Thanks for the response, I have watched with amazement your detailed process and appreciate the vote of confidence. My one major hurdle is that my tank is up and running not empty like your project is, and I will not be removing the separation panel as you did, just the chamber pieces. So, am I biting off more that I can chew to work in a water filled sump to cut the epoxy (?) holding the panels in place?
Hi, Phish:
I see now what you were saying. You want to remove the chambers, but not the partition. Wow. That will be a tight fit, Harry Houdini! Those chambers are so small, that you'll have your stubborn work cut out for you, in getting all the chambers removed--all the way down to the bottom of the sump.
During my tank modification, that wasn't even in the question because, as far as I was concerned the partition and the chambers were all one, jammed-up contraption. I'm not even sure I actually removed the all sections of the chambers, themselves, at the very bottom (where remnants remained after I broke off pieces of the chambers), before I removed the sump wall. To completely remove the chambers, you will need good leverage--to get way down in the sump to remove the chambers, and I didn't have that leverage (but I didn't need it because I was removing everything).
It might be easier to break whatever portions of the chambers that you can, to get the requisite looseness to yank out the sump-partion wall. Once the sump-partition wall is on your kitchen table, you can finish breaking off the chambers from the wall. Then you might be able to put the partion wall back in your tank, if it is not too banged up in the removal process.
But that will be a most challenging task, while your livestock is still in the tank. My hunch is that you may want to move your livestock to another tank while you remodel your Nano. You need maneuverability back there, pulling here, yanking there, and occasionally bumping into things. Moving around like that in an empty tank is a breeze; trying to do that without disturbing any other rock or fish or sand or coral will be next to impossible. And what of the water that is filled in the sump? That will complicate things too.
An analogy comes to mind: to do this task (hard enough on its own with an empty tank!) with a completely full tank without disturbing any livestock or seascape features would be like a dentist trying to pull an impacted tooth with his or her thumb and index finger only (no tools), while trying not to touch the adjacent teeth.
I am not sure it can be done, in the manner you suggest. I think you will need the freedom of an empty tank, and even then, you will probably have to have great patience with a pair of long-handled pliers, to get way down low in the sump to remove the chamber pieces at the very bottom of the sump. Then you would probably have to water test the partition wall again, to make sure you didn't loosen the sealant's adhesion somewhere--and that would require draining the tank (or at the very least the sump). In the end, I think you'll prefer to drain the tank, for ease of work and to have 100% confidence that the job was done right without harm to the sealant or to livestock.
I wish you luck in your adventure. Let me know how it goes!
P.S. - Why do you want to remove the chambers of your sump? What are your plans?
