0. Siphon out what water you can by sticking a tube down the distributor tube. Suck to start the siphon.
1. Use a 1-inch pvc pipe, along side of the distributor tube . Push that in and out and around as best you can until you can do step 2. Note that for each diameter, you might need a shorter pipe initially until the media is lower. Once you can get the distributor tube out, go to step 2.
2. Now that the distributor tube is out, you have a bigger hole. Use a piece of 2 inch pvc pipe held/taped to the hose of a wet-dry vac. Be ready to empty that vac several times. If you cannot pull the distributor code yet, do step 1 until you can.
3. As the media is farther down, switch to a longer pipe (maybe 56 inches) but you may have to tilt the tank to clear the ceiling. But as there is less and less media in there, tilting gets easier.
Or siphon the water. Strap the tank to a hand truck. Then pay a strong person to haul the tank up the basement stairs to where you want to dump the media.
