pls advise how to change cabinet

[kelloggs]

Hi all, i intend to change my cabinet for my 4ft tank as i feel that it may give way one of these days. One side of the cabinet is getting harder to open and close, which means the tank may be tilting one side!

My planted tank is mature and i do not want to disturb it and go thru' the whole hassle of putting sand, planting and waiting for cycle. Also, i do not have other resources to house my altums and plants at this moment, while waiting for the new tank set up. It took me quite sometime to produce a colony of good bacteria in the filter..

I am going to ask a silly question:- is there a way to change the cabinet while leaving the tank set up intact. That is lifting the tank out and shift'g the new cabinet in. I know it is really heavy with 6 cm of sand. The most i could do is to take out water until about 10cm.. I don't know whether the tank mover has any equipments to do such a task.

I wonder anyone has changed their cabinet. Please advise. Thanks

[aizaspurz]

Haven't done this before....but I try.....

1. Find a large container that you can 'house' your already conditioned water.

2. Remove anything that can be lifted/moved from the tank (for eg. driftwoods, rocks, fishes) and place them inside the same large container for the time being.

By doing the above, at least your tank is lighter (thus easier to be moved/lifted) and also, most of the vegetation are still intact and not uprooted. The habitat are placed inside the conditioned water. Hopefully, they're not thaht stressed.

3. Place your tank now on your new cabinet. And then, slowly transfer the water back into the tank. After this, transfer the driftwoods/rocks/fishes back into the tank.

Hope these limited pointers may be of some help....

[juggler]

It is a risky operation to lift the tank with substrate. The bottom may give way. There's risk of injury and more damage.

I would take the safer approach to redo everything. You can house the livestock in pails with air pump and the filter running. Best if can get a temporary old tank just big enough to house the occupants. I did that when I changed from my 4ft tank to 5ft tank. Luckily for me, I manage to house the fish temporary in a 2.5ft tank with air pump and the same filter running.

Another option is to see if you can get a carpenter to access if it is possible to reinforce the old cabinet.

[prec]

i believe this will give u a chance to rescape ur tank when u change ur cabinet. for me, i would take out say 50% of the water and store it in those large styrofoam boxes and take out the substrate (most heavy) and from there we can lift it up.. done it with my 3ft.

[kelloggs]

Thanks for all the suggestions, bro. I guess i will have to empty the tank before i shift cabinets. Sigh.. it will be another 2 months for the tank to get mature

[rijac]

[quote:f81aa07bac="kelloggs"]Thanks for all the suggestions, bro. I guess i will have to empty the tank before i shift cabinets. Sigh.. it will be another 2 months for the tank to get mature [/quote:f81aa07bac]


actually.. if the tank is mature your bacteria colony can be kept intact if you keep it wet.. and it should not take too long for the tank to be stabil again... just save as much of the tank water as you can and add back once you have completed the cabinet change...


i had the same dilema when i wanted to change my subtrate - moved the fish out.... put as much of the existing tank water in buckets (50% was all i could do), kept the filter media wet... changed the subtrate, put new water in (dechloromined), top up the tank water with the old water, let the dust settle for a couple of hours.. put fish back and thats it...


good luck!