So I started off geting a 180gallong glass tank, setting it up and decided to replace the 3 tanks that I had originally. They were a 40gal breeder, 60gal breeder and 75gal. They were all glass tanks. So I set up the 180 gallon for a few months and began my search for the other 2 replcement tanks. Low and behold, I found a 135gal AND another 180gal both were Clarity Plus Acrylic tanks.
This was a move that I debated for a few weeks but decided that I wanted both of the 180's in the same family room and the 135gal in the front Room of my house. As this would be their final resting places until we move again. Which for one, we are limited on space and two, who know when the economy will allow us to move into the house that we want in the future....
The family room is a 2 Floor 20 x 24ft addition that is probably 10-15years old. The Floor joists are 2x8's BUT, there is a Cinder block wall that runs the 20ft length, perpendicular to the joists splitting the joist span into 2 11.5ft sections with 16" centers. So all is safe and well accounted for.
Just an FYI... I did this all on my own with no help... My legs, back and arms were sore a coulpe of days after solely because of the dam glass 180gallon. I was ready to call it a day after moving that sucker but forged on to drain and move the 135gal into the front room and then call it a day to get up the next morning and have the rest moved by the early afternoon...
Pics....
This is the 60 gallon breeder tank that housed my colony of N. Venustus, lithobates and Gold Comp.
I aquired a free 50gal setup 2days prior from one of my wifes coworkers and this is what set me up for a fairly smooth transition on the move and focused my motivation for the whole deal... Notice the garden hose hanging inside the 50 gal. FYI- I leanred from the mistake of not checking the level specs on the 50 gal that broke last year and shimmed this tanks stand up before filling...
I used one of the RIO Hyperflow powerheads with an attachment to a garden hose to pump the water from this 60gal to the 50gal about 25ft away. it took little more time to pump the water into the 50 gallon than it took me to wrangle up the 12 fish in that tank and was fortunate enough to find 3 Venustus fry hiding in the rocks... Off to one of the fry tanks they went...
I took the bottom gaurd off of the Rio 12HF and hanged it on the side of the glass with suction cups so that it was about 1/4" off of the bottom of the tank and it sucked that thing all of the way down to only about gallon left in the tank, with the tank lifted on one end of course...
Here is the 180gal Acrylic all preped and readyf or it's first shift, sitting right smack dab in the middle of the 20x24ft family, you guessed it... Right on top of that Cinder Block wall in the crawl space.... Running paralelle with the block wall of course...
Now begins the pumping of the 180gal glass water into the acrylic while transferring the 45trophs and 1 golden nugget into the acrylic... I decided to make an adapter that used the 3rd aquastop valve from one of my FX5's, 1" hose, 1" to 5/8" barb to male 5/8" garden hose adapter and then to the same garden hose I used to pump the water out of the 60gal. And then into the 180 acrylic...
The FX5 worked great and this only took about half an hour to drain the 180gal into the other.
180gal glass empty.... I know that it's sad to see this tank down after all of the work that i put into it but it will be going back up and housing the N. Venustus Colony, my M/F Fronts, Plecos, Lithobates (ellow Blaze) and Comps/ Calvus (when they are large enough) in a nice "little" nitch by the fireplace....
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180 Acrylic is Full of fish and water.... Floor is Rock Solid... Part of me started actually thinking about keeping it there but it didn't make sense being that it had a colbalt background....
)
Next was to figure out how to move this Beast of a tank by myself. Only a beast because I was by myself... So I emptied out the drawers from my dresser, folded one of the hallway rugs in half, slid the dresser down to the tank.... I then placed a couple of the same rugs on top of the dresser. The height of the dresser was taller than the top of the tanks stand. So I lifted the tank end and pushed a 2x4 underneither that I placed there right before lifting that end of the tank... The did the same at the other end and then another at the first end. This gave me enough height under the tank to smoothly swing each end of the tank over onto the dresser. I then proceeded to pop off the bottom trim of the stand and drag it over to the family room carpet by the use of thick, cloth bathroom mats... Then after moving the stand in place and leveling with shims. That's when I moved the tank.
I didn't think to get any pics of the process as I was trying to make sure that i did everything possibly right to avoid damage to myself or the tank... Just so you know how it went....
1. placed the tank and dresser on top of the same bathroom mats at each end to slide across the wood floor and over to the family room carpet.
