Building stands for multiple tanks???

[JAHA]

Over the last 30+ years I’ve built many shelves and stands. The last 8 years I’ve replaced my wooden built shelves with store bought heavy duty shelving. Brands such as Gladiator or Ironton. These shelves are easy to assemble, disassemble and to maintain. The cost is roughly the same once you figure materials and build time.

Good luck.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Over the last 30+ years I’ve built many shelves and stands. The last 8 years I’ve replaced my wooden built shelves with store bought heavy duty shelving. Brands such as Gladiator or Ironton. These shelves are easy to assemble, disassemble and to maintain. The cost is roughly the same once you figure materials and build time.

Good luck.

I was thinking the cost at this point would probably be the same as buying an equally sized industrial shelf, but I think the benefit of building it would be the customizability. I will definitely be adding plywood to make this a bit more aesthetically pleasing, perhaps hinged doors to the tops of the middle and bottom tanks.
Here's what we have so far by the way:

 

[Backfromthedead]

I was thinking the cost at this point would probably be the same as buying an equally sized industrial shelf, but I think the benefit of building it would be the customizability. I will definitely be adding plywood to make this a bit more aesthetically pleasing, perhaps hinged doors to the tops of the middle and bottom tanks.
Here's what we have so far by the way:
View attachment 1501034

Now we're talking. This is looking good.

Should be nearly 14' long now. I think it would be tough to find industrial shelving that long for a comparable price. Not any quality shelves anyways. I think those 6' gladiator shelves are upwards of $300 and you'd need 2 of those. Assuming you have a saw and drill already, with your design there im looking at $200 in lumber +$25 in paint and fasteners. The plywood is what's gonna get expensive.

 

[Milingu]

Looks way better now.
Just make sure to add extra two crossbars / supports for the tank in the middle. The supports should be slightly higher than the pillar in the middle. Otherwise the tank would be standing like a seesaw and might crack under the tension after some time.

 

[jjohnwm]

I use some of those industrial metal racks in my basement and garage for storage; they have, like everything else including lumber, skyrocketed in price recently. I like the fact that they are very quick and easy to dismantle for moving or re-configuring, and they go from the box to the fully assembled shelf in literally a few minutes.

But the ones I own and have seen all share a shelf design that consists of a pair of horizontal beams front and rear, with various types of metal screens or grids as the actual shelf surface. For aquarium use I would likely be replacing the grids with sheets of plywood cut to fit...and then of course the plywood would require reinforcement with lengths of 2x4 screwed and glued vertically to the bottom surface to prevent bowing...and then you'd likely want to paint at least the top surfaces of that wood...

I think I'd rather just build exactly what I want out of wood...so that's what I do.

But, yeah, the latest drawing is the first one that hasn't made me do a double-take and say "OMG...he's not gonna build it like that, is he?"

Now, OP, prepare for the fun job of personally sorting through lumber to find just the right pieces, straight and unwarped. How easy or difficult this is will hinge largely upon your local area; I find good lumber much easier to find in my current home province of Manitoba than I did back in Ontario. Plan out how many pieces you need of the various lengths. No need to buy it all in unwieldy huge lengths when most of your required pieces are short and can by cut from shorter original lengths. Don't just let the lumberyard kid throw the first few pieces into your truck off the top of the pile.

It should go without saying, but I'll say it just in case: Remember that you can't get two pieces 48 inches long from a 96-inch length of lumber. You need to allow for the kerf, the wood lost to the thickness of the blade. Careful planning will minimize the size and number of wasted short cut-off pieces.

And be careful where you store your lumber. If you have a damp humid climate, as I do, then those nice straight pieces you hand-selected will twist up like licorice if you place them on a concrete floor in your garage and leave them there for a couple weeks before using them. I always plan on cutting and assembling my wood within a few days of bringing it home whenever possible, assuming that it is nice and dry to begin with.

The fun is just beginning!

