Hey, Nice Rack! Lets see them...

[DMD123]

Sharing a couple more shots:

Last night had done some deep cleaning on the 46g bowfront. The tank is actually one of my favorites that I have going, no monster fish, just a simple active community tank with nothing rare or exceptional about it.

Current stock in it: Planted community, Monk Tetra x10, Red Wag Platy x2, Three Spot Gourami, Red Flame Gourami, Marble Angel, corydoras sterbai x6, Albino BN Pleco x2 (1M & 1F)

My 30 is going through a change right now... setting up a "shellie' tank. Will order in fish next week but trying to find some rocks to fish it up and dumping a ton more shells in there.

 

[FJB]

What brand/model is that sump pump you use for your bottom tanks? I like that is a lot smaller than the ones I know, including one I have. Thanks!

 

[DMD123]

What brand/model is that sump pump you use for your bottom tanks? I like that is a lot smaller than the ones I know, including one I have. Thanks!

https://www.amazon.com/hygger-Submersible-Aquarium-Hydroponics-Fountain/dp/B083R866VR/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=hygger%2Bpump&qid=1630008905&sr=8-11&th=1

Bought the 1180GPH on Prime Day for $19.19 + tax

 

[esoxlucius]

Firstly, looks great, nice fish room.....but.....put my mind at rest.

If my old eyes aren't deceiving me the construction of those yellow racks goes against everything we're told regarding proper, and safe construction practice when doing a DIY stand build. Let me explain, and I'm sure you will put my mind at rest, I mustn't be looking at it right.

The weight bearing horizontal lengths of timber on the universally used template for fish tank stands must never be supported by screws/nails. You must have your vertical supports in the design to take the weight off the screws/nails. This is common practice.

But on your set up their doesn't seem to be any weight bearing vertical supports for the horizontal lengths which the tanks sit on. I can see the black screw/bolt heads if I zoom in. Is it these bolts that are load bearing? Maybe they are extremely heavy duty bolts, though they don't look particularly beefy from the pictures.

It would unnerve me slightly bearing in mind that the actual manufacturers, by your own admittance, said don't do it because they're not designed for aquariums!

Are you 100% confident in their long term durability, and would you trust them if you upgraded to a much bigger, heavier tank?

 

[DMD123]

Firstly, looks great, nice fish room.....but.....put my mind at rest.

If my old eyes aren't deceiving me the construction of those yellow racks goes against everything we're told regarding proper, and safe construction practice when doing a DIY stand build. Let me explain, and I'm sure you will put my mind at rest, I mustn't be looking at it right.

The weight bearing horizontal lengths of timber on the universally used template for fish tank stands must never be supported by screws/nails. You must have your vertical supports in the design to take the weight off the screws/nails. This is common practice.

But on your set up their doesn't seem to be any weight bearing vertical supports for the horizontal lengths which the tanks sit on. I can see the black screw/bolt heads if I zoom in. Is it these bolts that are load bearing? Maybe they are extremely heavy duty bolts, though they don't look particularly beefy from the pictures.

It would unnerve me slightly bearing in mind that the actual manufacturers, by your own admittance, said don't do it because they're not designed for aquariums!

Are you 100% confident in their long term durability, and would you trust them if you upgraded to a much bigger, heavier tank?

Yes Im 100% confident on the long term durability and they where chosen with the tanks I have in mind when I set it up. If I were to "upgrade" tanks, then the whole system would be sold off, why? Because the next upgrades would likely be away from 3 foot and 4 foot tanks going to 6ft long tanks and/or 24" wide tanks. I would choose something else at that point.

Look carefully at how the tanks sit on the tops of the stands, they have no shear weight on those bolts that just help lock the beam in place. All the weight is spread out over the length of the beam AND the upright themselves. I should clarify that the top 90's are supported that way. The 46, 30, 65B would put weight on the beam itself but the design in no way would shear off the black retainer bolt. I am with in (below) the rated loads on these racks.

 

[DMD123]

Well that was me sharing my set up, would love to see any others using metal stands.

I have seen some use the industrial baker racks, those dont seem to lock as securely as the ones I chose but Ive seen mostly small grow out tanks on them.

This style is the one I was talking about:

 

[FJB]

https://www.amazon.com/hygger-Submersible-Aquarium-Hydroponics-Fountain/dp/B083R866VR/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=hygger%2Bpump&qid=1630008905&sr=8-11&th=1

View attachment 1471169
Bought the 1180GPH on Prime Day for $19.19 + tax

Thanks! I will check it out.

 

[Denon]

DMD123 nice rack! Do you think you could run all three tanks at the same height with the Dewalts you got or would the brackets not fit? I found the racks listed at HD and would like to do something similar. I have 3 75G's all right next to each other with random height wooden stands I built. I want the stands to look more uniform and if I could get them all the same height with two stands that would look neat.

 

[DMD123]

DMD123 nice rack! Do you think you could run all three tanks at the same height with the Dewalts you got or would the brackets not fit? I found the racks listed at HD and would like to do something similar. I have 3 75G's all right next to each other with random height wooden stands I built. I want the stands to look more uniform and if I could get them all the same height with two stands that would look neat.

I love the thought of being able to run 4 foot tanks all the way across but with the frames they just would not fit. Thats why my solution was just to use the uniqueness of the smaller 36” bowfront as the center tank.

 

[DMD123]

Have not really updated this in a while. So on my bottom 65B’s I took my Beamswork fixtures off the top of the tanks and zip tied them up under the racking. Gave the lower tanks a cleaner look