# Moving 150 Gallon Aquarium



## Piranha_man

Gettin' down to the wire here...
The stand for my tank in the theater room has been built, and we'll probably gonna move it this week sometime.

It's an all glass 150 gallon, with 150 pounds of sand, no plants, 5 large pygos.
We've gotta go down the hall, through 2 doors, down 2 steps, through another small door, down 4 more steps and then onto the stand in the wall.

Here's what I'm planning to do:

1.) Remove the filtration, etc. and place them in the tub. (They will stay wet and room temperature, so the bacteria should be fine IMO.
2.) Drain 50% of the water.
3.) Remove the fish and put them into buckets of aquarium water.
4.) Drain the remaining water into buckets.
5.) Using moving straps, friend and I pick up tank and move it to it's new position.
6.) Dump buckets of aquarium water into tank.
7.) Refill tank to 80% level with fresh water.
8.) Hook up filters.
9.) Reintroduce fish.
10.) Next day, fill tank remaining 20%.

Whadaya guys think... any advice on this?
Comments very much appreciated.









p.s. Moving straps are the only way I can picture us being able to pick the thing up.
Anybody know if the straps will put too much stress on the edges of the tank?


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## Piranha_man

p.s. I just did the math, and I don't think the aquarium will weigh any more than 400 pounds at the point of moving it... so perhaps the moving straps won't be necessary afterall?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

I don't know if you were planning to remove the sand before you move it, but if you weren't planning on it, I would at least remove a good amount of it -- that much weight inside the tank when moving it can put a ton of extra stress on the seams when the tank isn't level.


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## Piranha_man

^^ Thanks Joe, that's a good point, that will be easy to do... how does the rest of my procedure sound? 
I've never moved a large tank like this before.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

When I move my tanks and I know the filters are gonna be off for more than a few hours, I usually run the filter on a rubbbermaid container filled with tank water or I dump the media into a bucket of tank water and run a powerhead -- might not be a bad thing to consider since you don't know how long the move will take and since you just had that ammonia problem a couple weeks back. Other than that, everything looks pretty good to me, how much tank water are you planning on saving to put back in the tank after the move?


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA

Lift with your legs and not your back.lol But I would remove as much sand as possible cause wet sand weighs alot more than dry sand and if you get the sand out you shouldnt need straps. Me and Jmax moved his 180 by are selves with no straps but the tank was completely empty.


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## Piranha_man

JoeDizzleMPLS said:


> When I move my tanks and I know the filters are gonna be off for more than a few hours, I usually run the filter on a rubbbermaid container filled with tank water or I dump the media into a bucket of tank water and run a powerhead -- might not be a bad thing to consider since you don't know how long the move will take and since you just had that ammonia problem a couple weeks back. Other than that, everything looks pretty good to me, how much tank water are you planning on saving to put back in the tank after the move?


50%.


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## AKSkirmish

I wouldn't use the straps....I'm just cautious that way...
we moved my 270 with three people..I'm sure that 150 should only take two
I agree on removeing the sand...No need for that extra pressure on seams or bottom panel of glass.

Everything else I'm ok with...Although I do things different-that just a personal prefrence cal..


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## Piranha_man

THE BLACK PIRANHA said:


> I wouldn't use the straps....I'm just cautious that way...
> we moved my 270 *with tree people*..I'm sure that 150 should only take two
> I agree on removeing the sand...No need for that extra pressure on seams or bottom panel of glass.
> 
> Everything else I'm ok with...Although I do things different-that just a personal prefrence cal..


Yeah, well, down here in the "lower 48" we don't have "tree people" man...









Seriously though, I was really not feeling good about using straps, as they would put pressure on the outside edges.
I'll just muscle it.

Thanks man


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## AKSkirmish

Piranha_man said:


> I wouldn't use the straps....I'm just cautious that way...
> we moved my 270 *with tree people*..I'm sure that 150 should only take two
> I agree on removeing the sand...No need for that extra pressure on seams or bottom panel of glass.
> 
> Everything else I'm ok with...Although I do things different-that just a personal prefrence cal..


Yeah, well, down here in the "lower 48" we don't have "tree people" man...









Seriously though, I was really not feeling good about using straps, as they would put pressure on the outside edges.
I'll just muscle it.

Thanks man








[/quote]

I editted it









It's early.............no coffee..........Not that I need that as an exscuse....lol


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## jp80911

with moving straps it'll be much easier, it doesn't sound too heavy but when all those weight are on your fingers you'll wish you used moving straps. 
like Joe said, remove as much sand as possible and drain all water if you can, with water inside moving around while you carrying a heavy object makes it hard to balance sometime depends on how much water you have in there.

also fill the tank up with fresh water and add prime before you dump the old water back in there unless you have well water.


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## Piranha_man

I couldn't help it man...
Made me think of the "tree people" in _Lord of the Rings_.


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## jp80911

according to this link http://alysta.com/books/fishtank.htm 150g weights 338lb empty, plus 7half of sand it'll be 400lb+ going straight won't be an issue but at corner and going down stairs you would want some extra help just in case.


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## PhantastickFish

lift with your back. its the strongest muscle group in your body.

btw im busy whatever day your planning on doing this...


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## MPG

Use a spotter. You don't want to make it there to realise you chipped it somewhere.


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## Ægir

Use a dolly and tip the tank on end... carry it like a refrigerator

We carried the 155 bowfront down stairs and it sucked to carry, too wide for people and the tank to fit through so at times 2 people were holding the tank... if you are gentle a dolly is the way to go, just make sure not to bounce it around and damage silicone


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## CLUSTER ONE

I think you will want 3-4 people. 2 people should be able to carry it but you will also want somebody to get any doors and to guide the sides.

I would remove the sand too into some 5g buckets.


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## Abshere

You may run into the sand 'exloding' in the tank when you are putting the water back in. You may have to wait for the sand to settle before you reintroduce your fish.

On another note, I am possibly going to be moving a 150 more than a few feet as you are. I will be moving one from about 45 minutes away to here. I am planning on saving about 50% of the water as well. Any ideas on how to transfer that much water over that distance?


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## CLUSTER ONE

Abshere said:


> You may run into the sand 'exloding' in the tank when you are putting the water back in. You may have to wait for the sand to settle before you reintroduce your fish.
> 
> On another note, I am possibly going to be moving a 150 more than a few feet as you are. I will be moving one from about 45 minutes away to here. I am planning on saving about 50% of the water as well. Any ideas on how to transfer that much water over that distance?


 Your wasting your time transferring that much water. Mayby transfer 5g with the media in it. When you refill with new water just make sure you condition it well and get it to the correct temp before hooking up the fitler.


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## Inflade

I save as much water as i can in buckets. run your filters in the buckets to keep the bacteria going.

fill the tank up, like you said, to 80%, over treat the tank with water conditioner to ensure you don't shock the system. watch you feeding for a week or so to let the system catch back up to where it was.


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## Abshere

CLUSTER ONE said:


> You may run into the sand 'exloding' in the tank when you are putting the water back in. You may have to wait for the sand to settle before you reintroduce your fish.
> 
> On another note, I am possibly going to be moving a 150 more than a few feet as you are. I will be moving one from about 45 minutes away to here. I am planning on saving about 50% of the water as well. Any ideas on how to transfer that much water over that distance?


 Your wasting your time transferring that much water. Mayby transfer 5g with the media in it. When you refill with new water just make sure you condition it well and get it to the correct temp before hooking up the fitler.
[/quote]

The tank I will be getting using a sump for filtration. Anything I should do to that when transferring?


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