Transporting glass tanks

[xDestro]

Iv had my eye on a 220 tank stand lids and light my lfs has for $1200 I'm still on the edge of getting it because I want to buy a new truck but I was worried about transporting it? I have a truck but it's a 2003 so it doesn't ride the best plus the trip back would be around 30-40 min. So how well would a large glass tank like that handle all the vibrations from?

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Should not be any problem if you have enough absortion materials around the tank and drive SLOW, AVOID major rough/bad road.
*If you concern about your truck you can rent a Uhaul for few hours and take it home, it's a lot easier to load and unload with uhaul equipment.

 

[xDestro]

Should not be any problem if you have enough absortion materials around the tank and drive SLOW, AVOID major rough/bad road.
*If you concern about your truck you can rent a Uhaul for few hours and take it home, it's a lot easier to load and unload with uhaul equipment.

Roads in my city are crap due to lots of construction and most of the trip would be highway so if I would buy it I could just get lots of pillows and blankets to put under it. I would have to hire a moving Crew anyway to get it in the house and in the basement. Kinda another reason I'm on the edge about it, I'd almost rather save up and buy a large acrylic tank

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

I'd almost rather save up and buy a large acrylic tank

After many years own many Acrylic tanks, I love the glass tank more than Acrylic tanks. If you buy a cheap tank then you're most likely will see a front and back bowing. If you order a custom build tank with HQ materials then it would cost you a ton of money. Acrylic tank easy to scratch and depend on your fish species you want to keep, some species will help you scratch your tank faster

 

[skjl47]

hello; I am going to lurk and see what suggestions show up.

 

[dan518]

I used insulation panels cut them to size and boxed it in,

 

[Drstrangelove]

I've never moved a tank that large, but I did twice move both a 75 and a 55 without a problem. Yours is obviously going to be more difficult, but the same principles apply, imo.

What I did was heavily pad underneath the tanks, added pads / cardboard along the sides, then strapped (roped) them so they couldn't move in any direction inside the truck / van. This was inside a vehicle with other objects. (So it was good as we had more things to prop against and bad because we had more things that might move and strike the tanks.)

Heavy pads were comforters, blankets, and towels. Rubber mats or boxes, would have been ideal, but we didn't have those. Fluffy pillows were good for the sides.

Driving was slow with no sudden starts or stops, no train tracks and a lot of care on turns and steep grades. Iirc, we used emergency blinkers in a number of places.

The other issue was moving them into and out of the truck, through doorways, up and down stairs, etc. I had great help with that. That required a lot of patience and care.

 

[azmtns]

My brother in law moved a 220 gallon tank from Kansas to my house in Arizona when he was going to Iraq. (Took 4 very large military men to move into my house) I have now had that tank for a few years and it was never an issue. He moved it in the back of his pickup truck. No padding, just a strap. It was surrounded by boxes of his stuff that we stored for him. Glass tanks are tough as hell. I have picked up many used tanks in the last 20 years, some very old. They all move well. Strap them in and forget about it. Don't drive any way other then normal. They can always be resealed (recommended for anything that looks questionable). Those are my 2 cents from doing this for 20 years.

 

[eddiegunks]

I use 1 inch insulation foam from lowes/hd. I mainly use it to keep the tanks from miving around when i use a minivan to transport tanks. The tanka slide on the carpet but not on the foam.

If you are worried about the truck, use plywood or foam to help. Juat remember it is goinng to move so strap it in.

 

[Fish Tank Travis]

I picked up my 220 way out in the country around Cincinnati (windy pothole filled back roads). I used my 01 Ram 2500 with a Cummins. Basically, it rides like it's got no suspension. Lol. All I did was put a piece of old carpet down for it to sit on and then strapped it down. I drove easy and it was about a 45 minute drive home. You will be fine.