Moving my tank

What are your thoughts about the best way to move a functioning 55 gallon reef tank? I have to move it out of the living room while the hardwoods are getting refinished. My thoughts are to drain 75% of the water, keeping all rock and corals below the water line and then have 4 people pick it up and move it temporarily into the kitchen. Will this work or will it put undo stress on the glass causing it to break? or is there a better way? Perhaps putting on a rolling cart or something? Gotta do this on Monday. Any help appreciated. Thanks

 

salt water weighs 8.6 lbs per gallon, i would think your best bet is to have the hard wood laid down with the tank in the room and then after it reaches the tank move it to where the hard wood is down minimal move is best. what type of coral do you have? sps corals can be out of the water for a little so you could drain the water down to where the fish have water.

 

If your floors are getting a finish, watch for dust/ overspray/fumes and such. If you can put a dolly under it and move it with just a partial water reduction, that might be the easiest way. Just my $.02!

 

I just have some mushrooms and polyps right now, mostly just fish and rock

 

You could drain 75% of the water maybe a bit more into large buckets, and then put the rock in the buckets as long as they stay wet, they will be ok but really depends on how long you plan on having them there, once you move the tank you could put the rock back in the tank in the meantime until you need to move it again, will make the tank lighter that way and easier to move...

 

I would remove all the live rock and as much of your water as you can. Place the live rock, fish and shrooms in a bucket or tub with some of the water that you removed from your tank(not all of it) as this will reduce the water quality due to respiration and other chemical processes involved by the live rock and its inhabitants.
I would put a power head in the tub with the live rock and heater as well to help aerate and maintain a stable temperature. The tub housing the live rock and livestock should be moved far from where the work is being done on the floor refinishing to avoid introducing fumes and dust to the water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By removing the water fish and live rock, you will have an easier time moving the tank as well as placing less stress on the tank!
Good luck!

 

I would not attempt to move the tank with even 25% of the water in it I think you would be putting too much stress in the glass and silicone. I would just transfer everything into another temporary container with just a power head and heater and the tank water it should be fine for a couple days so you can refinish the floors. I think it will be good to get everything as far away from the fumes as possible. You could probably leave the sand in but you will have bacteria die off in anything you leave in the tank.

 

I once tried to move a friend's 55g with some water in it... once.

Let's just say that since it was my suggestion, I was the one who got to spring for the new tank.

 

I would not move it with any water in the tank. Even if you leave 25% of your water, it will still weigh close to 140lbs of water. Then add on top of that the sand and rock, not to mention the weight of the glass itself. You might be trying to safely move 300lbs of tank, which really isn't possible since swaying water will be changing the weight distribution.
That aside, I 150% agree with bbsbliss on being careful with dust and fumes. I suffered this personally when I had my house restored/remodeled. Paint overspray got into my tank when the contractors neglected to seal off the room my tanks were in and wiped out my tank. To this day, 5 years later, my tank still cannot hold life in it due to chemical and bacterial problems caused by that. Use my personal experience as warning, make sure you cover every base before you have any work done.

 

Here's how it went. Removed approx 75% of water, saving some of it in 5 gallon water jugs. Moved live rock onto sandbed to keep in submerged in the water. Moved fish to buckets. I then (with help from friend) slid the tank off the stand onto a rolling trolly, which I then carefully rolled into the kitchen. We then moved the stand and replaced the tank on the stand in it's new temporary spot. I will then repeat this process next week when it is time to move the tank back to it's original spot. :2thumbsup