How to: Moving really big tanks??

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Psylant

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 24, 2011
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Canada
HI everyone... not sure where this should go....

I'm looking at buying a 8' x 4' x 2.5' glass tank. It's sitting in the guy's garage so it should be "easy" to get onto a trailer:ROFL:. Is there any special precautions one must take when moving something like this? Put some foam under the tank and put it on the flattest surface possible I would guess? It's going to weigh a ton and I'm pretty intimidated by the idea of moving this. Will it be ok to roll onto it's side (to fit through door frames) and "slide" it down some fairly plush carpeted stairs? Would appreciate info from anyone who has done this sort of thing. The largest I've ever moved previously was 180g and it wasn't easy... and I'm sure it's about 4x heavier than that.
 
I have access to heavy equipment so i would use a fork lift. If you don't get some guys to hand bomb it lol that's a nice size tank tho that would be a little big for a dolly.
 
I'd seriously consider investing in some of those suction cup handles glaziers use for carrying glass, you can get some that are rated for 100kg+, I think having eight of them and eight strong guys you should be able to move it ok.

If you know the thickness of the glass you can use this calculator to get an idea of what it is going to weigh, my 2000L tank with 15mm glass is similar dimensions and according to the calculator weighs 368kg.
http://www.theaquatools.com/building-your-aquarium
 
I won't know the thickness until tomorrow. I'm going to assume it's 3/4" and 1.5" on the bottom if I had to take a wild guess.
 
Thats really good idea about the suction cup handles. Carrying big tanks is stressful! I would be hesitant to turn it on its side, but I'll let others chime in. A 150 is the largest I've ever moved & it was rough
 
I got two of the expensive suction cups, I think they were around $60 each (better quality than harbor freight $10 ones) for the ends of the tank, then straps to go under the middle with people on each side.

Personally, I wouldn't set it on its side, I don't know if it's made to handle that kind of pressure. Maybe it could handle it, but I wouldn't chance it setting it down that way.
 
The most important thing, other than not dropping it, is not twisting it.
A slight twist can lead to hairline cracks. I moved a 6' one a few months back and put a hairline crack in one of the 3/4" thicklarge panels, it was fixable, but better not to go thru that.
 
Imo, it's not worth it to buy huge glass tanks like that. You take a huge risk when you move it and you probably need to hire some guys to help move it. That tank you're gonna buy is going to take at least 8 guys to move I bet.

I'd just wait for good quality acrylic tank to show up, even if it's a little smaller. Acrylic is half the weight and much stronger than glass and that justifies the higher price. If you have to pay guys to help move glass tank then the cost is just about even anyway.
 
Ur best bet may be to dissassemble it piece by peice and carry it to your destination that way than put it back together. Pharoah moved one like that with a thread somewhere on here. I also use suction handels quite frequently when moving tanks and other mfkers always call to borrow them, thats how good they are. Suction handels save fingers. As for moving it down the stairs not a good idea to "slide" it but if you can muster up 6-8 or more people to help you thats by far your best option. Its better to have more people there than not enough. Man power is always the best solution to heavy tanks. I think it should be fine being flipped on its side to go through a door, just dont leave it sitting on its side for to long or try and drag it like that.
 
another option is leaving it "flat" and coming in through a window. Theres alot of pics of that being done on here aswell with 10-12 people carrying huge glass tanks.
 
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