Saturday, April 24: need some help, and lots of buckets
 

My tank move day approaches .... Saturday April 24.

My plan is to rent a van for the weekend.

I hope to keep as much of my water as possible, so, if you have any spare 5g or 8g buckets that I could borrow for a day or two, I would like to hear from you. (Write your name on them in permanent marker or something like that, so that I have an easy way to remember what to return and to whom, and all that good stuff.)

I am going to build some cradles for carrying the tanks so that they can be carried upright without the bulkheads on the bottom pane needing to be removed (they are in there permanently, to remove them means to replace them). I also hope to keep the sandbeds as intact as possible, but we'll see how that goes.

I figure 4 people should be able to carry the tanks. I include myself in that headcount ... so .. uh .. are there three people who would be able to help me on this day?

I will compensate with beer or other choice beverages, pizza, frags, etc. .. ? Negotiable.

A couple of folks have already kindly volunteered some equipment, like Jim's 55g drum, and Doug's diatom filter, and .... just wanna say again, thank you, and yes I would still very much like to be able to borrow those things please.

Basically if you have anything like a rubbermaid, or spare buckets that can house pieces of reef, some fish and other critters, corals, and saltwater ... and don't mind volunteering them out for a weekend, I beg of you to let me borrow them that weekend. PleaseAndThankYou!!

Thanks in advance, everyone!!

Hey Tony,
I can help only on Sunday if you need some then.

I do have Plenty O Bucket's you can use. I believe I have 6ish.
I also have 3 spare 10g tanks and a 33g tank you could use.
As well as LOTS of room in my sump and frag tank if you need it.

Hey Tony ... I have some buckets ... couple of rubbermaid trash cans that I use for water changes ( 27G I think ) a 33G tank and a 10G tank plus my frag tank and sump for holding rock/fish/ etc

I have to work Saturday and Sunday but could lend a hand in the morning on both days ... let me know

Cheers

I can help all day. Only have a few buckets though.

Barry is in with rubbermaids and pails. Battery air pumps if you want for the fish.

Can most likely come from Edmonton Tony with my truck if that would help.

I have lots of buckets and stuff..

des

Tony, something that may be worth looking in to is the rental of suction/vacuum handles for glass. Especially if the tanks must be lifted straight up from the stand to clear the bulkheads. Getting two pairs of those could make for an easier lift for four guys. I'm sure you've got lot's 'o spare time right now to look into these items... :rolleyes: . Let me know if you'd like me to "shop it out" for you. :cool:

Hey Tony,
I'm in. I only have one bucket though. I would recommend going with the 5 gal. RO water containers at the store though. Benefits of this are: containers are watertight, no leaking even if they get knocked over. They have big handles, easier to carry. You get your deposit back when you return them. They come filled with RO water which you will probably need also.

You should be able to keep your sand bed in tact no problem. I would recommend using a piece of 3/4" plywood to support the bottom of the tank. You may lose the bottom other wise. Makes it easier to carry also.

Mike

I will certainly try and make it from the far North. If I do I will bring some buckets. :mrgreen:

Re: Saturday, April 24: need some help, and lots of buckets
 

the other option is to take the sand bed out and go bare bottom.. perfect opertunity..

Steve

Re: Saturday, April 24: need some help, and lots of buckets
 

Some would doubt the sanity of that, and some might even consider that insane, but then who really knows. :biggrin: :rolleyes: :razz:

Yah, the RO containers would be better to move water for sure. I have two I can send provided I can find the lids.... :rolleyes:

Need more pails, a pair of arms and legs maybe?

Yes please, and thanks to all the offers so far. I'm indebted to you all.

Stircrazy, yeah, going bare bottom is an idea, but for now I'm hoping to just move the tanks but otherwise keep them as-is. I like the look of a little sand at the bottom even if it does create a few headaches here and there. Thanks for the suggestion though!

I have 6 buckets

What is the start time for this operation, Tony? Still waiting to see if we're around for all or part of that day.

Have a few buckets (with lids).

That's a good question.

The parts I really need help with are the lifting the tanks onto the van, and then into position in the new place. There's a fair bit of lead-up time before that as rocks need to be put into buckets, fish need to be caught and housed, etc., which I could probably start by myself and see how far I can go.

I pick up the van at 8am and I have it for all weekend.

Maybe 10am? and if time is an issue, we could aim for some kind of target time in the afternoon for the lifting, like, say, 1pm or something?

Not having moved tanks before I am not certain how the time line will look like exactly at this point. Let me see what I can come up with (as far as a plan goes that breaks the day down into hourly milestones), and I'll post back here when I've done that? (Give me about a day or two to come up with it.) Then people can decide and let me know for certain if they're able to come at a certain time, or whatever.

And just to say again just so people don't mess up their weekends, this will be not this upcoming weekend (April 17-18) but the weekend after next (April 24-25).

I moved lots 'o tanks back in my "Gypsy daze"... :wink: . It's always tough to estimate a time frame. So when ya' get a schedule, double it ! :lol: . You gotta' figure in tight fittings, difficult fish, shop-vac emergencies, oh ya', and beer breaks. Lot's of beer is critical when carrying glass. :rolleyes:
I'll plan to be there around 9:00 am. I can help ya' get things bagged and dissasembled etc. I'll bring everything I got that's watertight, and the crusty old Diatom...I've got quite a few bags too I'll donate to the cause. As mentioned, my back leaves me as a spectator when it's lifting time, (aaaw, sometimes back pain has it's benefits eh Deb ? ) but I got a truck we can load up.
Kari, I'll bring the band-aids, and oh ya', I have my own dissinfectant thanks... :rolleyes: .

