almost done stand but now what?

[nightfire]

hey guys i know i know lol im almost done with my stand build....i was gonna just paint it black, but now im gonna stain it and thought i would of been done, but i thought i'd put my electrical know how into place and put outlets and switches to it as well......was only gonna have one panel in the front for access, but now i have 3.....anyways my question is....when im ready to place my tank off its current stand onto the newly built one, how do i go bout that? should i drain the tank down to a very little ammount of water enough for the 3 fish to be in, try to catch the fish and put them into a temp. home til it's all done.....what about the rock.....leave 50ish lbs of rock in there while me and a friend move it onto the new stand or remove all the rock so while there is no water in there,there wont be any die off.....all thoughts are very welcomed being that i dont know how i will tackle this....thanks guys/gals

 

[poolkeeper1]

Lifting a Empty tank with Rock inside is living on the Edge as Glass is not made to hold weight in that way! You would be wise to just drain the tank and put the Rock in a Bucket until you move it. The most important thing is to not disturb the Sandbed as much as possible as you will stir up a bunch of Nitrate and Ammonia will Spike causing a Cycle again that could kill your fish!
Bill

 

[nightfire]

yea that makes sence....soooo take the rock and corals out and leave the fish and some water then.....or so i maybe go fishing too? lol

 

[NeveSSL]

What size tank is this?

If its anything over 29g, I would take EVERYTHING out down to the sandbed. Put everything in buckets. It will be fine.

There's no reason to leave stuff in the tank. You will pull a muscle. Tanks with water are HEAVY and when that water shifts because you lean one side too far, someone may very well drop it.

Take it all out except the sand. And as Bill mentioned, be careful not to disturb it or you will kill everything. Unless you just go ahead and replace it while you're doing this, which also isn't a bad idea.

Is your stand a rim only (supporting the aquarium around all of the edges) or does it have a full surface on top? If its rim only, you better make sure its perfect! If its not, you will have a broken tank. There's someone in the club I know whose dad experienced this with a cichlid tank. I think it was 1/8" off or less and it busted within a week I believe. Not fun to clean up.

Brandon

 

[nightfire]

it have a 1/2 or bigger i cant remember plywood top on it....its just easier to do it that way and now that ya mention it....i might replace the sand too.......does anyone know where i can get cheap dead sand?

 

[NeveSSL]

Lowes or Home Depot. Just use play sand. Make sure you rinse the crap out of it, though, as some of it is local and has a lot of red clay in it, too.

Brandon

 

[nightfire]

i've read were play sand shouldnt be used do to all the silicates and nitrates in it

 

[nightfire]

are we talking about this kind of play sand? http://www.lowes.com/pd_10392-286-1...br|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&storeId=10151

 

[poolkeeper1]

Silicates in all that Play Sand, I would not put that sand in your or Any Tank JMO
Bill