Moving a tank 3-4"?

[Twosixpax]

I'm sure this must have been covered somewhere but couldn't find anything.

I recently had a Red Sea S1000 installed (7' long, around 210G) but it was installed against a wall with a gap of only 1", leaving no room for the light mount screws, working with cables, accessing the outlet. I'm trying to move the tank an additional 2-3" away from the wall. Are there any tricks to do so easily or do I need to do a complete teardown?

Thanks!

 

[piranhaman00]

Is it full? You absolutely cannot move it with water haha

 

[Quietman]

Not a complete tear down but I'd drain 80-90% of it into Brute tubs - leave enough for fish to breathe. Move the tank with some friends or a crowbar and put the water back in. A utility pump works good for fast transfers. Also make up some 20-40 gallon of new water just because....

 

[ilikefish69]

if you have enough space under it to slide in a pallet mover, you might be able to move it after draining water.

 

[jDoSe]

Depends on what you can get underneath the stand. You don’t want to scratch the flooring.

you will likely need to drain it almost completely. If you have fish, drain it so it’s easy to catch them, remove them, then drain it more. Every tiny bit of water needs to be removed. In that large a footprint even 1” of water weighs a lot.

 

[Quietman]

As I'm sure you know...if you try to move it full that's a lot of weight moving around that the tank wasn't designed for. Very easy to bust the seams and then you're draining it for sure, involuntarily and not into brute cans. I also say a few friends as you're going to need strength applied in multiple places to do it smooth. Herky jerky is bad. If you can't get help, then at that point agree with above, catch the fish and drain the whole thing. Too much money, too much risk, just too much...

Good luck!

 

[Reef Altitude]

If you can get some furniture sliders under it once the water is out it should move an inch or two pretty easily. If the stand is not rigid and twists with 500 lbs (or 1000 or 2500 lbs) on it when you lift one corner its something to think about. Most of these stands are strong in one direction without anything moving, if things twist or shift you might really push something in the wrong way.

Getting as much weight as possible out is the most important way to protect your stand and tank.

 

[Twosixpax]

I'm sure this must have been covered somewhere but couldn't find anything.

I recently had a Red Sea S1000 installed (7' long, around 210G) but it was installed against a wall with a gap of only 1", leaving no room for the light mount screws, working with cables, accessing the outlet. I'm trying to move the tank an additional 2-3" away from the wall. Are there any tricks to do so easily or do I need to do a complete teardown?

Thanks!

Thanks all for the advice. As I feared, sounds like a complete teardown even to move it just a few inches (there's also 200lb + of rock in there. May be easier to move the wall

 

[jDoSe]

Thanks all for the advice. As I feared, sounds like a complete teardown even to move it just a few inches (there's also 200lb + of rock in there. May be easier to move the wall

Yah you’d probably have to remove the rock as well. If you jerk the tank it can shift the rock and crack the bottom of the glass. It’ll be just too heavy.
It’s possible you’ll get lucky, but it’s also possible you will get very very unlucky.

 

[slacker036]

that is a very large tank to move. if you can live with the power situation, you may be able to use something like this to get the screws for the mount IF there is enough room... I grabbed one to install light brackets that had offset screw holes a normal screwdriver could not reach. it has a swivel head so there is some flexibility as well.

 

[Twosixpax]

that is a very large tank to move. if you can live with the power situation, you may be able to use something like this to get the screws for the mount IF there is enough room... I grabbed one to install light brackets that had offset screw holes a normal screwdriver could not reach. it has a swivel head so there is some flexibility as well.

Thanks! I think I'll get one of those anyway, but the brackets are pushed up against the wall without the screws in them (no idea why!) so can't even add the screws. Thinking some sort of shim to get them to stay level