Shop Vac to remove substrate?

[EVoyager31]

So I lost my very favorite goldfish, Buddy, the other day and I have decided to downsize my hobby to a singular tank. I've drained Buddy's former tank (mostly, give or take the last .25" of water beneath the sand substrate) and I am trying to come up with a clever way of clearing it out before I sell.

Previously, I would just scoop out old sand/substrate but I've been having back issues lately and can't really stand the thought of lifting wet, heavy sand out of the 75 gallon tank over and over. Especially since my roommate took our tall stool. Has anyone tried to use a shop vac for something like this? If I was strong enough, I'd just take the whole thing outside and dump it... but its a 75g with atleast 30 pounds of wet sand in the bottom.... not liftable.

 

Any ideas?

[jwcarlson]

The issue is it just moves the thing you've got to lift up.  I'd argue and a bunch of single scoops of sand is lighter than a shop vac with all the sand in it.  

However, if that's not a concern.  I have used a shop vac whenever I'm emptying a tank.  I find scooping more efficient, but once it gets to a certain level, the shop vac is the way to go.  The only thing is that you want to make sure you don't just bury it as the more narrow hosed ones can plug off.  Mine is a 3" hose, I think.  Maybe 2.5".  Either way, if you are careful not to suck up too much, it should work fine.