moving a tank

[jlemieux123]

I will be moving a 150 gallon acrylic tank it has 200lbs of live rock and 100 lbs of sand and water in it. I was planning on taking out all the live rock my question is how much water can I leave in? I am going to be moving it just across town. and it anyone has any moving tricks I would appreciate them.

 

[BeanAnimal]

You will want to remove as much water as possible, along with the sand. The weight of the water and sand will add tremendous stress to the tank during the move.

Water weighs 8.33 pounds per gallon (closer to 8.5 for saltwater). You can do the math, but it should become very clear that you need to remove the sand and water.

150 is a fairly decent size tank. You can get rubbermaid 33 or 50 gallon cans fairly cheap.

 

[coast2coast7390]

i would invest in some LARGE rubbermaid trash cans..you know the grey ones...for the rock and sand and water...

you might be able to leave the sand and enough water to cover it in the tank...

you will need to find a temp home for your fish and inverts...if any
because your tank will go through a mini cycle

 

[Mavrk]

take it all out. better safe than sorry. i don't think the tank can handle having anything in it during a move.

 

[jlemieux123]

I was planing on leaving the sand in with just enough water to cover it because I have heard that you really should not remove sand and put it back in a tank. Has anyone else heard this?

 

[commabc]

i have heard not to stir your sand, but i'm not sure about removing and putting back in. i dont think it will be to big of a deal where it would destroy your tank, but again i'm not sure. i've moved smaller tanks with only sand beds and enough water to cover like you mentioned, with no problem. however, it does put alot of extra weight and stress on the seals, it depends on how lazy your feeling and how lucky your feeling also. if you could support it the same way its supported on your stand when you move it, there is no issues, but if you had to build something to do that with then you might as well remove the sand.

 

[jlemieux123]

so do I leave the sand its olny 90lbs of sand and 4inches of water.

 

[BeanAnimal]

90 LBS of saturated sand and 20 gallons or so of water.

Your still looking at 200+ pounds of baggage. That is a lot of weight and stress. Just clean out the whole tank.

 

[rsw686]

Just rinse the sand out if your worried about it. When I upgraded from my 56 to 90gal I reused the sand. No problems at all.

Buy yeah defiantly empty the tank before moving it.

 

[coast2coast7390]

you only need enough water to keep it moist