Storing fish tank in cold detached garage question

[zues2006]

This might be a newbie question, but I wanted input from people within the same region as me. Not only newbie, but might be a dumb question...

I'm storing an empty 75G fish tank that is drilled with 2 bulkheads, and 2stainers in a detached garage.
It is VERY cold in chicagoland as we all know.

Is the extreme cold bad for the tank or the plastic plumbing components?

Now that I think about it, I'm not 100% certian that there is NO water in the tank. Might be 1 or 2 gallons......

I suppose I could find a way to get the tank into the house, but it's a 75G gallon tank, and there are 4 stairs involved with gettting into the house.... doing this by myself might not work too well. Getting someone to help out before the cold spell snaps is not very realistic....

What do you think? Could the extreme cold be an issue here?

 

[livingcorals]

Are the fittings tightly together?

 

[zues2006]

Yes, it is storing just as it was set up, while it was in use (with out the water, with maybe approx 1-2 gallons of whatever was left over after draining the tank). I did not loosen the fittings after the tank breakdown last week when I put it in the garage.

FYI, Gravel is in the tank as well.

 

[zues2006]

anyone? Should I try to loosen the fittings?

 

[taylor t]

I'm not sure, but this is my experience. I stored a 210 aga tank in my shed for 2 years. I bought it new, used it for discus for a year, stored it for 2 years in my shed, pulled it out. Both the top and bottom plastic rim cracked in many places. I had to buy new top and bottom plastic pieces, cut off the broken pieces, and re-silicone it back together. It's now drilled, and has been running as a salt reef for about 3 years now. If I were to guess, your plastic may crack. That's what happened to me. But my tank was spotless dry when it went into storage.

 

[DaveWF]

My biggest concern is the 1 to 2 gallons of water. I know a container full of water in the freezer can split... can this happen with an aquarium as well? How feasible would it be to get the gravel and ALL of the water out?

 

[lolgranny]

I had a 75g and a 90g stored in my shed for 6years, took it out, dusted it off, cleaned it out, and filled it up. Its been running for the past 3 years with no issue(the 75g). The 90g was used to hold 200lbs of LR. Had a broken brace and it still held up until i took it down (6months)

Your fine in my book i would have no worries putting it up.

 

[lolgranny]

My biggest concern is the 1 to 2 gallons of water. I know a container full of water in the freezer can split... can this happen with an aquarium as well? How feasible would it be to get the gravel and ALL of the water out?

Im sure it could happen, just depends on if it did happen. I would take 10g of hot water and toss it in there...melt whats frozen and dump it out. You will know if there is a leak imo. Only way to know for sure is to check it out!