Slightly moving aquarium

I'm going to put this in the Newbie forum, because I feel that it was mostly a newbie mistake. I've had a 55 gallon planted tank for about a year now. I recently decided to upgrade my HOB filter from the Tetra Whisper PF 60 that it came with to the Fluval C4. What I didn't take into account, however, was that the C4 is slightly wider than the Whisper 60. I went to hang the C4, and there wasn't enough room between my wall and the aquarium. My tank needs to be moved about half a cm away from the wall for it to fit. My aquarium with water, fish, substrate, decor, etc. is likely about 600 lbs, in addition to the base. I'm terrified to try to move it while it's full, and I'm not sure I could even do it anyway. Even if I don't tip everything over, I could put too much stress on the seals at the corner of the tank. I typically do 50% water changes on Sundays, so my question to you is if you think I should be able to move it forward 5-6 mm when it's only half full of water? I really would hate to catch all the fish, and remove all the water and decor just to get it a tiny bit, but I'll do what I need to do in order to protect my pets and my investment. Any thoughts?

 

Does it have to hang on the back....can it go on one end instead?

If it really really must go on the back I would do an 80% water drain, then get at least three other people to help move the set up....more people, better weight to lift ratio and less likely to drop it....maybe......hopefully.....

 

Is moving the wall a little not an option? If you need only a few centimeters couldn't you sand/grind down the wall in that spot? It wouldn't look great but it's behind ~600lbs of beautiful fish home so unless you end up moving house sometime it shouldn't matter. Even then you could spackle and paint that section and it'd be hard to tell the difference.

 

What's the stand on? Will it slide with the help of a pry bar?

 

use the old filter and ad a sponge filter if you need more filtration

 

80% should be fine as a water change and as said get as many mates as you can to give you a hand to move I have moved a 55 one lounge to another with the help of 5 others (6 total) we did it no worries with about 80% of water out to move 1/2cm should be easy just make sure you lift the stand completely don’t drag as you could put too much stress on the legs. Strip everything that is unnecessary even large decore

 

If you do go with 80% water removal and then bringing it forward - just take out any large stones or rock in there first. Anything hat can fall/move/scrape the tank and crack it!

 

I saw an old post in this forum where a guy had to move his 55 gallon about 6 inches. He ended up using a scissor jack, the thing you use to jack up your car during a tire change. He put it sideways between the wall and bottom of the tank, so that it wouldn’t tip it at all. He moved the tank very slowly, about half an inch at a time. I think if I empty it halfway or a little more it would slide ok on the carpet. I REALLY want to avoid catching all my fish for this. I have an Endler colony in there and that would mean catching ALOT of fish. It just seems like a ton of work for half an inch. If I was moving it across the room, I’d totally take everything apart.

 

As others have mentioned, put the HOB on the end of the tank, or get a filter that will fit without necessitating a move. Moving a decent sized tank would be an insane amount of work for a C4.

 

As others have mentioned, put the HOB on the end of the tank, or get a filter that will fit without necessitating a move. Moving a decent sized tank would be an insane amount of work for a C4.

I can’t put it on the end. I have a glass hood that doesn’t have an opening on the sides. I would agree about the amount of work if I was moving it further, but moving the thing less than a cm seems ridiculous to eat the cost of the C4.

 

Is moving the wall a little not an option? If you need only a few centimeters couldn't you sand/grind down the wall in that spot? It wouldn't look great but it's behind ~600lbs of beautiful fish home so unless you end up moving house sometime it shouldn't matter. Even then you could spackle and paint that section and it'd be hard to tell the difference.

I would love to have that conversation with my wife. “Honey, I’m going to put a giant hole in the wall of our family room so that I can add a new toy to my aquarium. Don’t worry, we can patch it when we sell it in a few decades.” I think I’d have to find somewhere else to sleep. Haha.

 

Tank stands are meant to be kept still while holding weight trying to slide on carpet could stress the stand or unbalance the tank on a slippery surface like timber maybe but on carpet I wouldn’t risk it you will need to lift

 

Well, I did it. I only moved it about 1 mm at a time and kept a very close eye on things. It moved a total of about 4 mm and the HOB slid right into place. It’s a ton quieter than my old Tetra Whisper 60, and the media is much more customizable. I’ll have to pay more attention to the width of the chamber the next time. I had paid so much attention to whether it would fit on my glass canopy, that I forgot about behind the aquarium. Thanks for all of the advice and warnings. I’ll keep a very close eye on the corners of the tank, but things look good. I don’t plan on doing anything like this again any time soon.