Rack mounting for multiple tanks

[jeff]

I have seen it in pictures, nice sturdy metal racks so you can mount tanks in a 2X2 layout.

Home made? or can I order a kit? Wounldn't want to make anything myself unless I was sure I knew what I was doing- I could build a vivaria stack with no water, but the tanks I want to stack have water.

any ideas?

 

[gord]

Jeff:

Home Depot here in Canada has great ones. I picked one up a couple months ago. Not sure if the chain exists in the U. S.

GE

 

[brian]

Hey Jeff,

I use a chrome rack system I picked up at Sam's club. It came as a 4 shelf rolling system, for about $70, but I broke it down into 2 2-shelf systems and did away with the wheels, which I don't trust with the weight. Home Depot has similar systems but a little more $. They are a little short to hold a 55g tank, but can hold 2 20H tanks side by side. I put a couple of pressure treated 2x4's with notches in them for the side rails on top and can now do a 55 or a 20L and a 20H side by side or a 30 and a 10.

Brian

 

[jeff]

Are any of these designed with aqauriums in mind, or just shelving systems? I only need them to hold 10gs for now.

Brian, I think I know what you are talking about, some kind of put the lumber in and use metal joints. I don't seem to think that any cofiguration would hold a tank without it somehow slipping off if it were bumped from the front.

My idea was to have two ten gallon water tanks on the floor level with a 20 gallon long on top and a five next to that, or just equipment.

Any ideas still much appreciated.

Jeff

 

[kaysie]

The Gorilla Rack I use is from costco. It cost about $65. It's got metal cross beams, and wooden shelves. It comes with 5 shelves. The rack breaks down into 2 'sets' of racks (actually made to be stacked ontop of each other, but they provide hardware to make 2 seperate racks): One with 2 shelves and one with 3.

It measures 48" long (long enough for a standard 55 gal), 24?" wide (which gives you a little 'lip' in front and back of a standard width tank), and about 36" high. I have mine set up with the bottom shelf on the floor, and another shelf about 3 inches above it. This gives me a small shelf to store nets, tongs, knives, pieces and parts of filters, etc.

I absolutely LOVE this rack. I bought a 'cheap' version and got it home, and it bowed out so much that I wouldn't dare put an empty tank on it.

 

[brian]

Jeff,

This is a link to the shelves I was speaking of.

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=168602

They actually give you 6 shelves, which for me made 3 separate stands once I found new posts online. Each upright is made of 2 pieces, so one box can make 2 2-shelf racks with 2 shelves left over. These are industry standard shelving and additional posts can be easily found online. You can have 3 2-shelf systems for way less than $100. If what you're putting on there is shorter than 48", the outer metal rim will keep things from sliding, if it's longer, like a 55g tank, the notched 2x4's will go over that lip and evenly distribute the load of the tank. I can assure you that it would take a VERY serious bump to move a tank with water off the wood. A filled 20+ gallon tank weighs a lot and there's a lot of contact area between the tank and the wood to overcome. (plus you can screw in retaining cleats if you're really worried) I thought hard about the gorilla rack Kaysie mentioned, but I'm concerned about moisture and spills on wood and have stayed away from it. I guess you could seal it, but that's more work. The 2x4's I use are pressure treated and easily replaceable if needed, so I wasn't as worried about them. As I think about it, I may replace them with non-PT lumber, so as to avoid potential arsenic leaching to the tanks below. Hasn't been a problem as the bottom shelves are for storage right now, but that will be changing...

 

[jeff]

Well, I went down to costco today after about 2 hours of phone calls and searching to find a stand for a 4 foot 55 gallon acrylic tank. I bought this for 50 bucks-

So I set it up like this

It says it is rated to 1500 pounds per shelf, my tank is about 500, so in theroy its going to hold just fine, I was just nervous as I was building it, the connecters were popping up but seemed stable once all was in place and pounded in.

My roomate was trying to make me get some used office furnature, because she didn't like the idea of having "industrial shelving" in the living room, and there was a bit of a exchange as I explained that she must not have any idea of what 60 gallons of salt water would do to the floor.

I am having trouble deciding on if a false shelf in the center would add more stability, but somehow I think that doubling up on the top and adding those extra 3 beams in the center so I can get at the wet-dry easier will work out fine.

I also had to keep in mind that because it was acrylic, not glass, that the entire bottom needed to be supported. I will be setting up the tank tomarrow if all goes well.

 

[coen]

That looks promising!

 

[kaysie]

I have that same rack, and once I put it together, I didn't hesitate at all to put my heavy tanks on it. It holds up fabulously!