# Moving established 29g to another room



## kangy (Nov 4, 2011)

In my living room I have two tanks my 29g Planted and a new to me 40g reef tank. When I setup the reef tank last week I placed it where I originally though I wanted it. Well the breeder tank being in the hallway sticks out more than my wife likes and she wants the 29g planted in the hallway as it's more "flush" to the wall and the 40g next to the couch. I told her we would move it "down the road" as I really didn't want to screw with trying to do a two tank switcheroo. Well, I am changing the sand in the reef tank this weekend so it's getting tore down anyways so figured this would be a good opportunity to make the swap.

I already have the plan for the 40g.
1) Remove about 5 gallons of water into an icechest with a powerhead and catch the 4 fish (I'm allotting the most time to that process, fast little buggers)
2) Remove the rest of the water into icechests and place the liverock/coral into them with powerheads to keep the water going
3) Move tank outside to remove old sand and clean
4) replace tank, put in sand, redo hardscape, fill, add fish, top off water, viola

Now my question is what are your recommendations to quickly moving the planted 29g. I plan on moving the 29g over as soon as I get the 40g off the stand and completing that task before setting up the 40g. Here is what I'm thinking.
1) Remove a few gallons of water into my water change bucket and attempt to catch the fish
2) leave all the plants, substrate, wood, etc in the 29g but remove all the water down to about an inch above the substrate
3) with a helper lift tank off stand and set it down, move stand to new home, and place tank on stand.
4) carefully so as not to disrupt the sandbed/rooted plants fill the water back up then put the fish back in

Pro's of that plan are it "should" be pretty quick and painless. Con's are I risk the plants being out of the water for maybe 5 minutes during the move (longer for the taller ones) and risk disrupting the sand during the move (I'm literally only moving it 10ft)

The goal is to get the new Arogonite sand cleaned for the 40g reef tonight and tackle this project Saturday with a helper to move the 29g. I'm just worried about stressing the glass/seams on the 29g moving it with the sand, wood, and a couple inches of water. Also it has been stationary for 5 years now and I have spilled some water on the floor during water changes (who hasn't) so I'm kind of nervous the stand its self won't make the move intact.

Thoughts, suggestions?


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## Geomancer (Aug 23, 2010)

This is one of those "I'm not going to answer because if it goes wrong and they followed my advice I don't want to be responsible" type questions 

So I'll just say that I myself moved a 29 gallon aquarium across town leaving the gravel and decorations in place. Most made the journey... but I'm sad to say not everything. I didn't have live plants though either nor wood/rocks. The tank itself made it just fine.

I'd drain the water as much as possible while keeping the substrate wet. The plants will be perfectly fine in open air, a lot (maybe even nearly all) aquatic plants can be grown emersed. They might go into 'shock' for a little while due to the change in conditions, but maybe not since it isn't that long.


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## kangy (Nov 4, 2011)

Thanks, I think  I'm more worried about the tank itself than the plants really, it's pretty old, I figure worst case it shatters or a seam busts. If it does at least it'll give me an excuse to upgrade. Just hope if it happens it goes before all the water gets back in lol.


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## Eddie1KRR (Sep 9, 2011)

Is the 10 feet you are moving it across carpet? If it is, these things are great. I moved my amour around by myself with ease with these things and it's close to 300 lbs. You may be able to just drain it down a bit and move it stand and all & not have to worry about stressing the glass by lifting it.

Mighty Movers Self-Stick Furniture Sliders, Pack of 4 - Walmart.com


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## MinaMinaMina (Aug 28, 2011)

I'm in the thinking of "better safe than sorry" and I always recommend emptying the tank fully before it is moved at all. Especially because you said its an older tank!


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## Tazman (Jan 15, 2012)

My friend moved a 55g tank once with a small amount of water in it...it exploded...he now has a massive 240g tank.

I still think he weakened it to get the tank but he never said...


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## kangy (Nov 4, 2011)

Eddie1KRR said:


> Is the 10 feet you are moving it across carpet? If it is, these things are great. I moved my amour around by myself with ease with these things and it's close to 300 lbs. You may be able to just drain it down a bit and move it stand and all & not have to worry about stressing the glass by lifting it.


