# Fish Tank Rack - Galvanized OK



## Jesseschu (Mar 16, 2011)

Hi All,

I am building a fishroom and fish tank racks.

I am going to build the racks using steel. As I have seen metal racks rust over time, even when painted with a good coat of paint, I am therefore thinking about using GALVANIZED STEEL. The galvanized steel should not rust, so I should get more life out of the racks.

Does anyone know if the galvanized steel will be a problem for the fish?

Your input would be very helpful. 
Thank you for your time.

Jesseschu


----------



## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

The galvanized racks shouldn't be a problem for the fish as long as any condensation or water doesn't drip back into the tanks.

Have you considered just having the steel racks powder coated rather than painted? That should be a bit more durable than just paint.

I think that the reason most metal racks eventually rust is due to water spillage. Extremely humid environments will also contribute to rusting so if you can keep your new fishroom under 50% humidity, I think that the rust issue may be negligible.


----------



## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

These racks welded together or bolted?

If welded, you will still have the welded areas that will have to be painted and still prone to rust.

Any reason you aren't using dimensional lumber?


----------



## Jesseschu (Mar 16, 2011)

Thanks for the replies!

The connections will be welded, then sprayed with galvanizing paint at those welds.

Powder coating might be an option. Good thought.

Reason for not using lumber: I am building this fishroom once and the right way (right for me ). The dimensional lumber works for sure, but takes up more room (which is a limiting factor) and never really dresses up as nicely as I want. I want the room to have sleek lines, but obviously don't want to do anything to hurt the fish. Thus the question on the galvanized coating.

Thanks again...

Any more thoughts?


----------



## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Powder will be steep if as pricy as my neck of the woods.


----------



## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Someone on another fish forum had a friend that worked in the automotive painting industry and had them prep and paint a metal box channel style stand and it came out beautifully. Very nice finish, shiny like a car.

What style racks were you planning on building and what material, angle iron or box channel? Any plans for them being adjustable at all?


----------



## Jesseschu (Mar 16, 2011)

So, my inspiration has been the Pisces fish farm customer room. They are galvanized, I believe and shiny, sleek silver.

It got me to question the idea of making the rack dark to fade away and think to make them shiny silver. The galvanized piece is what I am questioning at this point. I have an email sent to the Pisces fish farm to inquire also.

I am planning on using 2" x 2" tube steel (channel). It will have 3 levels, welded, non-adjustable, but able to receive 12" and 18" deep tanks and up to 24" tall on all levels.

Hope that makes sense.

So, galvanized or not? What do you all think? It would be great to hear from someone who has had success with galvanized .


----------



## DrgRcr (Jun 23, 2009)

I'd go the powder coating route as well. That stuff is nearly bullet proof, and at least in this area, relatively cheap. We get our race chassis powder coated, and that is only about $400, for quite a bit of length and overall spraying. For a single stand, it shouldn't be too bad. Depending on what color you get, if you use a bigger place that does a lot of it, you can find out when they're doing a large lot of the color you want. It will be more convenient for them and may save you a few $.


----------



## badspellar (Oct 14, 2009)

Galvanizing is an amazing process and can look pretty nice. Were I work we've even had structural steel hot dipped galvanized instead of painted. Unfortunately galvanized paint seems like lousy paint. From a distance is kind of looks like real galvanzing, but over time it rusts horribly. In addition, welding galvanized product is a problem. The fumes are especially bad for you and grinding or sanding it off for a proper weld is also an issue. Now at home you can do anything you want. Safety smafety. Have fun picking.


----------



## richraceri (Mar 3, 2013)

I made rock racks out of 1/4" diameter stainless steel round. It was easy to bend with a vice and I purchased stainless mig wire to weld joints. The stand hugs the back, legs go under gravel and 6" arms extend out at various heights to hold assorted rocks at different levels. If you grind/ sand the weld joints use a sanding grinding disk with no metal in it (need to tell the welding shop this) or the iron will get ground into the stainless and rust. The back of the tank is now useful all the way up for caves and holding ledges. The fish seem to prefer claiming areas with 3, 4 or 5 sides about 6-10" cubed that still give them a view of food arrival. The racking lets me create these larger areas using the whole tank volume. I suspect that people like longer (rather then taller) tanks because utilizing the vertical height is so much harder then piling things across a bigger bottom. It worked much better after adding a black background with that vinyl stuff called clear view. The Stainless rack is shiny and visible in places as rocks and plants don't cover it all so purists won't like it, but the versatility is sweet, fish love it and it never rusts. When cleaning you just lift the rocks off and re-stack which keeps the fish guessing aggression lower? Welding shops charge $30-$75 an hour and if you cut and bend the rack it's not going to take more then an hour. I bought 2-12' pieces of SS for about $30. If alittle shine is tolerable don't be afraid of SS. I like mine enough there will be a GenII, GenIII etc.


----------

