Breeding Tank Rack Help

[fire83]

Hi All,

Growing up was a keen freshwater aquarium hobbyist and breeder. Recently my son has shown an interest in the hobby and looking to get back into it. I'm looking at building a 3-tier breeding rack setup primarily for betta, angelfish and cherry shrimp for now. We have been gradually accumulating various 2ft/3ft tanks, pumps, heaters etc. for our setup but the one thing holding us up is the breeding tank rack.

I am tossing up between building my own timber rack or purchasing off-the-shelf heavy duty storage type metal shelving to use for the rack.

Details of the rack below:

a) 3-tier

b) 1.2m-1.5m(w) x 0.4m-0.5m(d) x 1.8m-2.2m(h) rack size

c) Capable of holding the weight of full 2ft/3ft tanks across this span. I am guessing min. 400kg+ per tier or more?


I would much prefer purchasing an off-the-shelf heavy duty metal rack, but would this be suitable? Would they be able to withstand the 400+kg per tier? Is there any that you could recommend?

If I was to build my own timber rack, can anyone direct me to any designs that would be suitable? Something that includes details of the timber size/type, screw/bolt types etc.

My budget is approx. $300 and we are in Sydney, Australia.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Colin_T]

Have you got a link to the stand you were looking at?

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height) and how many tanks do you have?

Before buying or building anything, you need to know how much weight it needs to hold. The following link has a calculator/ converter to see how much water is in each tank. One litre of water weighs one kilogram (1 ltr = 1 kg).

You then add the weight of the aquarium when it's empty, plus gravel, rocks, etc. I then like to double the total weight of the water, tank and everything and build the stand to suit the weight. At the very least you want the stand to be able to hold 20% more weight than the total weight of the tanks.
eg: 2 ft tank with water and everything weighs 60kg. I build the stand so it can support 120kg. This is overkill but I prefer to over engineer things so they last.

Depending on how many tanks you use, their height and glass thickness will come into play. Taller tanks and bigger tanks use thicker glass that weighs more. Coverglass will also add weight and so do lights. I used to suspend my light units above the tanks so there was more room to work in them.

Calculator

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If you plan on running a number of aquariums, a large air pump/ blower is usually more efficient and more powerful than a bunch of smaller air pumps. You can connect some pvc pipe to the big air pump via some flexible hose. Run the pvc pipe around the back of the tanks or around the top of the room and attach airline to the pipe with brass airline taps. Then run the airline to each tank. You can use black poly pipe (irrigation tube) instead of pvc pipe and they do plastic taps that fit in the poly pipe and airline.

 

[Fishfunn]

For cost and strength, I would build a stand made out of wood. I like this guys design, and he did the multi-tier stand for under 100 US dollars. DiY Multi-Tank Aquarium Rack

 

[Ceez]

Idk what's available in Oz but over here I've used Facebook market place and offer up to find "industrial shelving" you can get something that will handle the weight at a fraction of the cost. I just purchased some warehouse units built to the size I need, 7' tall by 8' wide by 24" deep, for $360 each. Compared to buying something from home depot brand new or buying material to build my own this blows all that out of the water and for pennies on the dollar.

This is what I bought

Mine is coming with 4 shelves at the specs I mentioned. I'll be able to run 6 60g and 2 80g tanks on it and weight won't be an issue.

 

[Colin_T]

Idk what's available in Oz but over here I've used Facebook market place and offer up to find "industrial shelving" you can get something that will handle the weight at a fraction of the cost. I just purchased some warehouse units built to the size I need, 7' tall by 8' wide by 24" deep, for $360 each. Compared to buying something from home depot brand new or buying material to build my own this blows all that out of the water and for pennies on the dollar.

We have similar things here at Bunnings (major hardware chain that destroyed other hardware stores around the country). Just need a piece of wood on each shelf to make them smooth to protect the base of the tanks.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/pinnacle-1830-x-1500-x-540mm-4-tier-adjustable-heavy-duty-shelving-unit_p2760423

 

[Ceez]

We have similar things here at Bunnings (major hardware chain that destroyed other hardware stores around the country). Just need a piece of wood on each shelf to make them smooth to protect the base of the tanks.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/pinnacle-1830-x-1500-x-540mm-4-tier-adjustable-heavy-duty-shelving-unit_p2760423

Correct. That's the only modification I did to my other racks. Cut some 3/4" plywood and stained/water sealed it. Very sturdy and provide easy access front and back.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You may want to rethink the angels. When I first started with angels I got DD blacks. When I got a pair formed I removed the rest. And then I got my forst spawn of over 500 eggs. This was folled byt another spawn about 2 weeks later of a similar size.

So I did some research into breeding angels. I was told bu those who do it that i should have two 55 gallon grow tanns for each breeding air of angels. That was when I learned that I did not want to breed angels. You may want to consder this in what you decide to breed.

I believe my pair was extremely prolific and abnormal (I may be wrong, though). But even so do you want to be getting a few 100 new babibies with any regularity. Alsom there is a lot of culling involved with angels spawns. This can hard for younger children to understand.

 

[Back in the fold]

@Ceez Holy Wow ! Those industrial shelves look bombproof . That is definitely the way to go for the price . You could put a Volkswagen on those !

 

[Ceez]

@Ceez Holy Wow ! Those industrial shelves look bombproof . That is definitely the way to go for the price . You could put a Volkswagen on those !

Don't give me any ideas

 

[Colin_T]

@Ceez Holy Wow ! Those industrial shelves look bombproof . That is definitely the way to go for the price . You could put a Volkswagen on those !

Pretty much

One of the adverts on TV shows them disassembling a Hyundai ILoad van, then crushing the shell and putting it all inside the new (latest version) ILoad van. It fits on a pallet and goes straight in either door.

For the OP, you can use plastic storage containers as rearing tanks. They can be stacked away somewhere when not in use and easily cleaned.