Moving Tank!

[Eric Noa]

I have a question for people that have done something similar to this before. At this moment I have a 65g tank setup in my living room, its been up for a year now and I have decided to upgrade to a 220g tank and unfortunately that only place I can put it is where my 65g tank is right now. I wanted to know if there is any possible way that I would able to lift my stand with tank and everything in it (water, rocks, sand, fish, etc) and move it to another part of the house while the 220g tank is being setup. (I could probably take some water out to decrease the weight and then just put it back in)

I was thinking I could maybe screw some pieces of 2x4's to the sides of the stand and then use some sort of jack to raise the tank and insert two heavy duty Dolly's so that I can carefully move the tank from where its currently at. The tank will probably have to be lifted about 4 to 6 inches from the floor in order to insert the dolly. Would this be possible? Do you guys have any other better ideas?

I want to do this because I want the new tank to cycle properly before transferring all my livestock to the tank.

Here is a picture of the tank before it was setup.

 

[Dakwan]

I personally think it would be a disaster waiting to happen. If i were you i would get the new tank set up right next to it.. with those little pad things all along the bottom of the stand so you can just slide it into place. Move all your live rock and live stock and water over. Move the old tank and slide the new tank into place (which you should be able to do without ruining your tile because of the felt pads you put on the the bottom) and add fresh salt water to bring it up to a high enough level so rock and stuff isn't sticking out of the water.

Then buy new sand and rinse it super well and just add it after the fact. Keep adding more salt water day by day until the tank is full (it's super hard to make like 200 gallons of salt water at once).

And then when you add more rock just use base rock so you dont have to worry about a cycle or if you want more live rock then just cycle it in your old tank or a rubbermaid in the garage

 

[Bifferwine]

There's no way to move that. Your tank, water and rock weigh approximately 10 lbs per gallon. It would weigh 700 lbs. Even if you found some way to move 700 lbs, all that weight would shift as soon as you moved it. You'd just be asking for the seams to bust or the glass to break.

Many of us have moved tanks without a problem. When I upgraded my 55 to my 240, I put my 240 in the same spot that the 55 was in. Have enough water for the new tank made up and ready to go. Then move the contents of the old tank into 5 gallon buckets, get the new tank in place, fill it up with new water, and put the rocks, sand and animals back in it.

 

[PRC]

Don't do it.

 

[Tetra1]

I would take your live rock out and wrap it up in some newspaper soaked in saltwater with a minimal amount of your tank water in a rubbermaid tub, then I would personally take the water out and transfer it via barrels or buckets, as far as your livestock goes I would transfer them as you would in buckets with some of your tank water as well. If you try to do it any other way it will be a mess and a very huge risk. I am in the process of doing the very same thing right now and we are taking all precautions. Please take all precautions because it would be sad if anything happened to all of your original hard work. Good luck!

 

[Eric Noa]

Thank you guys for the suggestions. I think I'll just have to do it "hard" but safer way out all other possible ways of doing this, it suck to have a years worth of work and money all over my living room.... :'(

 

[d2mini]

Ya, i would just get some rubbermaid tubs to hold the rock, sand and corals and cover all that with water. Then empty the rest of the water from the tank, move the tank, set the new one in place and get everything back in. Keep the corals out for as long as you can while the dust settles. Throw a powerhead in the tub if you need to.

 

[Eric Noa]

Thanks Dennis that is the best route to take.