2. lifted tank off of the dresser onto the floor. (pulled the tank by one end so that the oposite end was just at the edge of the Dresser and lower one end onto the floor. Then lited the other end that was on the dresser still and lower that onto the floor..)
3. Cut 2 2.5ft pieces of 1" ID PVC pipe to roll the tank over to the stand.
4. After tank was in place, I lifted one end onto the stand.... THEN the hardest part comes.....
5. I had to lift the other end of the tank onto the stand the rest of the way "trying" not to damage the top portion of the stands trim...
Result..... after putting a few marks in the trim and sweating about a gallon of water I manaed to get the tank in place once I lossened the mantle of the fireplace (which I had to refit to make the tank fit- It needed it anyhow being that it was way to long) I managed to get the tank onto the stand and in proper filling position....
I used the FX5 and hose adapter to fill the 180gal. I placed the tankmates all in the tank after resting for a few minutes and eating lunch.
Light off in the room that night...
Used the FX5 once again to drain the 135 gallon acrylic and move it before bed. This tank had 13 adult Chaitikas in it....
I got a kick out this next step and few pics.... I added the 13 Blues in the tank with the 45juvies and to my surprised they did fantastic!!! I wasn't quite sure what to expect but they did great over night!
They started schooling together and everything...
SO the next moring I slapped together to the 135gal after leveling and shimming the stand up....
Then, with the juvies still in the 180gal acrylic, I drained it down to about 1" of water, move the tank into position and began to fill her up. Fianlly the last step...
Almost full. This was after adding all of the established aragonite, the FX5 and part of the rocks from the 135gal. (need more for that one now)
Finally, The job was done and I was satified with the results... THAT was a lot of work but it was so worth it!
I just have to finish the stand and build a canopy for the tank. The funny thing is.... I didn't use to like canopies..... Now I do. This has only manifested in the last month.... I REALLY like canopies. but I have to admit.... I like the way an acrylic tank looks without the canopy as well. it almost looks like big block of water on top of the stand or something... Sounds silly I know...
Thanks for looking and letting me share.... If anyone has any questions or need for ideas I will do my best to help out....
P.S. I can't wait to get a basement in our new house!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a simple video to show the level of noise that these tanks create. I have an FX5 on each of the 180gallons and a Fluval 404 plus a 25 gallon/ 1600gph 2 pump sump on the 135gal....
[YT]LsTZYpmqLiE[/YT]
This was a move that I debated for a few weeks but decided that I wanted both of the 180's in the same family room and the 135gal in the front Room of my house. As this would be their final resting places until we move again. Which for one, we are limited on space and two, who know when the economy will allow us to move into the house that we want in the future....
The family room is a 2 Floor 20 x 24ft addition that is probably 10-15years old. The Floor joists are 2x8's BUT, there is a Cinder block wall that runs the 20ft length, perpendicular to the joists splitting the joist span into 2 11.5ft sections with 16" centers. So all is safe and well accounted for.
Just an FYI... I did this all on my own with no help... My legs, back and arms were sore a coulpe of days after solely because of the dam glass 180gallon. I was ready to call it a day after moving that sucker but forged on to drain and move the 135gal into the front room and then call it a day to get up the next morning and have the rest moved by the early afternoon...
Pics....
This is the 60 gallon breeder tank that housed my colony of N. Venustus, lithobates and Gold Comp.
I aquired a free 50gal setup 2days prior from one of my wifes coworkers and this is what set me up for a fairly smooth transition on the move and focused my motivation for the whole deal... Notice the garden hose hanging inside the 50 gal. FYI- I leanred from the mistake of not checking the level specs on the 50 gal that broke last year and shimmed this tanks stand up before filling...
I used one of the RIO Hyperflow powerheads with an attachment to a garden hose to pump the water from this 60gal to the 50gal about 25ft away. it took little more time to pump the water into the 50 gallon than it took me to wrangle up the 12 fish in that tank and was fortunate enough to find 3 Venustus fry hiding in the rocks... Off to one of the fry tanks they went...
I took the bottom gaurd off of the Rio 12HF and hanged it on the side of the glass with suction cups so that it was about 1/4" off of the bottom of the tank and it sucked that thing all of the way down to only about gallon left in the tank, with the tank lifted on one end of course...
Here is the 180gal Acrylic all preped and readyf or it's first shift, sitting right smack dab in the middle of the 20x24ft family, you guessed it... Right on top of that Cinder Block wall in the crawl space.... Running paralelle with the block wall of course...
