Moving tanks for new carpet

[oceaninabox12345]

As the title says, my family is talking about getting all new carpet in our basement. I asked if we could keep the tanks in place and just put new carpet around, but that was a no go. Basically their plan is to keep everything, rock, water, fish, coral, in totes until they finish putting in carpet, and then moving the tanks back. I dont know how long they will take installing the carpet.. hopefully not more than a day. Anyone have an idea what to do??? I am truly dreading this, and my tanks have finally gotten set up and things are going well. They are both 120 gallons, one has a 30g sump. I am in Montana, so there are next to no lfs that would be willing to store our stuff. Im open to any and all suggestions! Ways to move them with the stuff in, ways to keep it alive, and ways to minimize another cycle and wiping everything out. I have sps, lps, all kinds of fish,and anemones of all kinds. Thanks in advance guys!

 

[NS Mike D]

carpets are typically one day installs.

I've seen folks use large plastic tubs for the transfer of rock, coral and fish. you have to keep pumps on them to circulate and heaters. lights aren't need for a short hold

most basements have a laundry room or utility room that wont get carpets so that can be your staging area

120 tanks will require man power to move. might need to rent some sort of dolly to roll them, or build a frame with heavy duty wheels that is near the same height of the stands, Slide the tank on the frame, move the stand then put the tank back on the stand, do teh second tank and the reverse the process to put eveything back

 

[Crabs McJones]

As the title says, my family is talking about getting all new carpet in our basement. I asked if we could keep the tanks in place and just put new carpet around, but that was a no go. Basically their plan is to keep everything, rock, water, fish, coral, in totes until they finish putting in carpet, and then moving the tanks back. I dont know how long they will take installing the carpet.. hopefully not more than a day. Anyone have an idea what to do??? I am truly dreading this, and my tanks have finally gotten set up and things are going well. They are both 120 gallons, one has a 30g sump. I am in Montana, so there are next to no lfs that would be willing to store our stuff. Im open to any and all suggestions! Ways to move them with the stuff in, ways to keep it alive, and ways to minimize another cycle and wiping everything out. I have sps, lps, all kinds of fish,and anemones of all kinds. Thanks in advance guys!

I think the best bet would be to transfer everything over to tubs with a powerhead and heater. Light isnt as big of a deal if it's only going to be a day or two. Drain the tank low enough that you're able to slide it out of the room you'll want a powerhead running in the display and the sump to keep it from getting stagnant and nasty. Itll take a few people but its do-able. Replace the carpet, slide her back in and reassemble. I know it sounds like alot of work....and it is.

 

[MSB123]

Cut the carpet to fit around the tanks? That’s what I did for my tank.

 

[oceaninabox12345]

I think the best bet would be to transfer everything over to tubs with a powerhead and heater. Light isnt as big of a deal if it's only going to be a day or two. Drain the tank low enough that you're able to slide it out of the room you'll want a powerhead running in the display and the sump to keep it from getting stagnant and nasty. Itll take a few people but its do-able. Replace the carpet, slide her back in and reassemble. I know it sounds like alot of work....and it is.

Alright, thank you. Yea i figured thats whats going to have to happen, but i just dread it so much and i thought maybe you smart people had something i wasnt thinking of.. good thinking with the powerhead in the display!! Glad you mentioned that

 

[oceaninabox12345]

Cut the carpet to fit around the tanks? That’s what I did for my tank.

Sadly no. I asked and that was a big no no as we might be selling our house, and have two large rectangles left when we leave.

 

[oceaninabox12345]

Im open to any and all other suggestions that anyone has!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Do you know for certain if you're selling? If that's the case replacing the carpet is the last thing I'd do. Purchase your new home, move the tank over and then replace the carpet, you wont have to worry about the tank then. Like you said it's only a one day deal

 

[MSB123]

Sadly no. I asked and that was a big no no as we might be selling our house, and have two large rectangles left when we leave.

We have the small issue. What we did is get two carpets. A cheap lookalike to the real carpet and also the real one. They look close enough alike and ten cheap one was only $150 for the room. I cut a rectangle out of the cheap one and if we sell, we will put in the other carpet.

 

[oceaninabox12345]

Do you know for certain if you're selling? If that's the case replacing the carpet is the last thing I'd do. Purchase your new home, move the tank over and then replace the carpet, you wont have to worry about the tank then. Like you said it's only a one day deal

Dont know for certain. Either way the carpet needs to go though. I wish we could just move it once and be done with it though

 

[Maggie321]

Oh man. What a pain. Get a couple 55g drums and mix up some spare water. I would say get at least 3 drums, cut the tops off, fill with RODI and stick a heater and powerheads and mix away. You can store everything in them. Just pick it up out of the tank, and place it in the barrel. After you can put the newly mixed water in the tank as you put the rock and fish back. One drum at a time.

