Opinions on having professional movers move your tank?

[Yevoc]

Hello,
So we have a discussion going on in my house.

If you are going to have a large tank moved are you better off having you and your friend do it or professional movers.

My area doesn't have professional tank movers so I am referring to general house movers.

COVID has stretched my ability to get army of unpaid volunteers so I am considering shelling out the money. However I seem to remember horror stories of general movers damaging tanks.

Let me know your experience.

 

[Gablami]

There was just a well-responded to thread right on that topic in this Subforum. Let me find it for you:

Large Build - Pay movers to move large tank?

Simple question. Has anyone here paid a moving company to move their larger aquarium into thier home or within thier home? Or is the buddy pizza and beer method best? I am looking into a 240g long aquarium (8'x2'x2') and considering all options for moving it.

www.reef2reef.com

Not to stifle any further conversation. Hope this helps!

 

[DeirdreiPERHenderson]

I think it's easier to pay to movers than to carry it around yourself, money can be made but health not.

 

[Terry Le]

Is your tank actively running with fish and corals? If so I would not trust just anyone to move it

 

[((FORDTECH))]

If it’s 120gallon or less move it yourself. Why waste the money

 

[brandon429]

no better formula than this:

use the fifty page sand rinse/tank relocation thread to handle the biology/actual technique since it always works.


use the man crew to do the heavy liftin' u direct them like a maestro with an ipad opened to any link from the sand rinse thread running six years. make them do all the ordered steps.

any changes they might recommend to the method would thereby be ludicrous in context, chastise them assertively

 

[nezw0001]

I used a professional service to move my 750 from Chicago to western MN and was please with the service and costs.

 

[TheWB]

Hello,
So we have a discussion going on in my house.

If you are going to have a large tank moved are you better off having you and your friend do it or professional movers.

My area doesn't have professional tank movers so I am referring to general house movers.

COVID has stretched my ability to get army of unpaid volunteers so I am considering shelling out the money. However I seem to remember horror stories of general movers damaging tanks.

Let me know your experience.

I’m in the moving industry. I sell moving services for a major van line. Movers are regulated in each state for local moving services and it’s typically not going to be cost effective for you to hire them based on the number of men needed and the minimum move time, where I am it’s 4 hours. Where I am I’d charge you about $288.00 per hour for 4 men so almost $1200.00 not including any insurance. If you need more men it goes up from there. Most movers do not have the suction cups needed for the larger tanks. I would personally make you have it crated before we’d even touch it which would be another $500.00+
Thats why you’ll have trouble getting professional movers to do it. Not saying you can’t find somebody to do it but overall it’s not usually worth it for you or for the mover. It’s just not really what we do.

 

[ApoIsland]

Hello,
So we have a discussion going on in my house.

If you are going to have a large tank moved are you better off having you and your friend do it or professional movers.

My area doesn't have professional tank movers so I am referring to general house movers.

COVID has stretched my ability to get army of unpaid volunteers so I am considering shelling out the money. However I seem to remember horror stories of general movers damaging tanks.

Let me know your experience.

On two separate occasions I have just had the movers handle the tank with all the other stuff in the house. 120 gallon tank and they did a much better job than me and my Idiot Friends the first time I moved it

 

[Montiman]

I have never paid anyone to move my tank but I have moved myself several times and I have been hired to move other people.

I would not consider contacting a general moving company. Just like when my wife had her piano moved she used professional piano movers I would not move an aquarium without an aquarium mover.

When you move many aquariums you get very good at it and you can understand things general movers don't like how to deal with plumbing and leaving room to run electrical lines.

 

[DeirdreiPERHenderson]

It is a difficult question, moving from one place to another is always difficult and time consuming. First of all, the correct and safe packaging of all things takes a long time and I always do it myself. After that I don't have enough power to load in truck all that things. So because of that I'm using services of moving companies. Last two moving I used services of office removals sydney and I remained pretty satisfied with their work. They easily understand what you say to them and can take care properly of your things.

 

[Dolgoipa]

When it comes to moving a large tank, it really depends on what you're more comfortable with and what makes sense financially.

