How do I move my tank?

Daphne's_Reef · 2026-06-05T11:23:16-0400

I have a 40 breeder. I've kinda decided I'd like to move it to another room in my house. It'd let me use the space in my bedroom a bit better, I won't need to be so paranoid that even with the lid my birds will find their way into it, and the spot I want to move it won't have it directly over the outlet any longer. My DIY stand has been holding up for a couple years now, but I'm still always a touch paranoid (ahhh, good old anxiety disorders

Gotta love them!)

I'm 99% certain I can physically lift the tank, since I was just able to pick the one this one replaced up (also a 40 breeder, but a lot older, but it WAS on the ground, and not a couple feet off the ground). I don't have sand, so I was thinking to pull the rock, put some water with it, pull/discard 5 gallons for a water change (eh, have the pre-mixed salt, so why not?) with as much of the grunge from the bottom as I can suction out, then pull ALL the water into buckets, haul the stand and tank into the other room, and refill it. Is that a solid plan, or is there a better way to do it? What sort of time limit should I give myself? Like, if I haul everything apart and want to take a 15 minute break to drink some water, is that going to hurt anything, or since it's only moving 50 feet or so instead of across town, will it be a non-issue that everything was just drastically disturbed?

tmcca · 2026-06-06T01:45:29-0400

Your plan is fine. Make sure your tank is completely empty though. The bottom is tempered glass, so extreme caution. The tank should be lifted from the bottom and level. Tempered glass, even a slight bad angle can shatter it. It is stronger than standard glass, but the problems are the corners if this makes sense. That is why most manufacturers now use a foam to put under the tank to make the tank level to stand (rimless tanks though). I don't think frame tanks need it because of brace.

Daphne's_Reef · 2026-06-06T02:29:05-0400

If that's the case, would it be safe to, when I pick it up, put it on the floor and drag/push it along? Might scuff up the rim some if I can't find something to put under it, but would keep me from needing to keep that big bulky thing from twisting.

Mebbid · 2026-06-06T02:38:17-0400

Daphne's_Reef said:
If that's the case, would it be safe to, when I pick it up, put it on the floor and drag/push it along? Might scuff up the rim some if I can't find something to put under it, but would keep me from needing to keep that big bulky thing from twisting.

You can, but imho not really necessary. If you were gonna go that route get a moving blanket from harbor freight and set the tank on top of that, pull the blanket around. I've moved tanks alone from 40 breeders up to 75g but the 90 was too much, it's not fun, but it's doable and the risk of breaking isn't huge.