sump will not fit....suggestions?

[revival]

Ok here is the situation...my roommate has a up and running 110 gallon (48x18x30). We planned on running a sump and made model 20/30 gallon from cardboard and it will not fit thru the front doors of the stand. The tank is against the wall.

What is the safest way to put the sump in without risking damage to the tank or the fish?

The only way a sump is going in is thru the back, or definately thru the top.

These are our ideas so far:

1. Drain the tank as much as possible and somehow put sliders under the corners of the stand and slide it out.

2. Drain the tank as much as possible and somehow lift the tank and place the sump thru the top of the stand.(dont like this idea)

3. Drain the tank completely, take out the gravel, put all fish and water in containers and and slide it out and put the sump thru the back. How dangerous will this be for the fish?

So my question is what is the best way to do this? Thank you in advance.

 

[frnchjeep]

Is the tank and stand level without shims? If it is I would go with 1. If there are shims, you are going to screw them up when you slide the tank and you won't ever get them back in with water, gravel, etc. in the tank. If this is the case, I would go with #2 if the fish are small enough to be ok in like an inch of water. If not then put them in buckets. Also, you should take the gravel out, too, to lighten it up. There is probably 100+ lbs. of gravel in there. On my 220, the sump only goes in and out through the top of the stand. Doesn't fit through the front or back.

 

[CA-Delta]

How about a picture of the stand ?

 

[revival]

How about a picture of the stand ?

Both pictures are from a while ago....but u can get the idea from the pics

 

[CA-Delta]

Given that you are building a sump to fit , you have to be flexible with sizes. If you give me accurate dimensions of the stand, internally, front to rear. Size of the door openings and rear openings and the width of the center uprights, front and rear. distance from the back of the tank to the wall. I will draw you the largest sump that will fit without modification or draining the tank. If you choose to accept my offer read the requirements carefully before posting. This offer will self destruct in 12 hours.

 

[revival]

Given that you are building a sump to fit , you have to be flexible with sizes. If you give me accurate dimensions of the stand, internally, front to rear. Size of the door openings and rear openings and the width of the center uprights, front and rear. distance from the back of the tank to the wall. I will draw you the largest sump that will fit without modification or draining the tank. If you choose to accept my offer read the requirements carefully before posting. This offer will self destruct in 12 hours.

Thx for the offer but just to be clear, we are not building the sump. We just wanted to buy a 20-30 gallon tank for the sump and go from there. Appreciate the help though.

 

[Malawi Monster]

I would drain it as much as possible...and see if you could slide it away from the wall to place the sump in from the rear.

 

[BadOleRoss]

I had the same tank and had to put the sump in through the top. From your pics, it looks like your stand has a read brace so you will need to go in through the top or remove the rear brace while you install the sump. If it were me, I would drain the tank down, slide the stand out, remove the rear center brace, install sump, reinstall brace and refill the tank. But, thats me. If you are not handy with this kind of thing, remove the tank and install from the top.

 

[revival]

Ok say we do go from the top.......do you guys think it would be safe if we didnt remove the gravel or should we take out everything to be completely safe?

 

[I<3fish]

Ok say we do go from the top.......do you guys think it would be safe if we didnt remove the gravel or should we take out everything to be completely safe?

Well what I'm going to say is: "Good luck lifting it with gravel still in there."