floor and back (no problems or scratches either). I have everyone back in the tank and seem to have lost only one crab (who I think was already on his way out). The biggest problem was heating the tank back up before I put the fish back in which took 4ever! The blanket worked great though and saved the back. We moved it with two people that way. Our walmart is retarded (who's isn't though) so I couldn't use the cutting board because they didn't have ones big enough that they would fit and I didn't have the time to glue and make them work. Great idea though and when I upgrade (my husband doesn't know) I will look more closely at them.

Thanks again,

Angie