Suction Cups for tank move?

[roni]

Anyone use these?

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/dual-cup-suction-lifter-46134.html

 

Experiences or alternatives?

 

Saw some really nice ones that were $60 each but that's a little steep given that I need 8 or so.

[ctenophore]

You want the ones with the thumb button with the red line that tells you when they are losing suction. Then you can pump them back up (down?) with your thumb while carrying the glass. Harbor freight is good for some things, but I don't think I would trust those, too much at stake.

[ctenophore]

PS I think a set of these would be a really nice item for the club to own and lend out, like the PAR meter. I've mentioned this to officers a few times over the years

[L8 2 RISE]

I haven't seen him on the board in a VERY long time, but tbittner used these to move his tank, dunno if anyone is still in contact with him or if he's still around, but it's what came to mind when I saw this.

[Jon Lazar]

Might be able to rent some from a local glass shop.

[roni]

Thanks all. Jon, yeah, tried calling around but most places are closed or not answering today. Will try in the morning. I think we'll be okay without them if it ends up being that way. To be honest, I'd be leery of trusting anything that wasn't fairly substantial.

[Origami]

I moved a new 210 using six of those. They're actually heavier than pictured on their website.

[roni]

Thanks Tom. No problems with slipping? Did you have all the glass weight on these?

[Origami]

I put the cups on 20-30 minutes or so before we moved the tank. One cup lost some suction, the rest held tight. If I were to do it again, I'd make sure the glass was clean and install the cups just before lifting the tank. Install. Test lift. Wait five minutes. Test lift again. (Wait and test again just to make sure that you don't have a leaky seal.) And then move the tank.

 

If the glass is not clean, you can expect that you'll lose the seal quickly. I had this happen recently on another tank just as we were checking if it would hold. The tank had been sitting around and had a lot of dust on it. We didn't take the time to clean the glass before trying out the cups, hence the poor seal. In the end, four of us just grabbed it from the bottom and carried it out.

 

It pays, also, to have more than you need and lots of help. That way, if one does lose suction, there's plenty of extra to bear the load.

 

In my case, we took the tank out of the back of our van, down a hillside and across the back porch, across the basement and lifted it onto the stand.

[roni]

Thanks Tom, will let you know how it goes. I think we're going to use 7 of the harbor suction cups but more for extra support as opposed to primary support. A little leery of trusting 700 lbs to $6 suction cups

 

 

BTW, any thought to having the club buy some of the nicer suction cups and making them available for rent. I imagine they'll pay for themselves in a year and then serve as a nice bit of revenue to apply towards other club related hardware. Say something like buy 4 sets initially and then rent out for $10/2 sets. Once they're paid off off buy another pair of 2 until we've got 8 total for small to big tank moves? I bet the suppliers would also cut a decent deal on these for a club. I'm happy to enquire if it's something we want to do.

[OldReefer]

Like Justin and Roni suggest, I think some of these would be a good club purchase. Good suction cups and lots of help are the secret to moving a big tank. I would also support one of those inflatable lift bags that Sanjay Joshi used to lift his big tank into position.

 

I literally gave myself a hernia lifting a 180 up some stairs without the right tools. 3 months later I was in a hospital getting a big Kevlar patch sown into my private parts.

 

I would be willing to make a special contribution to get this moving. I think it shows a great sense of community to have a reef club that keeps its members from getting hurt.

 

Bill

[Origami]

I'll bring the suction cups up at an officer's meeting. Somebody please get me links to suction cups (as I recall, when I looked last, the source that I found was very, very expensive). Also, mostly because I'm curious, can you (Bill) get me links to the lift bag and to Sanjay's story of using them to put a tank in place?

[Origami]

I found the story about lifting Sanjay's 500 gallon tank up using the lift bag. For those that are interested, it's here:

http://coralmagazine.coverleaf.com/coral/20110910?pg=103#pg103

[Grav]

They are okay, but if you just have 2 people moving a tank and one loses suction mid move, you either drop the tank or are in trouble trying to put it down to re-set. They are okay for a large lift with lots of people so that if someone's suction cup fails the tank doesn't just drop and others can cover for you while you re-set it.

 

The good ones $80+ need a great deal of care and attention paid to them. You need to keep em clean, and out of harms way. They should never be anywhere other than on glass or in the case... one tiny little knick and they are done. Even with a great level of care, and always being used by (or supervized by) somoneone that knows how delicate they are, they can get dammaged. I'd never loan or rent them out for fear I'd need em and they would not be in working order.

[rocko918]

check with BRK, you may be able to borrow / rent theirs.

[roni]

Didn't realize that they were so delicate. That would definitely make it hard to loan them out.

 

The link I had originally seen was this:

 

http://reefbuilders.com/2009/10/30/pumpaction-suction-cups-large-tanks-wieldy/

 

We used 7 of the Harbor Freight suction cups for my tank and it went relatively smoothly. Maybe those could be a purchase for the club (much less overall cost as well).

 

Of the 7, 1 immediately lost suction and another got bumped during the move and lost suction. However, we had enough hands that the others were fine. It really helped with lowering and lifting the tank without anyone's fingers getting smashed, which is worth it in and of itself.

[bankyf]

The suction cup that immediately came loose was on the painted or vinyl background. The one that was bumped was mine, but it was only one side. I was still holding pressure on it and was easily able to re-tighten the side that came loose, totally a non-issue. Overall, I would not hesitate to move a large tank with 6 or 8 of the Harbor Freight suction cups. As mentioned, if one comes loose others can take the load while it is reset.

[YBeNormal]

The only problem I saw with the HB suction cups, other than the almost universal hesitancy to rely on something so cheap to move something so heavy, was that the pressure switch is located in a place where it can easily be bumped (as happened in the case mentioned above). That only causes loss of pressure on one of two cups, but it would be much better if the switch was recessed or had a catch to lock it in place. That said, I would be comfortable using them again for future tank moves.