When you put everything back get a tub or bucket large enough that you can dip and swish around every rock... it'll remove a bunch of detritus that has settled in the rock. It's an opportunity to do a deep clean by force.

DO NOT DISTURB YOUR SAND!!!! Unless you plan on replacing all of it at that time. If you disturb your sand it will release a bunch of nutrients that have settled in the sand bed. Nitrates and phosphates will spike and you'll have issues. So... Keep the sand as calm as possible.

I just moved a few weeks ago and did both of these things with keeping the sand calm and the cleaning the rock. My main rock structure fell apart and I ended up with a bunch of involuntary frags of my corals that broke when it collapsed but nothing died, my fish are fine, and there's going to be some others that get to share my corals.

Good luck!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Oh man. What a pain. Get a couple 55g drums and mix up some spare water. I would say get at least 3 drums, cut the tops off, fill with RODI and stick a heater and powerheads and mix away. You can store everything in them. Just pick it up out of the tank, and place it in the barrel. After you can put the newly mixed water in the tank as you put the rock and fish back. One drum at a time.

When you put everything back get a tub or bucket large enough that you can dip and swish around every rock... it'll remove a bunch of detritus that has settled in the rock. It's an opportunity to do a deep clean by force.

DO NOT DISTURB YOUR SAND!!!! Unless you plan on replacing all of it at that time. If you disturb your sand it will release a bunch of nutrients that have settled in the sand bed. Nitrates and phosphates will spike and you'll have issues. So... Keep the sand as calm as possible.

I just moved a few weeks ago and did both of these things with keeping the sand calm and the cleaning the rock. My main rock structure fell apart and I ended up with a bunch of involuntary frags of my corals that broke when it collapsed but nothing died, my fish are fine, and there's going to be some others that get to share my corals.

Good luck!

Good call on the sand! I didnt even consider that

 

[Maggie321]

You are better off having too much "new" water than not enough. Buy a couple extra boxes of salt and start making water and mixing now. If it has to sit for a few weeks, no big deal.

 

[Rcpilot]

This would take longer but... can you put down tile where the tanks sit?

We just bought a house and installed new carpet. But the new 180g tank needs to go in one of the empty bedrooms... which is adjacent to the garage... which has power, drain and fresh water.

We're taking the new carpet OUT and replacing with tile.

 

[oceaninabox12345]

You are better off having too much "new" water than not enough. Buy a couple extra boxes of salt and start making water and mixing now. If it has to sit for a few weeks, no big deal.

Hey, that's a really good idea. We already have 2 trash cans of RODI water, maybe ill add another. I think ones 55 gallons, the other is 38. I just hate the idea of breaking the coral, or losing it under a rock or something along those lines. Ill probably make a coral tote, and then a fish tote. I guess i can finally get rid of that awful damselfish now huh?

 

[Maggie321]

I got food grade barrels on Craig's list for $10. A brute would work as well but they are $$$. Blue plastic barrel is cheap and can have handles cut in it if you want to reuse it.

 

[Maggie321]

Hey, that's a really good idea. We already have 2 trash cans of RODI water, maybe ill add another. I think ones 55 gallons, the other is 38. I just hate the idea of breaking the coral, or losing it under a rock or something along those lines. Ill probably make a coral tote, and then a fish tote. I guess i can finally get rid of that awful damselfish now huh?

Perfect time to remove an unwanted fish. After I put mine back together, I added one too. Since territories are totally out the window, it's the perfect time.

 

[oceaninabox12345]

This would take longer but... can you put down tile where the tanks sit?

We just bought a house and installed new carpet. But the new 180g tank needs to go in one of the empty bedrooms... which is adjacent to the garage... which has power, drain and fresh water.

We're taking the new carpet OUT and replacing with tile.

Id love to do that, and my dads a tilesetter (im still a minor, living with the parents lol), but my mom would not allow tile rectangles, especially if we are sellimg the house. It's a really good idea though, and it would be better for everything. Especially water spills. Ill do that for my own house [emoji6]

 

[oceaninabox12345]

I got food grade barrels on Craig's list for $10. A brute would work as well but they are $$$. Blue plastic barrel is cheap and can have handles cut in it if you want to reuse it.

Actually, we do have a couple more trash cans we never used that are just lying around. Ill put those into use when the time comes, and if you guys like, ill post how this disaster goes and you guys can tell me if im doing something horribly wrong lol

 

[Maggie321]

Actually, we do have a couple more trash cans we never used that are just lying around. Ill put those into use when the time comes, and if you guys like, ill post how this disaster goes and you guys can tell me if im doing something horribly wrong lol

You are set! You can do this. It's a lot of work, but you can do it. Yes. Pictures please. I wish I had taken some during the move. But once my main rock crumbled, I was in panic mode and just wanted to get it back together.