Need to move tank...

nw2salt08

Active Member
Ok, so this may or may not be the best place to ask this question but had to ask. I need to move my 55 gal reef tank out from the wall to paint but don't know how to go about moving it.
Any input would be great. Thanks!
 

naclh2o nut

Member
1
Don't move it if you can help it. Is it against the wall? If not buy a small roller, a long handle and a ladder. Then stretch and reach the best you can, then keep the color code on the paint, if you ever move the tank for other reasons (upgrade, move out,etc...) Then finish painting.
Just my opinion.
 

nw2salt08

Active Member
Yeah, it just makes painting a challenge. It's only 2 inches away from the wall. Not to mention, there's border 1/3 the way up the wall. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to get the wallpaper down that's behind it. Wish I could've painted before we set it up.
The worst part....I only need to scoot it out a couple inches.
 

merredeth

Active Member
Just a warning here, but paint fumes have been known to affect your fish tanks. If you must paint, then cover the tank.
I just moved two tanks that are a heck of a lot bigger to our new home and had very little problems.
All I did was empty the water as much as possible and move the rock into storage tubs as well as corals and fish, spearating all out. I left all my substrate in the tanks as well as water covering it.
Tank water covered the rocks, corals and a separate tub was used for the fish. Excess water was drained into 5 gallon water jugs.
My friends and hubby lifted the tanks and put them in the trucks. We drove slowly to get them to the new house.
Once there, they were put in the room and a meassuring bowl was put at the bottom of the tank and I started to fill it with several five gallon jugs. I then took out the measuring bowl, and began starting the aquascaping process once I had enough water to cover the rock and corals. While aquascaping I ran an airline tube to each tank and started filling water back into the tanks, which gave me time to adjust pieces of coral and rock. This also prevented the sandstorm issues that occur when pouring large amounts of water back into the tanks.
Once the aquascaping was done, the remaining water went back into the tanks a long with the fish.
When I decided to make this move, I made sure I left plenty of room in the back of the tanks, as technology changes and I wanted to make sure that there was at least 18 inches behind the tank for me to add new equipment or to work behind it in the future.
Someone recommended those coaster things you buy at the store that let you slide anything to put at the bottom of the stands. I didn't use them but I saw the post someplace and thought if I needed to make a change again I would do it. However, the house I now live in makes moving tanks to another room completely impractical so I didn't use them.
Good luck.
Denise M.
 

nw2salt08

Active Member
Turns out I didn't have to move my tank at all.
I found a little mini roller on an extension pole. The roller itself was 1 inch in diameter and I hade 2 1/2 inches of space so it worked out just fine. Made my day! Thought I'd share.
 
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