 

[Hybridfish7]

Looks way better now.
Just make sure to add extra two crossbars / supports for the tank in the middle. The supports should be slightly higher than the pillar in the middle. Otherwise the tank would be standing like a seesaw and might crack under the tension after some time.


View attachment 1501039

Do you just mean like a front-to-back bracing kind of thing?

I use some of those industrial metal racks in my basement and garage for storage; they have, like everything else including lumber, skyrocketed in price recently. I like the fact that they are very quick and easy to dismantle for moving or re-configuring, and they go from the box to the fully assembled shelf in literally a few minutes.

But the ones I own and have seen all share a shelf design that consists of a pair of horizontal beams front and rear, with various types of metal screens or grids as the actual shelf surface. For aquarium use I would likely be replacing the grids with sheets of plywood cut to fit...and then of course the plywood would require reinforcement with lengths of 2x4 screwed and glued vertically to the bottom surface to prevent bowing...and then you'd likely want to paint at least the top surfaces of that wood...

I think I'd rather just build exactly what I want out of wood...so that's what I do.

But, yeah, the latest drawing is the first one that hasn't made me do a double-take and say "OMG...he's not gonna build it like that, is he?"

Now, OP, prepare for the fun job of personally sorting through lumber to find just the right pieces, straight and unwarped. How easy or difficult this is will hinge largely upon your local area; I find good lumber much easier to find in my current home province of Manitoba than I did back in Ontario. Plan out how many pieces you need of the various lengths. No need to buy it all in unwieldy huge lengths when most of your required pieces are short and can by cut from shorter original lengths. Don't just let the lumberyard kid throw the first few pieces into your truck off the top of the pile.

It should go without saying, but I'll say it just in case: Remember that you can't get two pieces 48 inches long from a 96-inch length of lumber. You need to allow for the kerf, the wood lost to the thickness of the blade. Careful planning will minimize the size and number of wasted short cut-off pieces.

And be careful where you store your lumber. If you have a damp humid climate, as I do, then those nice straight pieces you hand-selected will twist up like licorice if you place them on a concrete floor in your garage and leave them there for a couple weeks before using them. I always plan on cutting and assembling my wood within a few days of bringing it home whenever possible, assuming that it is nice and dry to begin with.

The fun is just beginning!

The finding lumber part is going to be the worst. I find that my local home depot usually does not have a good supply of wood, then again I haven't actually bought wood in about 2 years. The cost of wood, along with the cost of this project itself, will likely be a lot less than anticipated, as the one thing you also have to take into account is I have an entire fishroom's worth of individually standing racks and stands to take down that I can scrap for smaller pieces. I'm thinking I might keep some of the tank length pieces from those to potentially rebuild as smaller racks or stands that I can sell to help mitigate the damage to my wallet. I should have enough around the fishroom to cover all the small pieces, and should actually only need to buy the 15 footers.

 

[Tanks of Steel]

Do you remember that obnoxious and unhelpful phrase "Learn to Code."?

I advise similarly to Learn to Weld

 

[Milingu]

Do you just mean like a front-to-back bracing kind of thing?

Yes, just something that supports the tank on the sides because wood will always bend a little bit. A tank has no problems standing only on its sides but it can have problems if its standing only on the middle.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Yes, just something that supports the tank on the sides because wood will always bend a little bit. A tank has no problems standing only on its sides but it can have problems if its standing only on the middle.

In that case I take it I don't really need bracing for the bottom rack with the 10 gallons?

 

[fishhead0103666]

Do you remember that obnoxious and unhelpful phrase "Learn to Code."?

I advise similarly to Learn to Weld

Welding may not be the hardest to learn, I've read that under ideal circumstances mig welding takes 8 hours, stick welding takes 40 hours, and I don't remember what it was said for tig welding, but the initial cost is very high. Of course the entry costs will be mitigated over years, possibly decades, of building stands so the cost per stand will, at least on paper, go down. The cost of the metal is higher than that of wood of course but you could possibly go to a scrap yard and find scrap metal that will work for you.