Considering rearranging my fish cave. 500 gallon fowlr

[Tliguors]

im considering the idea of rearranging my fish cave but not sure the best way to go about it. The tank only needs to be moved about 5-7 feet to the other side of the room. I had an idea of getting some farm jacks to lift the tank from the stand and place it on dollies and roll it in to place. Or I can get a bunch of people to just pick it up and move it.

The reason I want to do the move is the wall I want the tank on has a crawl space behind it I can put all the filtration in and have more room to expand the filtration. Also would make maintenance less of a chore to squeeze under the stand. Also it’ll make the room more enjoyable.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[jdpeters]

I love your scape it makes the 500 seem even more impressive. My suggestion is to get a work party organized. I would also suggest you plan it out thoroughly and if you had any other plans with the tank then that would be the time to do it. Good luck!

 

[jdpeters]

Is that puffer abused by the way? Lol. I love how it's poking its head out

 

[Tliguors]

Is that puffer abused by the way? Lol. I love how it's poking its head out

lol no he saw me and that’s his “hey are you gonna feed me ? ....no okay I’ll go back in my cave” lol.

Thanks it took me a while to get the scape perfect. Had to leave enough open space for the rays and they love swimming in and out of the caves.

Well the plan is still in the idea phase. I found the farm jacks that can jack up 6000+ lbs each and I have 10 dollies that can hold 1000lbs each. I plan on having plenty of people here to hold onto everything I’m just trying to make it a little easier to move everything.

 

[garbled]

You plan on moving it while full? I don't know if I would do that.

 

[Tliguors]

You plan on moving it while full? I don't know if I would do that.

Oh sorry. No the water, fish and filtration would be removed prior. Guess I should have mentioned that. Lol

 

[Tliguors]

Here’s some more pictures of the scape

 

[Tliguors]

I also have a 50 gallon tank plumbed in for a grow out but I got a good deal on an 80 gallon deep blue so I was looking at upgrading that tank but the space I have the way the room is set up doesn’t work very well.

 

[garbled]

Oh sorry. No the water, fish and filtration would be removed prior. Guess I should have mentioned that. Lol

Ha, just checking.. when you started talking about 10k lbs, I got worried.

Beautiful tank. Love the puffer.

 

[Tliguors]

Ha, just checking.. when you started talking about 10k lbs, I got worried.

I’m crazy just not that crazy lol

 

[Tliguors]

I’m open to suggestions on how to move it

 

[AlexG]

I would not recommend moving the tank while its full. Any amount of torsion on the tank stand and the tank itself would create the possibility of structural failure or seem failure. It would be best to drain the tank and put the inhabitants into temp tanks (garbage cans, HDPE holding tanks, extra aquariums, ect...) and then move the tank and stand together. It will be critical that once the tanks is moved that the tank stand is leveled while also ensuring that no gaps between the tank and stand have developed after the move before refilling. I would suggest giving yourself 12-16 hours to complete the tank move as they never go perfectly to plan. Keep as much water as you can. Get some friends to help out if its possible. Jacks and levers can be used to get the empty tank and stand on rollers or dollies to move across the room.

 

[Hitman]

Beautiful tank!!!

Being that you will empty it and as long as you have plenty strong backs and the dollies I think you will be ok.

On a side question any issues with the buffer and the rays?

 

[Tliguors]

I would not recommend moving the tank while its full. Any amount of torsion on the tank stand and the tank itself would create the possibility of structural failure or seem failure. It would be best to drain the tank and put the inhabitants into temp tanks (garbage cans, HDPE holding tanks, extra aquariums, ect...) and then move the tank and stand together. It will be critical that once the tanks is moved that the tank stand is leveled while also ensuring that no gaps between the tank and stand have developed after the move before refilling. I would suggest giving yourself 12-16 hours to complete the tank move as they never go perfectly to plan. Keep as much water as you can. Get some friends to help out if its possible. Jacks and levers can be used to get the empty tank and stand on rollers or dollies to move across the room.

I had no intention on moving it while it was full. I just wasn’t sure if it would be easier to use jacks and dollies or just manhandle it the distance. I feel the jacks and dollies have less chance for error.

 

[Tliguors]

Beautiful tank!!!

Being that you will empty it and as long as you have plenty strong backs and the dollies I think you will be ok.

On a side question any issues with the buffer and the rays?

Thanks ! No no problems at all. The rays swim on top of him and he wears them as a hat sometimes. Also when I feed them all he waits for the rays to move to eat the food under them.

 

[Hitman]

Thanks ! No no problems at all. The rays swim on top of him and he wears them as a hat sometimes. Also when I feed them all he waits for the rays to move to eat the food under them.

That's awesome!!! You should get a picture of him wearing his ray hat;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

 

[garbled]

I feel like a large number of people could move it easier than some sort of madness with dollys and jacks. My tank weighed about 1000 lbs empty, and 10 guys were able to just lift it into place and set it on the stand. Trying to balance it on a dolly or fiddle with a jack sounds like alot of pain, and I bet if you have 10 people standing there, eventually they will push you out of the way and just lift it.

Ask me how I know that last bit.

 

[Tliguors]

That's awesome!!! You should get a picture of him wearing his ray hat;Hilarious;Hilarious;Hilarious

I have one somewhere I’ll try to find it. Lol

 

[Tliguors]

I feel like a large number of people could move it easier than some sort of madness with dollys and jacks. My tank weighed about 1000 lbs empty, and 10 guys were able to just lift it into place and set it on the stand. Trying to balance it on a dolly or fiddle with a jack sounds like alot of pain, and I bet if you have 10 people standing there, eventually they will push you out of the way and just lift it.

Ask me how I know that last bit.

The hard part is getting all the people to be available at the same time lol

We didn’t have to hard of a time to get the tank in initially and that was down the stairs . I feel like this would be easier this time because we can all just hold from the stand instead of the suction cup things.

 

[Ironwill723]

Nice tank. What are the dimensions? Who made the tank?