Lol ime you can learn to weld in a couple minutes....learning to weld WELL takes years.
Building stands for multiple tanks???
- Thread starter Hybridfish7
- Start date
Lol ime you can learn to weld in a couple minutes....learning to weld WELL takes years.
Not sure how keen a fish keeper you are but I have noticed a general progression path for most long term aquarists.
1) Gathering an assortment of fishtanks, usually in one or two rooms for convenience. Sometimes up to 150 tanks.
2) Deciding to get a bit more serious and streamlining all your tanks and stands and rooms with better filtration and uniform sizes. Often around 300 tanks.
3) Working out what you like best from this and expanding into specialty tanks. Very large or bespoke systems on top of your usual fish rooms.
If you want lots of tanks go shallow height to get another tier into your racks. However, it's more economical and time efficient to have taller glass walls and a lower water level with a 50mm lip all around than to be constantly opening and closing lids (even sliding lids). I am assuming you will have central filters and insulated fish rooms by now.
I recommend you implement tanks 60cm front to back at least, 90cm even better. The fish will feel more comfortable, display better and still gather at the front. The extra water volume and fish security - privacy afforded by being able to retreat to the back will vastly improve your breeding success as well as looking much nicer. 50% - 100% water daily water changes on grow-out racks. Being able to easily drop water levels for catching fish out is easy to do.
A wall of tanks is fine for keeping and breeding fish but trust me, you will still want a couple of impressive tanks. So plan for a very deep or very large specialty tank or two one day as well.
On my long racks, I build the bottom frame that tanks sit on as one sturdy section and simply add vertical legs with half check joints. Water proof the very bottom of legs. I use a house brick to keep the feet out of water.
And no matter how much you plan, you will want to re-arrange or slide the racks about several times, sometimes just a few centimeters before you are happy. I bolt on a removeable block onto several legs which can support a hydraulic car jack. Jack up just enough to slide under several sturdy wheeled platforms and you can slide the emptied tanks and racks about easily without having to pull all your tanks off each time.
Just my 2.2 cents.
1) Gathering an assortment of fishtanks, usually in one or two rooms for convenience. Sometimes up to 150 tanks.
2) Deciding to get a bit more serious and streamlining all your tanks and stands and rooms with better filtration and uniform sizes. Often around 300 tanks.
3) Working out what you like best from this and expanding into specialty tanks. Very large or bespoke systems on top of your usual fish rooms.
If you want lots of tanks go shallow height to get another tier into your racks. However, it's more economical and time efficient to have taller glass walls and a lower water level with a 50mm lip all around than to be constantly opening and closing lids (even sliding lids). I am assuming you will have central filters and insulated fish rooms by now.
I recommend you implement tanks 60cm front to back at least, 90cm even better. The fish will feel more comfortable, display better and still gather at the front. The extra water volume and fish security - privacy afforded by being able to retreat to the back will vastly improve your breeding success as well as looking much nicer. 50% - 100% water daily water changes on grow-out racks. Being able to easily drop water levels for catching fish out is easy to do.
A wall of tanks is fine for keeping and breeding fish but trust me, you will still want a couple of impressive tanks. So plan for a very deep or very large specialty tank or two one day as well.
On my long racks, I build the bottom frame that tanks sit on as one sturdy section and simply add vertical legs with half check joints. Water proof the very bottom of legs. I use a house brick to keep the feet out of water.
And no matter how much you plan, you will want to re-arrange or slide the racks about several times, sometimes just a few centimeters before you are happy. I bolt on a removeable block onto several legs which can support a hydraulic car jack. Jack up just enough to slide under several sturdy wheeled platforms and you can slide the emptied tanks and racks about easily without having to pull all your tanks off each time.
Just my 2.2 cents.
Most? Not a prayer.
Many? Nope.
Some? Still too generous.