It's across a tile floor. I might try to just move it stand and all, I wonder how those would work on tile? hmmm



Tazman said:


> My friend moved a 55g tank once with a small amount of water in it...it exploded...he now has a massive 240g tank.
> 
> I still think he weakened it to get the tank but he never said...


You're not helping LMAO, how much water is a "small amount". I moved the 40g Breeder here with a couple inches of water/sand still in it and it made the trip just fine in the back of my TrailBlazer.


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## Tazman (Jan 15, 2012)

I dont know the exact amount but it was quite a few inches, way more than it should have been!


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## Eddie1KRR (Sep 9, 2011)

kangy said:


> It's across a tile floor. I might try to just move it stand and all, I wonder how those would work on tile? hmmm



I don't think they would help much there, whenever I have to slide anything across wood or tile that is heavy, I lay carpet squares or whatever carpet you have laying around, carpet side facing the tile. it works great. 
I would just be sure the stand can handle the load of you pushing on it with some weight on it so it doesn't collapse.
I don't see how the tank could crack if you only touch the stand and it's over half empty. I could be wrong though lol. <~~~~~ My disclaimer there :-D


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## beetlebz (Aug 2, 2007)

So i see it as you can drain as much water out as you can, leaving the substrate wet and you should be fine, or leave it half full and get a 240g tank. 

YOU tell your wife you need a new 29 gallon tank, and that you called some pet store for a quote. ILL call your house, say im from some pet store (vandelay aquariums? lol) and that the 29g size is discontinued, but I can order one special for you for the same price as the 240g tank (with stand and FX5, of course). how can this plan fail?


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## kangy (Nov 4, 2011)

Ya I'm actually more worried about the stand, on second thought, not sure I want to try and move them together. I'm leaning towards my original plan of draining the water down to the substrate, gently lifting the tank, moving stand and carefully walking the nearly empty tank 10ft. Watch, knowing my luck I'll trip over something and drop the 29g onto the 40g and be up shit creek without a paddle.

Stay tuned for tomorrow, hopefully I can post back with positive results.


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## kangy (Nov 4, 2011)

beetlebz said:


> YOU tell your wife you need a new 29 gallon tank, and that you called some pet store for a quote. ILL call your house, say im from some pet store (vandelay aquariums? lol) and that the 29g size is discontinued, but I can order one special for you for the same price as the 240g tank (with stand and FX5, of course). how can this plan fail?


LMAO that might of worked before I bought the 40g breeder reef tank. My MTS is officially on spousal-probation until we get a new house (or 16 years from now when I toss our oldest out and make a fish room). The way I see that working is I get the 240g tank and as a consolation prize I get to find a nice new house, alone, to put it in.


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## Tazman (Jan 15, 2012)

Nice plan until it literally falls through the floor....that tank weighs an awful lot, not to mention it is 8ft long!

Hope everything works out for you.


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## kangy (Nov 4, 2011)

Tazman said:


> Nice plan until it literally falls through the floor....that tank weighs an awful lot, not to mention it is 8ft long!


Well that solves my finding a new place to live problem, I'll just cozy up in the 240g with some dive gear :lol:

I wonder how well it would go over if I told her to just re-arrange the house around my fish tanks... I might "accidentaly" put a "small" hole in the wall, therefore giving me an excuse to make a perfect 29g size cutout to slide it into. Some power tools, a few beers, some 2x4's to re-frame the studs around the tank, oh and can't forget the duct tape. She did say she wanted the 29g moved because it would be more "flush" against the wall in the hallway than the breeder tank...


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## beetlebz (Aug 2, 2007)

you cant do that by yourself kangy. Double up on the beers, ill help!


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## Hanky (Feb 1, 2012)

beetlebz said:


> So i see it as you can drain as much water out as you can, leaving the substrate wet and you should be fine, or leave it half full and get a 240g tank.
> 
> YOU tell your wife you need a new 29 gallon tank, and that you called some pet store for a quote. ILL call your house, say im from some pet store (vandelay aquariums? lol) and that the 29g size is discontinued, but I can order one special for you for the same price as the 240g tank (with stand and FX5, of course). how can this plan fail?


