High Tide Aquatics

Help with heavy tank?

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bspirou

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Good evening BA reefers!

New to the group and looking forward to getting back to reefing after many years away!

I'm very excited to have a new tank arriving soon (IM INT 200)! Per IM, the tank weights about 600 pounds and I don't have any local "helpers" to get this thing on the stand. So far, I've only found one moving company that will come move the tank from the garage to the living room - a 20 minute job at the most - and they want 500 bucks!!!

Any suggestions for getting the tank from the garage to the stand? There are no stairs, the only elevation change is the 2-3" high threshold from the garage to the house. I've seen them use little hydraualic lifts on Tanked, but I can't seem to find where to rent one of those, and I'm not sure that my wife and I could do the sliding of the tank to and from the lift ourselves.

Any ideas out there? How did you all move your large/heavy tanks?

Thanks!
 
Oakland Evan said:
FYI I just moved a 210g tank with 3 people, no way it weighed 600 lbs.
Click to expand...
You're just super strong Evan :D

Well lets see, 71L x 30W x 22H. Probably only 1/2" glass at that height. So front and back panel will weigh 70.5 lbs each, 2 side panels about 30 lbs each. bottom panel 96 lbs. Yeah that's like 300 lbs. Even if it was 3/4" that'd only be 450. Maybe the weight includes that of the stand, sump, and everything else that comes with it?
 
Ok I take that back, just looked at the specs, they do in fact do 3/4" glass, which seems like supreme overkill for a tank that's eurobraced, but hey what do I know my 1/2" tank leaked :D and ~7/8s for the bottom. So yeah that's pushing 460lbs.
 
Welcome back to the hobby! I hired a moving company in Union City for $250. I helped lift the tank from the furniture dolly to the stand because I like to be extra careful but I don't think they needed me. I looked for movers who work with pianos because they're used to moving heavy, delicate items.
 

Sunbelt Rentals Maintenance

www.sunbeltrentals.com www.sunbeltrentals.com

Way back when we had a Burlingame reefer had a 150(?) gallon tank, but the builder made the back wall 1.25" thick I believe (lots of holes for a closed loop), they rented something like this
https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/1213/0440089/duct-jack-material-10ft-15ft/ Allowed us to crank it up, roll it along and jack it up to a 1.5 story floor. That said you need the width to roll it. But if you have a flat approach maybe a rigger set would be a better choice, it doesn't help you lift at all, but it makes moving a tank super easy.
 
Great group here - thanks for all the feedback and offers of help! I just added a supporting membership :). Looking forward to it!

I'm in Benicia, so kind of far from most of you, I think.

The furniture dollies should work well to get the tank to the stand and then the material lift to go up from there. I'm also still trying to find a lift table for rent as I think this would be the ideal solution: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_material-handling+lift-tables

Has anyone ever tried to move a tank with an air sled?

Mike - what do you mean by a "rigger set"?
 
Become a member and borrow the club’s suction cup.

If it’s nearby I can help. I have cups too if needed.



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All I can say is borrow those suction cups! Four cups and four guys was all it took to carry my 72-30-24 glass tank from the garage, up a few stairs and around two corners. Without them...not a very good idea

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Galoot said:
All I can say is borrow those suction cups! Four cups and four guys was all it took to carry my 72-30-24 glass tank from the garage, up a few stairs and around two corners. Without them...not a very good idea

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
This x10, suction cups make holding a tank WAY easier when it's not finger tips around the bottom rim.
 
Welcome to BAR. I wish I was closer to you or heading that way. Please start a tank thread with the build. I would love to see the set up.
 
I'm in Oakley and work in Martinez. I can help if you need it. Get a hold of the suction cups for sure. A couple of piano dollies would help moving if from A --> B. I have a couple available if you need them.
 
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