when I bought my new house I was having new floors done so I had to set my tank up in my garage. after a year and a half the floors and updates to the house were done and it was time to move the tank inside. I did not want to take the tank apart and move it in pieces. so i decided to get creative. here is how i moved it. first i bought 4 swivel 10'' pneumatic castors and (8) 10" offset castor tires, (2) 36" 5/8 steel rods. Cut 4 rods to 10" long. drilled holes in each end on the rod for the pins. on one side of the castor the hole was smaller so i had to drill it out to 5/8.
I had to move the tank around the house over the grass and up a ramp so i wanted it to be a smooth ride and i wanted it to be very maneuverable. here are the pictures of the dolly i made with the finished castors.
to help control the tank i screwed in eye loop screws to people could control the dolly easier an easier pullng point. i also added a eye bolt through the front center of the dolly so I could use my winch to pull it up the ramp. i also put in 10" lag screws in each corner to be sure it was going to hold together.
from there i put together a pulley system anchored to 400lbs of weights down a ledge in the front of the house. 400lbs isnt a lot of weight in comparison to the tank but physics helped. pulling the weight against the wall and then up added a lot of extra resistance.
i left all the rock, fish and corals in the tank. i laid 4 rodi rinsed towels that were soaked in tank water on top of all the rock. this was to keep the rock in place and keep in from moving around, kept the fish calm, kept rock from drying out and creating die off, and keeping the corals wet. We then lifted the tank onto the dolly, moved it around the house, to the back and over the grass, used the winch from my can am commander connected it to my pull and back to the front of the dolly. we pulled the tank between two bushes that were right in the way but there was enough room. i used a piece of pulwood to keep the bush from scratching the front of the tank. we used the winch 100% and just kept the dolly on the ramp.
the tank just rolled right into the house with 1/2 and inch so spare of height and width clearance. My dads still got it, hes the big guy in the black shirt 56 years old and still hanging with the young guys, im the taller guy in the grey shirt. i had ZERO casualties. the move from start to finish took 42 minutes. my girl holding the final piece, the collection cup for the SRO 6000sss. once i get some better pictures of the tank i will post them - I hope you all enjoyed.
I had a similar situ here when I needed to move my old tank to the other side of the room as my new 7ft unexpectedly turned up a bit earlier than anticipated, operation move Aquareef 400 was a complete success, risky but a success lol
These are a set of industrial hydraulic movers, I have used before on safes, I thought why not a full tank lol, each one sits either side, with a 50cm toe plate slid underneath, ratchet strapped together with some padding around the glass, you then pump each side and it raises the toe plate 10mm, so it's a pump one side, then the other, then back and so on until you have enough clearance for the castors to glide you and your tank across the floor. I agree that it's a brave man who jacks up a tank, but then again nothing ventured, nothing gained lol
