What a day... every aquarium hobbyist's worst nightmare

[SunSchein89]

So to start out, I had work done on the bathroom and needed to move both of my fish tanks in my room (20 and 10 gallons) so they could work on the wall right there. The work has been done for a few days, and having the day off today, I figured it'd be a good time to move the tanks back to where I want them

Anyway, having already moved them before, I figured I could fly through it this time since I knew everything I had to do. Started out emptying my 10 gallon tank about half way, nudged it a bit to test the weight and I figured I could lift it no problem since I already did it once with a little less water.

I start pulling it out from under the stand that my 20 sits on and started putting the weight onto my legs to get a grip and lift it up. Annnnd, I forgot to take my keys out of my pocket!!!! And then came the sound of cracking glass :sconfused: . Turns out if you put all the weight of a fish tank on one spot in the middle of the bottom glass it cracks, who'da thunk? :banghead:

Very, very luckily for me the bottom just spider-webbed everywhere and only sprung a slow leak. But, I still had to drain the 20 and move it across the room first so I could set up the spot for the 10 again, then get out all the plants and net all my fish and shrimp into a bucket. I also just so happened to have an extra 10 gallon tank sitting in the closet... my lucky day I suppose :rolleyes:.

All is apparently well right now, it looks like everyone is going to live through the fiasco. I'm just waiting for the water to clear up so I can start planting everything again. Not exactly how I wanted to spend the last two hours, but hey, I guess it could've been worse.

Anyone else have to go through this mess?

[Xavier]

I'm so sorry for what happened!

I had to move in June and so I had to move my 32gal. Luckily I have a canister filter, and my LFS had given me a fish cooler. I placed each fish in an individual bag and put them in the cooler. I drained the tank, disconnected the filter and removed all the gravel slowly.

I put the optional bottom frame on, which helped distribute the weight and made it so I didn't need to touch the glass at all. Once at the new apartment an hour later, I slowly put the gravel back in, added fresh water, treated it, installed the filter and started it up. 5 hours later I added the fish. My tank was cycled because of the canister filter (eheim 2213).

So, to answer your question, yes and no. I did have to move my tank before, but no, it didn't end in disaster.

[Scrup]

Honestly, I never move a glass tank with more than 1" of water in it for just this reason. I'd rather have peace of mind and an unbroken tank than shave off 20 minutes, but I seem to be the only one who goes by that mentality..lol


Glad no one was injured and the fish pulled through!

[fishluvr]

yea ive moved my 55 gallon and 30 gallon tanks 3 seperate times in the past 5 years. And have always drained as much water out as i possably could get. My problem was when moving such large tanks, you have to keep them level (which is impossable) when moving them up and down steps, the substrate will slide to the lowest level and that person on that end then gets ALL the weight lol.

[SunSchein89]

Ha yeah, I guess I was lured into a false sense of security. I didn't even think of any problems like that happening with the weight because I could just lift the tank by myself no problem.

And, as I was just taking the tank outside to dump the rest of the water and bits of gravel, I realized that the tank isn't tempered at all on the bottom because it's only a 10. There was just a nice line going from one end of the bottom to the other; I could've had the entire contents of the tank spill out on my lap in a matter of a second if that broke through. Turns out the spider-webbing I thought I saw was just from the roots running through the gravel. Very thankful it turned out the way it did to say the least.

[kurly]

Never had that happen to me and hope I never will. I'm glad that you had an extra 10 gallon tank on hand.

Thank goodness for MTS! :hmm3grin2orange:

[SunSchein89]

:lol: thankfully my empty tank syndrome was held off long enough to keep the tank actually empty.

[Louis W]

I Like The 1 Inch Of Water Like Scrup Said.. How We Did When We Had To Move Tank"s Before But !@#$ Doe"s Happen..:fish: Good You Had A Spare Sittin Around :fish :fish: :fish:

[Louis W]

I Set Up a 75g I Have
2 Pair Of Guppy"s
1 Pair Cremecicle Lyretail Molly"
1 Pair Dalmatian Mollies
1 Cory Cat
I Am Gonna Have Just Lil Fish Like Them How Many Total Would Any 1 Thing
The Most Would Be For This Tank ...And I Will Be Adding A Pleco When Tank Is Ready.. Tank Is Lookin Good

Thank"s:fish: :fish: :fish:

[Sursion]

Keys in your pocket managed to crack the glass? That's strange. My tank seems so sturdy :O

Very unlucky indeed. I hope all goes well.

[j_vincent]

I had a day like that once. Absolute nightmare. I discovered a small, leaking crack on the side of my old planted 20g tank. About 5 minutes after saying this, my then-gf was rushing out the door for work and on her way out grazed the side, making it all that much worse. The tank sat on my desk, and the water started running into the drawers, soaking everything. I frantically tried draining it below the crack and rushed over to the LFS and bout a new 30g to replace it (I'd been wanting a slight upgrade). I transfered all the substrate over and started filling, keeping all my plants and fish in a different bucket. The #$%*$#@ who put the tank together didn't seal it all the way, and since the desk was already pretty much wet, I didn't notice the small leak at the bottom of the new tank until substrate started coming with the water. Rushed back over and finally got a good tank, but daayum, what a wreck. I feel your pain...

[barney]

Crikey I will have to move my tank after Christmas, if not before and I'm now dreading it. The idea of a base to place the tank on for moving it , it a good idea and leaving the inch of water over the gravel. I'll keep that in mind. Sorry you had a rough day with your tank splitting.

[CrazedMichael]

There is ONE small suggestion to what you can do in relation to older tanks... When you put down the under-tank foam, or whatever that tank may be using, add a towel or something on top of that, sandwiched between the foam and the tank. Have the edge of the towel about 2-3cm hanging over the sides.

This way you'll know if there's a leak. It would be wet.

[Lady Hobbs]

Sounds to me as you were very lucky. Only a 10 gallon with another for a back-up tank at the ready........I would call that almost a good day.

[SunSchein89]

Sounds to me as you were very lucky. Only a 10 gallon with another for a back-up tank at the ready........I would call that almost a good day.

Yeah, it definitely could've been much worse. Unfortunately, it appears that I killed off most of my bacteria in my filter in the process :smad:. So now I'm starting my cycle all over with a bunch of cherry shrimp and otos in there, which I know don't appreciate the ammonia at all. What a pain.


Keys in your pocket managed to crack the glass? That's strange. My tank seems so sturdy :O

Very unlucky indeed. I hope all goes well.

The keys in my pocket really only cracked the glass because there was probably a good 60+ lbs all centralized on that one spot as opposed to being spread out throughout the frame like it should be when on a stand.