Rays on a budget- My (somewhat long) story w/pics

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I actually bought 2 sheets of plywood, but I opted to not use them. I was able to get all the framing perfectly level and flat...and as you can see...keeping the tanks 3/4" lower is helpful...as small as it seems, I need to be able to net fish easily as I move them about with eggs and such. there's 8" clearance over the lower tanks and just a bit more up top.



Mike
 
ah ok gotcha
 
I got a decent shot of some of the new PBass, and Dat and a couple L066 tails.

The bass and the Dat are a lot more settled since I tok this pic too. I'm liking them.

PBass 009.jpg
 
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Hey Mike, I just spent the last 2 days reading thru this entire thread... What you're doing is absolutely EPIC... Every fish guy and girl's dream... I just got back into it with african cichlids in a 36 bow but have always had an interest in rays which is what brought me here in the first place...

Something that caught my eye in the picture of your new racks though... The way you've got them put together it looks like the only thing really supporting the tanks is the screws holding the rack together... Once you fill that rack with water you're going to have one heck of a lot of weight only being held up only by the shear strength of the screws...
 
I've thought about that. We're dealing with 600lbs of water plus the tank. Yes, it is screws, but they go in from multiple angles. each corner is supported by six screws going into 2 separate boards. It works out to about 175 lbs per corner, and I think that's fine. as for vertical total, the worst would be the center, but each upright 2x4 would still only be holding 350lbs, and that's well within reason.

That being said...I'm not sure I like it either. I'm going to do something more with it before I start filling them all. If nothing else, I'll make corner gussets for the ends, but I may do more.

Thanks for reading!

Mike
 
If you have room just sister a two by four on the inside between each shelf and the bottom shelf and floor. You might also want some supports to prevent shifting from end to end, if that much water starts moving to on end it will be hard to stop.
 
That's exactly what I was thinking, but I might use 3/4" plywood strips because it's more rigid than a 2x4.

Good point on the water shifting too. That's why I'm leaving it screwed into the rafters and the light. I really only screwed them like that to hold them in position while assembling...but it definately will keep things where they are supposed to be.

Mike
 
I've been following ever since the beginning and I must say its really cool to see your ups and downs of this huge project. It seems to me that everything is finally coming together!
 
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