So I guess it is the old "strong back, weak mind" scenario. It is really too bad you only qualify for one of those criteria Doug. :eek: , but as I qualify for both, I will do my best to be there. :biggrin: :razz:

I must have a weak mind. What are the band-aids for Doug?

Bob, I'm of the belief you cannot qualify for both scenarios. So we'll see you there. I guess you needn't arrive until the moving of tanks is required... :lol:
Kari, what are the band-aids for you ask ? You obviously haven't worked with me before... :lol: . If there's anything sharp, jagged, pointed, or poisonous, I seem fortunate enough to find it. :redface: Tony doesn't have any Urchins does he ? :eek:

No urchins :lol:

PS. But I do have some of the wee little sharp tubeworm thingies that can impale into your finger if you find 'em just right .... :eek:

Barry said to tell you he's not into handling other people's stonies.... :eek: :razz:

Give him a call roughly an hour before you are ready to move water and tanks. :lol:

Hey Tony,
I can give you a hand most of the day as long as I have no work emergencyies. I have a SUV to help with transport.

Mike

I can be there, if there aren't enough people and trucks already.
...or if there's an unforseen emergency, I've got lots of room in my sump for temporary storage.

Mitch :smile:

Still trying to get out of a family commitment out-of-town, and our own wedding anniversary that weekend... :rolleyes:

A guy's got to have priorities, right?

:biggrin:

Get out, it's your anniversary AGAIN? :lol:

No worries. If you can spare an hour or two, great, if not, no worries.

Mitch, same thing, if you've got an hour or so to spare, would love your help (and expertise seeing as you've done this before!) :biggrin: But if not, I understand.

Sounds like there are going to be enough people to move all your water in baggies!

I'm available, also a big SUV various sizes of buckets. I think I can remember how to get there but can you please forward your address just to be sure. How far you moving? 10:00 still the game plan? Who's going to drive if we start drinking that early?

Dave

Should we all do some frag swapping or stick to the business at hand?

oh yea go flames go
sorry but this is a good one below (content warning)

What does dad do for a living??

Little Johnny was in his nursery class when the teacher asked the

children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers
came up - fireman, policeman, salesman, etc...


Johnny was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked

him about his father.

"My father's an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off all his

clothes in front of other men.

Sometimes, if the offer's really good, he'll go out to the alley with

some screaming fag and take it up the ass."


The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the

other children to work on some colouring, and took little Johnny aside
to ask him, "Is that really true about your father?" "No," said Johnny,
"he plays for Vancouver Canucks but I was too embarrassed to say".


Bring it on Detroit!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

....only from Dave.....

Mitch :mrgreen:

Hey, could someone PM me Tony's address...I thought I had it in some of my old emails...apparently I was mistaken...... :confused:

...or if you see some guy driving around in the south in a white pickup apparently cursing and lost...... :lol:

flag him down.... :redface:
(I'm pretty sure I remember his neighbourhood)


Mitch :mrgreen:

check your PM

Thank you EVERYONE for helping. There's just no way I could have done this without you guys.

So far, the casualty count is 2. :cry: My cleaner shrimp ealier today, and, unfortunately, my fairy wrasse suddenly just expired. :frown: :cry: I'm despondent .. I don't know what happened. After he was in the tank all settled in he just freaked out. Jumped a few times ... so I turned off the room lights to see if he'd calm down but instead it looks like he just died. :cry: Heart attack?

It was fun Tony. Glad I could have helped out a bit. :smile:

Mitch

I echo Mitch's thoughts with some additional things. It was nice to meet some new people , and to see that other bald headed guy play plumber. It was also nice to kibbitz with the ubiquitous Quinn. As a bonus I got to ride in a Murano, which I consider the world's fifth ugliest car. :razz: :biggrin: Did the ritteri settle back in :question: and also that nervous Tang :question: I am sorry and a bit surprised to hear about the wrasse's sudden death. It keeps reminding us that we don't know everything.

Hey Tony,
I would also like to add that I was happy to help. I know what it is like moving a tank,extremely stressful. Glad everything turned out well. Sorry to hear about the casualties. It seems those wrasse's are pretty nervous, but surprising he just expired. How's the Ritterri doing?

Mike

Glad to help. Real bummer about the wrasse.

Thanks guys. Yes, quite disappointing. It was with quite a bit of anguish this morning that I discovered another casualty, Half-pint the yellow tang did not make it through the night. He was fine at 3:00am, that was the last time I saw him. This morning I could not find him and after a bit of looking I did find him sideways under the pipe organ.

He was a great little fish and I feel terrible that my selfishness is the cause of his (and the wrasse's) demise. I wish I didn't have to learn lessons the hard way but clearly the lesson is that tanks ought not to be moved; far better to tear-down (find homes for everything first), and rebuild later down the road. I'm sure a lot of folks are thinking, "kind of told you so" .. and .. you are absolutely correct, you were right.

...

Looking at things it's perfectly clear to me that I have too much in these tanks. So I'm going to have a fire sale. Anything you guys would like out of the two tanks? Let me know, because I'm totally open to offers for stuff right now.

Half Pint had some quality time with you, don't forget that.

I wish I could of helped longer but the basement was calling, rug was ordered and I had to get the sucker painted. worked on it til 2am and still have more to do.


Bob_I > Its not an ugly care :) it has nice Lines.


Tony --> Sorry to hear about the casualties. I just do not know what to say.

It was good to see those who I have met before and those who I just met.


Jim