FishProfiles.com Message Forums

CRACK!

I moved house a couple of weeks ago...which is why I've been a bit absent from FP, I don't have internet access at home yet (currently stealing a few minutes from the work computer). Anyway, I moved everything else first, then went back for the 120 gallon tank. Had two strong boys to help me, got everything out, caught all the fish, emptied the tank. Muscled it out onto the back of the ute, across the city to the new place, up the stairs with much sweating and swearing, and put it in place. Made 10 minutes worth of minute adjustments to the placement, gave it the thumbs up and went to the Thai place down the road for dinner.

After our friend went home, we went to set it back up and fill it with water. We'd taken the sand out at the bottom of the stairs to make it lighter, and so had this huge salad bowl full of wet sand. My boyfriend took the salad bowl over to the tank to put the sand back in...but, he was holding it just over the top...and it was round and slippery...and down it went, falling for two and a half feet before it hit the bottom of the tank, and yes...CRACK! The entire bottom pane had cracked in every direction. I burst into tears and ran from the room, then pulled myself together because I could hear water dripping (there was about 1/2 an inch left in the bottom, lucky we hadn't started filling it yet) and I ran back with towels to soak it up.

The fish ended up in the empty 20 gallon for a few days, they were practically sitting on top of each other, they were so crowded. The tank went back to the place we bought it from where they replaced the entire bottom pane. Four days later it was back, and this time we were very careful with the sand. Fish have been in for about a week now, they are very happy and luckily there's been no losses from the incident. But oh, how my heart skipped when I heard that sound!

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

Dang. That has got to suck.

Glad you didn't lose any fish.

-- Gomer

Awww no!

Glad there where no losses. May I ask what fish you have in your 120g now???

Oh wow, that's just awful

My husband is pushing to move...I don't want to and am really dreading it, especially with all the fish and tanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Hi,
Gosh, the title of your post says it all... I'm
glad that things worked out and that the tank is
repaired and working well.

I hate to nitpick, but one sentence caught my eye...

"We'd taken the sand out at the bottom of the stairs to make it lighter, and so had this huge salad bowl full of wet sand."

Before moving ANY tank - always, always, remove all the
water, and ALL of the substrate. The wet sand weighs
a tremendous amount and moving a tank will exert huge
forces on the seams as well as stress the straight
flat panes as they are torqued.

I would never take the chance expecially with a
"big water" tank (100+ gallons). They are, as you
know, very heavy and awkward to lift and move.
Using more than one person, one end is generally
lifted before the other and with a person on each
corner, perhaps two in the middle, the lifting
is not even throughout the process.

I'm glad it worked out. I just wanted to caution
other readers, that they may not be as lucky.
Regardless of size, completely empty the tank.
Don't take any chances. The stress and pressures
involved, are similiar regardless of the tank's
size as the glass is proportionally smaller in
smaller tanks.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

One word....DOH!.....(for full effect say like Homer Simpson )

At least things are looking up for you now. This was your Malawi tank, right?

oooooooooo! what a terrible thing to happen! I hope you weren't to hard on the Mere Male... it sounds like you understood that it could have happened to anybody. But still... would have taken a lot of self control!

Phew.. I thought this thread was going to be about a cracking sound, followed by rushing water..!

Thankfully its all fixed and the fish are happily back in their home! After moving house though, that is just one huge extra stress you don't need. I'm not suprised you burst into tears..

When we moved into this house, my brother said he would help me move not appreciating I had a furnished home to move across town.. not just a few boxes. It took many trips and hours longer than we'd hoped/imagined. At 11pm, it was time to move the tank, the fish were bagged and boxed. Then my bro grumpily asked "Can't we just leave it until tomorrow?!" I looked at my 18 month old son eating cake out of a tin with his hands and burst into tears.. the fish would die by tomorrow, and I couldn't even get my poor son fed properly!

Thankfully I managed to get to bed by about 4am..!

Moving house.. what a nightmare.

How sad for you, even if it's fixed now. To go though that was awful. I feel for you!
It's been three weeks since I lost almost all my fish in my 55 gallon, I saved seven out of over forty. And I still see those lifeless little bodies. I've restocked and all my tanks have new heaters. But now I get up one last time each night to just be sure the temp is right.
The tank will never be the same, I'd had otto fry in this tank among others and all is gone...
How sad for you.

It was indeed my malawi tank RScutiepie. 21 full-grown mbuna...imagine that in a 20 gallon tank :%). I'm so surprised they didn't kill each other!

Frank - I agree about taking everything out. Last time we moved we had an older 120 gallon and it began to leak after the move, and that's probably why. We replaced the tank then, but I didn't mind because it was very scratched anyway. But it seems we don't have much luck moving this big tank around, though this is the 4th time we've done it! I can honestly say that I never ever want to move again, it took a week to get everything done this time and still there's outstanding tasks like getting our bond back, and a few boxes still to unpack. I'm so glad we've bought a place now and won't be leaving for a few years yet!

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

P.S. Whetu: he was much harder on himself than I was, I just thought that it could just as easily have been me as him (well, maybe not, I couldn't even have lifted that bowl of sand I think!) But, the poor guy is always the one stuck with the task of carrying the tank when we move, so I have to be grateful for that! And he paid for the repair and took it to the tank place and picked it up when it was done, so he did good.

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde