75g move

[modernhamlet]

So after moving 2 apartments into 1 new apartment across town on Friday and then attending a wedding (getting no sleep of course) over the weekend, Monday was fish moving day. Yes, they got a day all to themselves.

Thankfully the move went off more or less without a hitch. 75g tank, stand, 250lbs of rock, 2 filters, an undergravel jet system, and 26 fish were moved without loss over the course of about 5 hours. In fact, I actually GAINED fish in the move!

To explain... I already had 4 Pseudotropheus Acei fry growing out in their own little tank so that i wouldn't have to worry about them during the main move. But wouldn't you know it, as I'm breaking down my canister filter I find not 1, but 2 more Acei fry... alive and well... IN THE FILTER medium. In spite of the fact that they were almost completely unable to swim, they were actually quite a bit bigger than their not sucked into the filter bretheren. Nice when the food comes to you, no!? I have no idea how long they were in there, but I suspect at least 2-3 weeks in one case, as it had taken up residence under a rock near the filter intake and dissapeared some time ago.

All six are happily swimming away in their growout tank under the main one at our new place.

Anyway, thought I'd share a part of my crazy day...

There's another part about putting the tank in the wrong place, angering the girlfriend substantially and performing the minor miracle of moving a 1000 lb tank... by myself... at 2AM... and without her waking up... and without taking any water out...

But that's another fish tale altogether.

 

[comedykicks]

That's awesome! You're the superman of fish

 

[SarahBravo]

Without taking the water out? You should sell that trick to David Copperfield!!! And I thought I had it bad breaking down and resetting up a couple of 4 footers!

WOW!

Glad the move went okay

 

[Mo_loves_fish]

congratz on the fry i know how excting it is to find more after a few days of having some i found 5 the other day in mine unexpectdedly

 

[Ben]

Haha, thats awesome
Atleast you never had to spend an hour trying to catch them


DD

 

[modernhamlet]

Haha, thats awesome
Atleast you never had to spend an hour trying to catch them
DD

[snapback]892330[/snapback]​

Funny you should mention... I actually spent more than 4 hours hunting down the 4 fry I already had in the fry tank! )

But these guys were a piece of cake, so my average is down to 40 minutes per fish.

 

[colen]

I would be interested in how you went about moving the tank while it was full of water. I'd love to hear the story, please share

 

[modernhamlet]

I would be interested in how you went about moving the tank while it was full of water. I'd love to hear the story, please share

[snapback]892477[/snapback]​

I think this falls directly into the "don't try this at home" category. Seriously. It was 2am, I was exhausted and stupid. Thinking back, I can't believe I took the risk.

Basically there were three elements to it:

1. Hardwood floors. The smoother the better. Our new landlord had just had the floors redone, so it was probably ideal.

2. Furniture sliders. I've always had these under my 75g stand... not so I could move it, but because they are great for dispursing the weight that might otherwise dig into the floor. They look like this:

3. Olive oil. A few tablespoons of oil per leg, spread copiously over the floor in the direction I wanted the tank to go.

After that, I just laid down on the floor with my feet against a wall, my hands on two of the stand legs, and very, very carefully pushed until the tank started to slide. The first time I didn't have the control down, so I got a bit of a tsunami wave that splashed some water over the side. After that I was able to move it slowly... 3, maybe 4 inches at a time with much less splashing. In all, I think I moved it about 2 feet.

If I ever did it again, I would remove at least 3/4 of the water. And get a friend to help, for better control.

Thinking back, I wonder what the fish were thinking while this was going on.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

^ You're a nutter!
Hugs,
P.

 

[colen]

modernhamlet,

that sounds like something I would do! (or have done )

When you first said you had moved the size of a tank on your own, while full of water, I figured you were right full of BS... however I do believe you now lol.

I recently did something very similar with a 55 gallon, but I just had to move it 6 inches out from the wall. Good job the move went smooth, just imagine how happy your girlfriend would have been wtih you if you had dumped 75g of water all over the new hardware floors, haha.