Thats awesome, I may need your help in the future if I move my tank :BIGwinky:

By now I'm sure your already moving the tank so I'll just wait to hear how it went.


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## kangy (Nov 4, 2011)

Well the upside is that the tanks did not explode and they are safe in their new positions, so far all livestock are doing well, parameters are good for both tanks. The only casualty was one beautiful piece of coral on the largest piece of liverock in the reef tank. When I was lifting it from the icechest into the tank it knicked the lip of the tank, knocked off the coral which broke from it's position and hit the floor, fragged into three pieces (one large, one medium, and a little sliver) The largest piece sustained the most damage and I'm not sure how well it will recover, the medium frag is doing well and the sliver went in the trash. Other than that just a few stem plants that came loose moving the 29g planted tank.

Although I thought I had this thing as prepared as possible and ran it through my head a dozen times here are a few learning lessons that I hope will help the next person attempting this. Oh it took 4 hours from start to finish then cleanup took another 2 hours.

1) Pre-arrange something (preferably outside) for the 2yr old and dog to be doing while you are working or you will have a dog try to drink saltwater and a daughter try and catch nemo in the icechest to "rescue him"

2) If you think you have enough top off water handy, make another 5 gallons and make sure it is all brought to temp. Water in 5g jugs stays colder than the air temp ;-)

3) Do not use your wifes good cooking spoons/pitchers to remove nasty smelling sandbed from a saltwater tank

4) Have a plan for discarding the old sand and water (black trash bags in storage totes will rip and spill nasty water all over you when trying to lift them out of the transfer tubs into the dumpster behind walmart) 

5) Catching 8 Black Neon Tetra, 8 Rasbora, 3 Catfish, and 1 Gourami in a fully planted tank is not easy. Nor is catching Clown Fish and Pajam Cardinal's in a reef tank. Set aside enough time for that. None of the "tricks" I read worked. The saltwater fish I left until I removed the liverock, even then they were not too excited about the net. The catfish and a few stubborn rasbora/tetra decided they wanted to stay with the tank so they hung out in an inch of water.

6) Even though you measured, measured again, and measured one more time and were 100% confident you had the exact spot picked out for the tanks, make sure the back of the stand isn't going to block the only electrical outlets in reach (I know, putting a tank centered on a wall outlet probably isn't the smartest idea to begin with). If it does and you don't realize it until it's already filled back up you will be removing the entertainment center power strip (that has a flush wall plug that swivels rather than comes straight out) so that you can actually get it plugged in.

7) Have plenty of extra drop towells laying around, you will make a huge mess

8) If you buy a 'new to you' fully established tank and have to tear it down for the transport home anyways, take that opportunity to put in a fresh sand bed. Have the sand at the ready and just get it done the first time so you don't have to tear the tank back down a week later.

Well I think that's about it off the top of my head. Overall it was a success, we are both loving the tanks being switched and the new sand in the reef tank makes a huge difference. Fish already look more happy. I can't stress enough how uttery disgusting that old sand was, not sure what the heck I was thinking keeping it in there.

Moving the 29g (biggest worry) was a piece of cake with a couple helpers. I drained it down so where there was about an inch of water above the substrate (for the fish that refused to leave). It took two people to gently lift the tank and one helper (wife) to move the stand to it's new pre-marked home (we used masking tape to outline where we wanted it (worked great by the way). Then SLOWLY walk the tank the 10ft and set it back on the stand, simple.

It was a ton of work, made a huge mess of the driveway, hallway, kitchen, garage, clothes, shoes, etc. Went through a half a bottle of jack daniels and taught the 2yr old a couple colorful new words (when the coral fell). But end result is well worth it.


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

Enjoyed reading your adventure. Glad it all turned out. I painted the back of one of my tanks yesterday, and am happy with the results! 

Gwen


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## Hanky (Feb 1, 2012)

:cheers: glad it all went well, FYI kids arent any more "helpfull" at 4 years old either


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