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Move to new house

Wombat

Member
Joined
3 Dec 2015
Messages
50
Location
northampton
I'm moving house this weekend. I shall attempt to move the tank as it is without stripping it down. This is my plan after looking for tips online. Please let me know if there's a better way of doing it or if you can give me any tips.

(Juwel Vision 180)

Put shrimps (sole livestock) in suitable container.

Empty out as much water as possible.

Maybe take out a big rock or two (ideally not, will see how it feels on the day)

Place sheets of newspaper over the plants and substrate. Seal the tank with clingfilm to keep moisture in.

Empty external filter apart from a few inches in the bottom. Seal this too to stop it leaking in transit.

Slide tank onto piece of wood and place in back of car along with cabinet and all the rest of the gubbins.

Drive gingerly to new place 10 minutes away. Carefully refill tank and set up again within 2 hours.

Sounds dead straightforward to me but I'm not looking forward to it....
 
Not convinced!

Forgetting the tank itself (30kgs), any water remaining adds significant weight. 10cm depth in that tank is going to be 40kg+ alone. Substrate, rocks, plants, glass etc on top too... could be nearing 100kg all in.
 
Maybe I could start a poll.
1. Will Wombats intended tank move go horribly wrong?
2. Will it be a resounding and unexpected success?
3. Will Wombat bottle it and strip it down instead?

Place your bets... :crazy:
 
tank weight 30kg (from Juwel)
substrate?
rock?

If a rock hits glass that could be very bad so stuff tightly with various materials incuding bubble rap to protect glass from impact

You do see quite a bit of tanks moved without stripping down BUT these are mostly smaller tanks: you need to be prepared for the weight & have a very good team - any twisting is the tank killer as it can easily sheer silicon seals (leaks generally occur some time after filling)

In contrast you can easily take your time for the reset - just keep filters damp (it's nice if they've been cleaned of debris - if not, restart the filter in a bin in case of a debris storm)
Shrimp will be fine in a small container as long as they have plant material to cling to (think of how they ship around the world) & kept slightly too cool rather than too hot, if you add a sponge filter they will be very happy.
Plants also are best kept damp rather than in cold water, you can pack between paper towel to support delicate leafs etc

I've moved a similar sized tank with substrate & wood intact - I won't do it again - have since moved the tank a few times & just strip it down ... makes the "team" a lot happier ;)
 
Is it this one? http://ukaps.org/forum/threads/wombats-scape.39255/

How many kg's of substrate is that? Have redone my calculations, it's 3.27kg of water per 1cm depth remaining in the tank.

As much as you don't want to hear it, I think option 3. :(

Yep that's the one. It's about 27kg of substrate plus rock. Hmm.. optimism is perhaps waning slightly I admit. I'll perhaps strip out all the rock and then see how it feels...

Imagine my feelings of pure joy when I'd dutifully cycled the tank for 5+ weeks and literally the day I'd planted the missus came home (as I was refilling the tank) and announced she'd found us a new house in the area she'd been yearning to move into for the last 4 years. Just Wombats luck :thumbdown:
 
OK looked at the linked tank

- trim the stems at substrate level & plan on replanting the tops (you need to leave 2-3 inches if you want regrowth) & pack away, one type/bag for easy re-planting
- syphon out the sand area as that's very easy
- syphon water down to substrate level, easily done now with syphon tube in sand area as last of water will tend to puddle there, you can use a very well rinsed towel (re no detergent residue) or papertowel to mop up last of water
- now carefully lift out the biggest rocks - substrate should hold the rock shape nicely IF you've done a thorough job with the water draining (best to remove all rocks but at the least do the main stones)
- transport tank to car (you must have a big car!) & wrap to protect glass
& carry on.

Note move the tank LAST - make sure you have checked the intended place for level floor (unless you have levelling legs on the cabinet) & that you've a clear path into the new house for the tank.

Or if you have a couple days before, do it first.

I've slid tank onto table (it's well capable of supporting weight), then moved & set up cabinet in new home, then collected tank - after that first move to table with substrate, the "team" knows if they want to move tank as is ;)
 
Ok I'll remove the sand with the syphon. Sand layer is too deep anyway so perfect excuse to rescape this front bit I guess. I might even do away with the sand altogether. If tank survives.
I'll remove all the rocks and slide the tank onto the wood on top of the table (this piece of wood is to enable us to keep the tank as flat as possible and reduce flexing when carrying the tank by the wood it's resting on).
The only stems I was planning on keeping is the Rotala Wallichi and not too fussed anyway if there's casualties in that dept.

Perhaps I should just strip it all down and start afresh completely...decision time for sure..better be a nice house!
 
Hehe the missus is as gung-ho as me - despite me telling her it's going in the back of her Chelsea Tractor :nailbiting:
No strip down. Just removal of shrimps, water, rocks and probably sand.
D-day (destruction day) is Saturday or Sunday. I shall report back with the results. I will also come back to this thread & admit defeat if it spontaneously implodes weeks later. I'm honest like that ;)

Thanks for all your feedback and help tonight. Very much appreciated :thumbup:
 
Not at all! I'm just worry about everything :). Hubby just reminded me that he moved a 120l goldfish tank containing a lot of gravel and an inch or so of water 20ft across the room while I was out once using brute force, a makeshift trolley and sheer luck and it was in his words 'a piece of cake'
 
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It's the in/out of doors & cars where people get tempted to tilt the tank that creates the torqueing forces

When the sand is out, gravity will suggest to the substrate to fill the void, so be sure to stuff the area well with paper

If the MC does get buried, just syphon or gently brush away most of the covering substrate & it will recover just fine :D
 
I have a piece of moulded perspex separating the soil from the sand. This should keep most of the soil out of the sanded area when I remove it. I'll pack it with something anyway.
You're right though about the twisting forces when getting it in and out of the car. I'll make sure my assistants are well briefed. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Little update:

The tank move happened yesterday. Removed shrimps, drained water, removed the bigger rocks, laid newspaper inside, clingfilmed & bubble wrapped it. We then slid it onto a piece of wood to keep it from twisting when we lifted it.
Managed to get the tank, cabinet, shrimps and all the rest of the gubbins into the car and set it all up again at the other end.

There's been a slight rescape as some of the sp mini got disturbed when I put the rocks back in and I lost a bit of height on the right hand side. I had temporarily propped up this slope with extra substrate supports when I took the rock out but repeated messing in the gloom of muddy water when trying to get the rock back in place screwed it up a bit. It actually looks better now though so it's worked out quite nicely. It's opened up that side quite nicely, lets more light in and created more space behind the rock. It looks more natural now too.
I spent a good couple of hours in the early hours replanting the hair grass on the right side of the tank -was amazed at how many runners were buried around the clumps that were uprooted and disturbed. I have split the clumps much smaller than before so it'll be interesting to see if it spreads quicker this time.

Would I do it again? If I had to, yes. Hopefully won't be moving it any time soon though. Definitely not a walk in the park and we did have a worrying moment when we couldn't get our fingers under the wood in the back of the car to lift it out (I forgot to put it on blocks!).
 
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