Downside to big tanks.. how to move them around the house?

[CountZero]

Well, I just found the downside to large tanks... My Girl wants to paint the dining (AKA Fish) room... unfortunatly thats where my 120Gal reef and 55 Gal FO tank are located.... She also wants to replace the carpet with a pergo (sic) flooring... Now, is there any easy way to move this stuff around or should I just tell her that white walls and old carpet look great in the dining room?

Thanks,
Zero

 

[Biggen]

It will have to be drained so that it could be moved. Sorry... There is just no way to move a tank that size with it being full of water, substrate, livestock, etc...

FYI, in a 120 gallon tank, you probably have ~100 gallons of water in it. That is 850lbs alone just in water weight.



I guess you could carpet around the tank. If you were careful (and good) one wouldn't even know that it has old carpet under the stand. You can paint around the tank as well. Just don't drip any into it...

 

[Calvin]

I recently faced the same situation when I had to pull my tank off teh wall. I drained as much as I could and used a 2x4x8 as a lever and pushed it away from the wall. It slid very easily. Just be careful to go slow and not jerk if you go this route. I did the same thing to get it back into place. As a matter of fact, I move it back with it full of water and a new new 20 gal sump below.

HTH

 

[robertmarda]

It will be simpler to leave the tanks in place if you can. Unless redoing the floor will only take a day you are going to have to set up the tanks in another room and then move them again if you want them back in the dining room. Same with the painting, unless it only takes a day then you will have to relocate them to another room and back again.

You may want to move them permanently to another room, one that won't get remodelled any time soon.

 

[Bearfan]

You would absolutly be able to tell, btw. Pergo is thin enough you'd see the carpet edge under the tank. You also need to be careful about paint fumes, as they can be water soluble and poison your tank. Don't suppose you can afford another tank and stand to transfer to ? That sucks. I wish I had some advice, but it just sucks.

 

[Biggen]

I was thinking that he could use those rubber strips that join the edge of vinyl to carpet. If the strip was layed correctly, it would look like you have a floor cut just for the tank. I actually think it would look good.

 

[loganj]

Friends. Friends who are willing to risk a hernia. Seriously, don't try to move it by yourself. Drain as much of the water as you can. Save as much of it as you can...Rubbermaid tubs are cheap. Move the tank and pump the water back in. It's a big job no matter how you do it. The 55 can probably be picked up and moved by 4 guys with a little water in it. The 120, I think you'll have to carefully scoot it along the floor to move it. At least 4 guys for that job...6 would be better. If you're going to put down Pergo, you might be able to just move it to the center of the room. Floor the part of the room where the tank was and then move the tank back into it's postion so you can continue installing the new floor. Just a thought. Good ventilation and covering the tank with plastic should protect it from the paint. If you're using latex based paint, I don't think it will be a big issue. If you're using an oil based paint, I think there is a lot of potential for disaster concerning the tank. JMHO.

 

[Biggen]

What about using a product like Purigen to help rid the tank of fumes and DOC's from the paint? That is what I will be using when we paint our floor in a few months.

 

[loganj]

I really don't know if Purigen would handle that or not. The oil based paint has some nasty fumes and I would want to protect the tank if at all possible from them. How to effectively do that I'm not really sure. Perhaps wrap the tank up tightly in plastic and, using some dryer flex, vent it out a window? Not really sure. This is a constructive bunch on this site and I'm sure someone has a good solution though. I'm too lazy to paint anyway .

 

[Biggen]

Well I sure hope Purigen works for my sake because I am betting the life of my tank on it in a few months. I am going to call up Seachem tomorrow and see if I can talk to someone who can give me a good answer about this.

 

[An t-iasg]

I only have a 5.5 gallon betta tank (for now )

We recently painted the ceiling of the room that my betta tank is in. We covered the tank, but didn't move it. We used low-odor paint from Sherwin Williams, called Harmony. It covered nicely and dried quickly. I hate paint fumes, but when I use this I'm ok with it, and my betta was fine too. A lot of paint brands now have a low-odor line. The Harmony can said zero VOC's.

 

[fishfreek]

Just to reiderate what was said. NEVER try to move a tank full of water. Even a small 10gal tank while its possible to physically move it the risk it to great that you could damage the tank by the shifting water causing possible harm to you.

Im not sure if I would avocate pushing the stand with the tank on it as the comercial stands you buy might be designed to support the weight of the tank they are not designed to have lateral pressure applied to them at the same time.

If the tank needs to be moved 5' or 500 miles the safest thing is to take the tank totally apart and move it and then put it back together. Do your work and when everything is finished you have to repeat the process.

 

[cj10488]

the safest thing is to take the tank totally apart and move it and then put it back together. Do your work and when everything is finished you have to repeat the process.

I highly Agree with this statement.. Doing the extra few hours worth of work is alot better that a few days worth of work trying to replaced the floor because 200g+ is spilled all over it.. Not to mention the fact of replacement costs if one or more broke.. I have a small 55g in the living room and had to move it an " away from the wall.. I drained it halfway and was able to pick the stand up and move it the inch that it needed to be... I was tempted to drain and empty the tank just to move it an Inch..

MHO,
James

 

[Biggen]

Well I called Seachem and asked if Purigen would be good for removing paint fumes from the water. The lady told me that Hypersorb would be a better product to use since purigen only removes organics from the water while hypersorb pull out a lot of other "stuff".

I guess I will buy some Hypersorb as well and use them both when we decide to paint and hope for the best.

 

[HoopsGuru]

I just moved, and taking the tank down sounds much harder than it is, and I had to go with a 120g and 55g down a flight of stairs :? .

Rubbermaid containers are your best short term friend, they are only like $5 for up to 40g containers. I placed everything in its own one: a bunch had as much water as feasible, two had fish, a few had LR, freshly mixed water, etc. When I got to my new place I just set everything back up and pumped the water back in. Just moving around your house you should not really even have any dieoff from the substrate drying, etc.

Just a note, if you try to move any tank with even a small amount of stuff in it (sand, rock, water), I would suggest placing the tank on plywood for support and to evenly distribute the weight.