Removing foam under 400 acrylic tank hard plumbed

[davenmandy]

My task for this weekend is to take the sheet of foam out from under my 7x4x2 acrylic tank because it shouldn't be there in the first place. It is hard plumbed with 2" PVC to the sump which is 1 floor under. It has about a 1-1.5" thick layer of gravel in the bottom. I have 3 large adult stingrays in the tank, 1 of which who will be 1.5 weeks pregnant. My plan (I will have one capable person millerkid519 helping me and possibly 1 less capable person nearby):

1) Drain the tank, keeping as much of the water as I can in a 180 gallon tank nearby as well as any totes and smaller tanks I have on hand

2) Keep stingrays in totes with air stone

3) Once tank is drained, ideally without having to take out the gravel, lift one end of the tank and put a 2x4 under it and on top of the foam

4) Repeat with other side

5) Take an exacto knife and cut the foam width wise down the middle

6) Remove 2x4 from one end and take out the foam with it

7) Repeat on other side

8) Fill back with as much tank water as possible and put stingrays back in

The input I was hoping to get from you guys is a way to reduce as much of the stress as possible for the pregnant ray, whether or not it would be better in step 3 to raise the tank with the foam on top of the 2x4 and break/cut pieces out of the middle, as well as any general advice about this task or things that I may not have thought of. Also, if due to the hard plumbing I am unable to lift the tank the 1.5" to get under the 2x4 without straining the bulkheads or breaking the pipe, does anyone else see different a way this can be done?

Thanks!

 

[davenmandy]

wednesday13 CANAMONSTER Lepisosteus Frank Castle Dieselhybrid DN328

 

[Woefulrelic]

This sounds like a very unpleasant project and I wish you the best of luck.

 

[KNH]

Is the foam causing a problem of some sort? I honestly wouldn't risk moving a pregnant ray unless it was absolutely necessary.

 

[Frank Castle]

I would not move a pregnant ray at all. They stress easily and can go premature. This sounds like a project that should wait until after she has her pups

 

[wednesday13]

Def. sounds like an unpleasent day lol... id hold off. u could prob buy a new acrylic tank with what u can make off the batch of pups ur girls holding . Even tho its on foam... id think lifting it with water in it is prob worse for the tank. as u mention cracking a pipe/bulkhead while ur in a hurry to fire everything back up would not b fun 2 deal with either. been there done that lol... i once cracked a bulkhead on/in the floor of a 500 gal while i was working underneath and had just dropped 2 sharks in after a 6hr acclimation... needles 2 say i took a shower in saltwater, punched a hole through a wall...and still had 2 change the bulkhead while water rushed outta the tank. terrible day lol... luckily my fiance heard me mfin' and came 2 hold towels over the hole while i fed a new bulkhead/ball valve down through the top. save urself the headache and plan for a better time when the tank is not in use... if u think of the 100's+ of people who use foam unknowingly on acrylics u should b fine until u can plan a better scenario to remove it. Seems like a good idea "on paper"...2 many things that can go wrong during tho...esp with a prego girl.

 

[davenmandy]

Thanks for the advice guys. Not to try to shoot you guys all down since you have been so helpful, but she's only 1.5 weeks pregnant, it happened on June 4th, 2016. So actually just a week. Furthermore, I planned to give this girl a nice 3 month break, but I woke up 7 am to go fishing and tank was fine, came back around 1230 and divider was knocked down and she was pregnant. Now I know 2 people that personally bought and transported rays a good few hours and they held their pregnancy to term this fine, and my research shows that early on in pregnancy it's really hard for them to abort. They will be in quite stable conditions, but mama is huge so hauling her out of the tank will be the only thing I'm really worried about. I mean not that I'd want her to abort on purpose but I got 3 under developed embryos in my last litter so I wanted to make sure she got a break, so this could be a blessing in disguise. The rush is some potential seam separation that is expanding. The tank is also not level, so I would like to get that done too. So yes, the plan was to do it after she gave birth to her last litter, the new pregnancy is unexpected that's why I want it done this weekend before it goes too far along. In light of this post, if everyone still agrees that I should wait I will, just hate sketching out about some of my seems that I am definitely seeing crazing and separation expand on. My euro brace is also too thin for the tank.

 

[DN328]

I know little to nothing about stingrays, let alone pregnant ones, so will defer to others in that department

Assuming the PVC's are connected to the bulkhead on the bottom of the tank? Are they glued to the bulkhead and no unions installed? If So, is removing piping via the bulkhead an option for you? What's below the foam - is it just the top surface of your stand? How much room will you have to cut the foam with the 2x4 underneath? In doing that, I take it that's where your concern is with the bulkheads?

Sorry, no suggestions yet, I like to know what we're dealing with first.

 

[davenmandy]

Good questions. I wish I had a pic on this phone, at work right now. The bulkheads are in the corners of the back panel of the tank. When looking at the tank, the one on the left is on a 45 degree decline almost immediately after the Tee, the one on the right goes straight down. Both of these meet at the wall the tank is beside, go in through the wall viaanother 45 for the left one and a 90 for the right one, and then after a run of 2 feet they drop another foot via 90's to the sump connected via bulkheads, however the bulkheads are in acrylic "lids" for the mechanical chamber that can be moved or removed. Picture staring at the tank, the sum would be behind the tank, to the right of the tank about 2 feet, and underneath the tank level about another 2-3 feet in a room below (on a stand). No unions, below the foam is plywood, and for cutting the tank I will have the 1.5" of the 2x4 I place under the tank. I'll get some pics up later, thanks!

 

[davenmandy]

Best pics I have at work. In the tank shot you can see the elbows in the corners. If you look at the sump shot, ignore the flex tubing and picture the pvc going into those black lids that are above the filter floss on the left side. The pipe is not glued into those bulkheads. Essentially the hole the tubing is coming through is right to the trim on the floor above, so the piping goes down about 6 feet from top of the tank, the left most on a 45 and the right most basically straight down and then a bit over. Back panel of my tank would be roughly parallel with front panel of the sump. So if you look to the left of my sump, behind the drywall is concrete, aka the tank is sitting on concrete right beside it but 1 floor up. I'll get better pics later showing how much room I have to work.