The progression you are describing may describe possibly 1 percent of long-term aquarists. Sure, many may claim to want that, or dream about it...but I would say that a much more common progression is from a couple tanks, to a few, to a fishroom, possibly with central sumps, etc....to the all-too-common realization that the hobby is now taking up too much of one's life, and is no longer fun. It has become drudgery, pure and simple, and at that point one reduces one's involvement substantially. Some people cycle back up through the "too much" level multiple times, before learning the lesson permanently. Many drop out entirely.
I have been keeping fishtanks, in greater or lesser numbers, for well over 50 years; pretty sure that qualifies as long-term. I have gotten to know a lot of other aquarists during that time period, many of whom were true long-haul fishkeepers. I may have met a half-dozen persons whose involvement even approached that which you describe. Maybe there are more in other parts of the country, or in warmer climes further south...but that extreme will always be exactly that: an extreme, not the norm.
Horses for courses... with respect (as you already know) it's s not the number of tanks, how much you spend or how long you keep fish. I know many people with fantastic fish rooms. Don't let your own self or societies expectations of normal dictate your hobby. Technology has enabled bigger - better - more numerous - easier to keep fish tanks. It's never been a better time to keep fish. A diamond glass drill bit can be bought off the shelf at corner hardware store now! A glass speed cutter is under $10 or easily made DIY.
I detest fish maintenance too.... but it's easy to design and implement ways to reduce or eliminate the parts you dislike. Another interesting facet of fish keeping in fact. Similarly it's possible to design an efficient temperature environment or switch to more suitable fish species to your climate.
Unfortunately this forum no longer attracts this type of traffic. Even experienced vendors don't post much.
Getting back on topic, do consider a wider or deeper? (front to back) tank as this could save you a few years of experimentation and money. Have a look at smaller display tanks at public aquariums or those fish shops that have worked this out.
I detest fish maintenance too.... but it's easy to design and implement ways to reduce or eliminate the parts you dislike. Another interesting facet of fish keeping in fact. Similarly it's possible to design an efficient temperature environment or switch to more suitable fish species to your climate.
Unfortunately this forum no longer attracts this type of traffic. Even experienced vendors don't post much.
Getting back on topic, do consider a wider or deeper? (front to back) tank as this could save you a few years of experimentation and money. Have a look at smaller display tanks at public aquariums or those fish shops that have worked this out.
I don't exactly have the time or money to experiment with building tanks at the moment. I don't keep large or fast growing fish in my fishroom, the largest and fastest growing being my astronotus sp. jurua. While I appreciate the suggestion and would like bigger tanks with elaborate filtration systems, this is not in the picture at the moment. I will mostly be keeping amatitlania, cryptoheros, thorichthys, and cichlasoma. 40s and 60s will suffice for them. I have been at this for awhile, and while I would like a lot bigger of a collection, my current space limitations cause me to narrow said collection down to what I want the most and have access to.
Hey all, we're back. Still haven't started on this, because I am not sure whether or not I'll be moving. So far looking like we aren't, so hopefully I have the green light to go ahead and get this started. I can realistically start as soon as December 20th. Since I do have the jurua oscar, and the "60s" will be on the top, do you think it would be better to just go full send with 75s? I think they'd probably be easier to find for cheaper too. Would the current design hold with the extra 45 gallons on top?
Honestly, simplest way would be to get some concrete blocks and 8' 2x4 lengths (or 6' ones if that's better). You can rent the Home Depot truck to deliver them... and if you end up moving... rent the truck and return them to Home Depot. Keep your receipt and don't cut the wood 
This is going to be built like 5 feet tall, I'm not sure if cinder blocks will be stable enough at that height.Honestly, simplest way would be to get some concrete blocks and 8' 2x4 lengths (or 6' ones if that's better). You can rent the Home Depot truck to deliver them... and if you end up moving... rent the truck and return them to Home Depot. Keep your receipt and don't cut the wood
Are we still on for the whole 2x6 thing, and do I need to fix the heights of things a bit, or am I good with the 2x4s all the way? I've figured out that I have most of the small pieces already, given I scrap all my current stands made of 2x4s.