 

[zoejogle]

Hey, great topic! Personally, I have a large tank myself, so I totally understand the need for professional movers. It's a big responsibility and requires special handling.

 

[MnFish1]

Hello,
So we have a discussion going on in my house.

If you are going to have a large tank moved are you better off having you and your friend do it or professional movers.

My area doesn't have professional tank movers so I am referring to general house movers.

COVID has stretched my ability to get army of unpaid volunteers so I am considering shelling out the money. However I seem to remember horror stories of general movers damaging tanks.

Let me know your experience.

The moving is not the big issue, the big issue is the prep. I.e. the crating/packaging. Depending on where you're moving (i.e. how far, etc) - it may be better to sell the tank - and buy a new one? But - I would try not to use a general house mover.

 

[lynn.reef.nerd]

My neighbor hired a company to move a 120gal red sea tank from his garage to the main house. Two men and less than 30 min and they charged him about $400.

I am fortunately enough to have some great locals here and was able to come help move my 90x36x24 tank from one city to the next. We needed 7 people with the 7th as backup. The tank was completely empty so they did not have to move any livestock.

 

[zoejogle]

Thanks for starting this thread because I'm actually looking for similar information. By the way, I came across some moving services for long-distance moves, like from Massachusetts to Florida. One of them is AOA Moving, which I found at https://aoamoving.com/, and I'm thinking of giving them a try. They seem reliable. Can't wait to hear other opinions on this! Oh, and just a heads up, I'm new here on the forum. Excited to join the discussions!

 

[TheWB]

Thanks for starting this thread because I'm actually looking for similar information. By the way, I came across some moving services for long-distance moves, like from Massachusetts to Florida. One of them is AOA Moving, which I found at https://aoamoving.com/, and I'm thinking of giving them a try. They seem reliable. Can't wait to hear other opinions on this! Oh, and just a heads up, I'm new here on the forum. Excited to join the discussions!

Hey man, just a quick note. I'm in the moving industry and I'd highly encourage you to get quotes for interstate moves from reputable national van lines like United or Mayflower. That website you referenced is most likely going to broker out the job which means you have no idea who's actually got your stuff. Reputable movers also do not ask for up front deposits. I encourage you to do your homework before selcting a mover. You'll be much happier.

 

[Thunder_reef]

So our store offers tank moving as a service. We were hired to move a 210 gallon from the customers home to his newly constructed home about 1/2 mile away. It was a fresh water tank that had been running well over 15 years. On day one we showed up with 6 guys and our truck. The customer was supposed to have it emptied so that wall we had to do was disconnect it and lift it. Nope! It still had 6 inches of water and 20 fish in it. After chasing fish and draining we discovered that the back wall that had fake rock glued to was in fact real rock adding a substantial amount of weight to the lift. Wasn’t possible for us to lift so customer agreed to remove said rock and we would return another day. Day 2 arrives and again we show up with several guys and ready. The tank had glued itself to the stand after years of sitting there. The owner began hammering a pry bar between the tank and the stand…I couldn’t watch…the pry bar helped but is wasn’t enough so the customer produced an engine hoist and set it up in his living room…Eventually the tank separated from the stand and we managed to get it on the truck which was precariously sitting at an extreme angle due to the terrain on the property. We drove it to the new house and after an hour or so the customer realized that the tank would not fit in the room he had planned. He instructed us to leave it on his porch and he would be in touch. After driving back to our store, the owner of the store decided that he felt bad for the customer and was not going to charge him for the 2 days we spent there, and we never heard from the customer again. It was an absolute disaster

 

[Scott Dongier]

I used a professional service to move my 750 from Chicago to western MN and was please with the service and costs.

Who did you use

 

[MnFish1]

Hello,
So we have a discussion going on in my house.

Same here

If you are going to have a large tank moved are you better off having you and your friend do it or professional movers.

Professional movers - IF they take liability for their work

My area doesn't have professional tank movers so I am referring to general house movers.

Friends might be better - or selling your old and buying a new tank

COVID has stretched my ability to get army of unpaid volunteers so I am considering shelling out the money. However I seem to remember horror stories of general movers damaging tanks.

Buy a new tank = see. the rest

Let me know your experience.