Kessil

Tank move - Pacifica to Los Altos

wwu123

wwu123

Supporting Member
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Happy New Year everyone,

I haven't really had an active reef tank for the last 3-4 years at least, so haven't been on these forums in awhile. However, I did start my first reef tank in 2010 and have still been a supporting BAR member since that time. But having a young kid growing up, didn't really have the time to devote to tank maintenance in recent years...

That all said, a relative just decided abruptly to tear his mature tank down and take a hiatus - a shame as I got him into the hobby a decade back and he's maintained a beautiful mixed reef tank, with never a tank crash. So I'm going to be inheriting his custom tank and stand, but need to find a way to move it urgently within the next couple of weeks. It'll be dry, no livestock, but it's fairly heavy (about 30 x 30 x 20", 1/2" glass IIRC). Also a heavy welded steel frame, though probably less of a concern how to move.

Any up-to-date suggestions on professional movers? I saw recommendations on ggmoving.com on a few threads here in the past two years, are there any others folks might suggest? The move won't be that complicated aside from the tank weight - the current house location has a half-flight of stairs to go down, the destination house has a sloped gravel path from the driveway a door at the rear of the house where the tank will be set up adjacent.

Or are there able-bodied folks here who might be willing to help with a DIY move in exchange for some used equipment? I'll be inheriting all of his lighting, sump, dosing, other equipment too, so I have a bunch of stuff I'll probably be parting out for any volunteers? The used stuff includes another custom tank previously passed from the same relative, a custom (IIRC, 36 x 18 x 24" tall) tank and quality finished wood stand for starters - it's not the ideal profile for a reef-heavy tank, as I find it's difficult to light evenly, but nonetheless it's plumbed with internal overflow. Nice sump, Eheim return pump, other gear. And I have another 24x24x20 CADlights 50 gal (Starfire glass) idle as well, a small ADA Amano tank, etc.

Thanks for any and all suggestions. Excited to get set up and back into the hobby again.

-Warren
 
Whats in Pacifica and needs to be moved three tanks sumps and stands plus equipment ?
Do you have a vehicle that will accommodate everything or renting a uhaul if need so just need the muscles?
Good news your getting back in!!!
 
I might be able to help seriously depends on time and day of the planned move. Saturday or sunday afternoons normally work best for me.
 
Hey all, apologies for the delayed response, after my initial post I was dealing with a few ill family members during the tail end of our trip as well as on our flight home yesterday...

Thanks to all for the words of encouragement, as well as offers of help or support both on the thread and a few PM messages as well. I realize the offers to help move on either end will also depend on what exact day/time the move happens, and I'm guessing the weekends are going to be more likely available the weekdays for most.

I also realized I probably grossly miscalculated the weight of the glass tank (actually 30 x 36 x 18" high) - seems like it's "only" about 160 lbs, not 350-400 lb as I thought. So maybe only need 4 able-bodied folks at each house, I will be one of them, can handlle it. Would the suction cups be needed with one person on each corner - I'm on the waiting list for the club ones, but not scheduled til end of month...it's just the tank and stand that need help (the rest of the equipment I can move before of after myself), and the 30" dimension is just narrow enough to move through the doorways on each side while still carried upright.

I'm also checking with ggmovers, just because there is some urgency to get the tank out of the other house within the next 2-3 weeks, and the pro movers probably have weekdays available, of which there are more weekdays than weekend days to schedule. Regardless if I use pro movers, I pretty much am committed to getting rid of the current tank and most of the used equipment from that setup, not to mention the used equipment from my original tank (that have already been sitting in storage now for 5+ years).

So I think parting things out for FREE to the volunteers here first, and then to the BAR community would be most appropriate whether it ends up a pro move or DIY one. I think both I and my relative would both want to see everything get a home where it can be lovingly in use, rather than sitting around (as sadly much has for too long)

I need to see if I can get the sick kid to school this morning or not, and get the house back in order today, but then I'll spend more time to thoroughly go thru the responses and try to figure out candidate dates for a possible DIY move, and get back to everyone here with more details. Stay tuned....
 
wwu123 said:
Hey all, apologies for the delayed response, after my initial post I was dealing with a few ill family members during the tail end of our trip as well as on our flight home yesterday...

Thanks to all for the words of encouragement, as well as offers of help or support both on the thread and a few PM messages as well. I realize the offers to help move on either end will also depend on what exact day/time the move happens, and I'm guessing the weekends are going to be more likely available the weekdays for most.

I also realized I probably grossly miscalculated the weight of the glass tank (actually 30 x 36 x 18" high) - seems like it's "only" about 160 lbs, not 350-400 lb as I thought. So maybe only need 4 able-bodied folks at each house, I will be one of them, can handlle it. Would the suction cups be needed with one person on each corner - I'm on the waiting list for the club ones, but not scheduled til end of month...it's just the tank and stand that need help (the rest of the equipment I can move before of after myself), and the 30" dimension is just narrow enough to move through the doorways on each side while still carried upright.

I'm also checking with ggmovers, just because there is some urgency to get the tank out of the other house within the next 2-3 weeks, and the pro movers probably have weekdays available, of which there are more weekdays than weekend days to schedule. Regardless if I use pro movers, I pretty much am committed to getting rid of the current tank and most of the used equipment from that setup, not to mention the used equipment from my original tank (that have already been sitting in storage now for 5+ years).

So I think parting things out for FREE to the volunteers here first, and then to the BAR community would be most appropriate whether it ends up a pro move or DIY one. I think both I and my relative would both want to see everything get a home where it can be lovingly in use, rather than sitting around (as sadly much has for too long)

I need to see if I can get the sick kid to school this morning or not, and get the house back in order today, but then I'll spend more time to thoroughly go thru the responses and try to figure out candidate dates for a possible DIY move, and get back to everyone here with more details. Stay tuned....
Click to expand...
At 160 lbs this is probably a 2 person job especially with cups (assuming tank doesn't need to be held in some weird or awkward angles to fit through a door).

Maybe a 3rd person if doors need to be held open or stuff shifted around during move like the stand.

To many people can actually make it more cumbersome.
 
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