# rack for 10's



## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

anyone have a rack for 10 gallon tanks? thinking about 3 per tier. i've seen a few racks where it looks like the horizontal fram is just screwed to the veritcal legs, so that the weight is mostly on the screws, not the wood

is this safe long term? or should it be bolted? i'd like to not have to use as much wood so the idea on one long vertical support in each corner is more appealing than having to put a second piece of wood for the horizontal supports to sit on


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

this one looks like it has two bolts for each leg, but the bolts are in the shorts ends ad the weight is on the long ends so how would that work?

http://s833.photobucket.com/albums/zz256/kmxaquatics/?action=view&current=SDV_0303.flv


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

They are only tens so even with gravel and rocks they are only a hundred pounds each or less. What could go wrong???

:lol:

I screwed waferboard (not even the good plywood but the good waferboard) to the walls on either end of the room and then lagscrewed a 2 by 4 band to set the rails on. Where there was a long run, about 12 feet, I made a 2 by 4/ half inch plywood/ 2 by 4 composite rail on the front and lagged a single 2 by 4 to the wall studs on the back. The long ones I took down and somehow all these reptile enclosures appeared in the spot. (daughter) The other shorter ten gallon stands are still installed, but my wife's plastic storage bins took over one little end and them multiplied, exterminating the tens eventually. There were a few tens still running and my wife asked me to move them off of "her" stand. Too far for the Python anyway.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

well if i just made a frame for 3 tens plus a little extra for the legs, and bolted the longer parts of the frames to the uprights would that work?


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

or i could notch the uprights, that would be pretty easy


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## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

i am guessing you are set on building one.. i just use a 36" double stand and i can fit 6 10's on it... or you can fit 8 5.5's


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

well i want the lower part fairly high so the syphon is easier, i may just go with a second wire rack like the one i already have, the 10 gallon tank itself doesn't have to have much of it supported huh? if it sat across the wire rack and was only touching two bars it should hold up right?


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

cjacob316 said:


> well i want the lower part fairly high so the syphon is easier, i may just go with a second wire rack like the one i already have, the 10 gallon tank itself doesn't have to have much of it supported huh? if it sat across the wire rack and was only touching two bars it should hold up right?


There are easier ways to try and date someone from EMS.

I will tell about you one old plumber who was also an angelfish breeder way back before the Beatles appeared on the Sullivan Show. He set up tens and some slightly larger tanks on one inch black gas line -- steel pipes. He used 2 by 4's as the legs and drilled a hole through for each pipe. On some where space was tight, he used a sheet of plywood as the legs and used a kind of round cast escutcheon with screw holes in it so the pipe didn't sag into the plywood. Everything was well painted which is something that is sometimes forgotten by the generations who read about the Depression in history books. We are in too much of a hurry to be sure to preserve what we make so that it does not have to be replaced because of rot or rust. Not all of us have the tools to cut and thread steel pipe, but you could order it precut.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

well i have a wire shelf, with a 20 long on it, with a piece of plywood under the tank to distribute the weight onto the main part of the shelf

i was just not sure if the 10's could go across the shelf, the 10's are 20 inches long and the shelf is 18 inches deep, and smaller wired part of the shelf is a little below the stronger shelf frame, i thought maybe the 10 could site on the two frames, but wasn't sure if the tank would fail without more support. i'm not afraid of the shelf failing


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## shaguars7 (Apr 12, 2009)

cj i have 2 double 38 stands...so there made for a 36x12 tank and one i have 6 10's so 3 on top and 3 on bottom and the other i have 8 5.5's 4 on top and 4 on bottom. I have had no issues with placing tanks on it where only 2 spots are touching. If you are concerned about it just cut a piece of 3/4 plywood that is the dimension of the tanks you are putting on it. I dont think that is neccessary though.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

shaguars7 said:


> cj i have 2 double 38 stands...so there made for a 36x12 tank and one i have 6 10's so 3 on top and 3 on bottom and the other i have 8 5.5's 4 on top and 4 on bottom. I have had no issues with placing tanks on it where only 2 spots are touching. If you are concerned about it just cut a piece of 3/4 plywood that is the dimension of the tanks you are putting on it. I dont think that is neccessary though.


Your stands are probably made of tube steel or angle iron and bent steel rod. Real aquarium stands! Wire shelving is not made for the weight of fish tanks and the tanks would sag in toward each other. And if you hung wires between two wire stands and put more tanks on them, that would be incredibly risky. Wire shelf units like you find at places like Pier One are made for knicknacks and will sag even if you just put a few books on them.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

actually the main frame of the shelf does not sag much at all if any, it's the thinner middle part of the shelf that sags.

i mean look at these


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## metro6775 (Sep 16, 2008)

cjacob316 said:


> i mean look at these


Those look like metro racks. I use to use something like this type of rack in the past. You could hold at least 12 10 gallon tanks on this rack. And they are more sturdier than those metro racks.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

metro6775 said:


> Those look like metro racks. I use to use something like this type of rack in the past. You could hold at least 12 10 gallon tanks on this rack. And they are more sturdier than those metro racks.


The wire shelves I've seen are not as solid as the wire and pipe stands shown. They even have a sort of wire girder visible across the front which should add some strength.

The big problem with the metal storage shelves shown from Home Depot is that they rust. I can only guess if the wire and pipe stands are rust prone or not.


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## krfhsf (Dec 25, 2008)

I've had one of those racks running for years with no problems. A 30gal on top, with a 20gal in the middle and a w/d on the bottom. Only problem I see is the 13" width is probably not stable enough for a 30gal on top. But it's worked for years. A 18" width would probably be better. Nice set up cjacob316.


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