Now begins the pumping of the 180gal glass water into the acrylic while transferring the 45trophs and 1 golden nugget into the acrylic... I decided to make an adapter that used the 3rd aquastop valve from one of my FX5's, 1" hose, 1" to 5/8" barb to male 5/8" garden hose adapter and then to the same garden hose I used to pump the water out of the 60gal. And then into the 180 acrylic...
The FX5 worked great and this only took about half an hour to drain the 180gal into the other.
180gal glass empty.... I know that it's sad to see this tank down after all of the work that i put into it but it will be going back up and housing the N. Venustus Colony, my M/F Fronts, Plecos, Lithobates (ellow Blaze) and Comps/ Calvus (when they are large enough) in a nice "little" nitch by the fireplace....
180 Acrylic is Full of fish and water.... Floor is Rock Solid... Part of me started actually thinking about keeping it there but it didn't make sense being that it had a colbalt background....
)
Next was to figure out how to move this Beast of a tank by myself. Only a beast because I was by myself... So I emptied out the drawers from my dresser, folded one of the hallway rugs in half, slid the dresser down to the tank.... I then placed a couple of the same rugs on top of the dresser. The height of the dresser was taller than the top of the tanks stand. So I lifted the tank end and pushed a 2x4 underneither that I placed there right before lifting that end of the tank... The did the same at the other end and then another at the first end. This gave me enough height under the tank to smoothly swing each end of the tank over onto the dresser. I then proceeded to pop off the bottom trim of the stand and drag it over to the family room carpet by the use of thick, cloth bathroom mats... Then after moving the stand in place and leveling with shims. That's when I moved the tank.
I didn't think to get any pics of the process as I was trying to make sure that i did everything possibly right to avoid damage to myself or the tank... Just so you know how it went....
1. placed the tank and dresser on top of the same bathroom mats at each end to slide across the wood floor and over to the family room carpet.
2. lifted tank off of the dresser onto the floor. (pulled the tank by one end so that the oposite end was just at the edge of the Dresser and lower one end onto the floor. Then lited the other end that was on the dresser still and lower that onto the floor..)
3. Cut 2 2.5ft pieces of 1" ID PVC pipe to roll the tank over to the stand.
4. After tank was in place, I lifted one end onto the stand.... THEN the hardest part comes.....
5. I had to lift the other end of the tank onto the stand the rest of the way "trying" not to damage the top portion of the stands trim...
Result..... after putting a few marks in the trim and sweating about a gallon of water I manaed to get the tank in place once I lossened the mantle of the fireplace (which I had to refit to make the tank fit- It needed it anyhow being that it was way to long) I managed to get the tank onto the stand and in proper filling position....
I used the FX5 and hose adapter to fill the 180gal. I placed the tankmates all in the tank after resting for a few minutes and eating lunch.
Light off in the room that night...
Used the FX5 once again to drain the 135 gallon acrylic and move it before bed. This tank had 13 adult Chaitikas in it....
I got a kick out this next step and few pics.... I added the 13 Blues in the tank with the 45juvies and to my surprised they did fantastic!!! I wasn't quite sure what to expect but they did great over night!
They started schooling together and everything...
SO the next moring I slapped together to the 135gal after leveling and shimming the stand up....
Then, with the juvies still in the 180gal acrylic, I drained it down to about 1" of water, move the tank into position and began to fill her up. Fianlly the last step...
Almost full. This was after adding all of the established aragonite, the FX5 and part of the rocks from the 135gal. (need more for that one now)
Finally, The job was done and I was satified with the results... THAT was a lot of work but it was so worth it!
I just have to finish the stand and build a canopy for the tank. The funny thing is.... I didn't use to like canopies..... Now I do. This has only manifested in the last month.... I REALLY like canopies. but I have to admit.... I like the way an acrylic tank looks without the canopy as well. it almost looks like big block of water on top of the stand or something... Sounds silly I know...
Thanks for looking and letting me share.... If anyone has any questions or need for ideas I will do my best to help out....
P.S. I can't wait to get a basement in our new house!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a simple video to show the level of noise that these tanks create. I have an FX5 on each of the 180gallons and a Fluval 404 plus a 25 gallon/ 1600gph 2 pump sump on the 135gal....
[YT]LsTZYpmqLiE[/YT]
