Inexpensive breeder rack

[Shane]

Set this up tonight as I try to rebuild my fishroom. Total cost was US $140 for two 40 breeders ($40 each) and stand ($60 at Home Depot).
-Shane

[lotsabettas, posts: 59]

Looking good Shane did yah get the 40 gallon breeders at the Petco sale?

[Shane]

Yes, their current $1.00 per gallon sale is just ridiculous. Those prices must be at, or even under, their cost.
-Shane

[Suckermouth, posts: 1514]

Hey Shane what kind of shelf is that? Last time I was at Home Depot I was looking for shelves for a breeding set-up but the ones that were big enough had particle board shelves, which I thought was probably inappropriate for fish tanks. I also don't recall seeing a shelf that was perfectly fitted for 40 gallon tanks....

[Shane]

I had to do some running around to find this one and I actually found it at Lowes not Home Depot. My bad, but I have been spending a lot of time at both lately.

Shelf units are 36" X 18" and they do have particle board shelves that are laminated black. However, all four edges (front, back and sides) of the tank sit firmly on the wide metal supports. I looked at a similar model, at Home Depot, that was gray with untreated particle board, but the tank would have sat on the particle board, not the metal, so I did not go with that model. That might be the one you saw there.

Because the fit is so exact, the shelf has to be built around the tanks. Took me a while to figure that one out. Basically build the bottom shelf and four upright supports (so they stand on their own), add second shelf at desired height, lower tank in, add third shelf at desired height, lower tank in, finish off with top shelf. This unit is rated at 1,000 lbs per shelf so the weight of a 40 gallon (circa 250 lbs) is easily supported.

My original plan was put three 10 gallon tanks (lengthwise) across the top shelf as hospital/quarantine/fry tanks. To do this though I would have had to lower the shelves that the two 40s sit on and sacrifice some of the open work space above these tanks. As I am fairly tall, I decided I did not want the bottom tank so low I would have to bend down to see it. I also really hate a stand that does not allow easy access for decorating, cleaning etc. Anyone building tank stands will want to consider these two distances carefully (height of bottom tank from ground and workspace above each tank). You might note that I elected to leave the front brace off the top shelf. This way I can just lift off the board when I want unfettered access to the tank. It is still supported on 3 sides, so I can also use it for storage if I need to.

-Shane

PS These are not finished. I will add a thick, black blocking material to cover each work space gap and hide the lights, filter etc. These will be affixed with velcro, so I just velcro them off when doing water changes and velcro them back on when finished.

[Suckermouth, posts: 1514]

Hmmm, thanks. It's a nice looking set-up. I've been looking for a rack to set-up a bunch of 10 gallon tanks to grow out fry, but maybe I'll just get one of the shelves I saw and replace the particle board, as there isn't a shelf that will be exactly the correct dimensions to hold them.

For the 40 gallons I've been breeding in, I've been using these pretty good double-stands I've been ordering from Dr. Foster's and Smith. It allows setting up a tank on the top and bottom, but admittedly the bottom tank is a few inches off the floor; I'm sure I look REALLY ridiculous when I lay on the floor looking at my Hypancistrus. However, I'm not so tall and the top tank is about the perfect height for me so I don't have to get on a stool and work in my tanks. Plus, this shelving set-up gives some space under the tanks for storage, something I don't have.

[Shane]

Slowly, but surely. Access panels and filters added.
Access panels are a faux leather I picked up at a fabric store. They are attached via velcro and velcro on and off.

Of course after I attached everything my wife said, "Since the stand is metal, why didn't you just super glue magnets to the fabric."
-Shane

[Jools]

Looks nice. I must swap out my boring old pond liner for faux leather! Have you plans for what to keep in this yet?

Jools

[Shane]

My original idea was to use a thick plastic like in your system. The faux leather was an accidental find. It is heavy and thick so works well. The material was on sale for $21 a yard, so I picked up a 6'X6' (2m X 2m) sheet for just over $40. It also makes a great background material for tanks.

No idea what will go in them as of yet. One may get sand, leaf litter and twigs and become a loricariinae tank. The other may become an Orinoco or Atabapo tank. I also have a hankering to do a nice west African stream set up. In my smaller tanks I want to work with several hypoptopominae spp and small bagrids as well as some of the newer danios showing up in the trade.
-Shane

[Jools]

Cool. Well, nice rack.

Jools

[Shane]

Cool. Well, nice rack.

lol, how many people looking for "inexpensive racks" will be misdirected to this thread?

-Shane

[Shane]

Lights, camera, action!

Lights installed and this time I took my wife's suggestion and used magnets. Five industrial strength magnets on each light. Probably overkill, but the magnets were inexpensive and I wanted to make sure they could not fall.

I went with halogen as I wanted the natural look of light making its way through a forest canopy much like Gert's
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=33502

The units also have a dimmer switch, which allows me to adjust lighting to just the right level.

-Shane

[MatsP]

All you need now is a few bits of wood, some sand, a bit of water and some fish!

--
Mats

[bigbird, posts: 225]

very nice and good ideas. cheers jk

[joefish72b, posts: 174]

That 40 gallon set up couldn't be a more perfect match, smart move keeping the lower tank elevated or you couldn't get a siphon for water changes. I think you have that design perfected, congrats.

Hmmm, thanks. It's a nice looking set-up. I've been looking for a rack to set-up a bunch of 10 gallon tanks to grow out fry, but maybe I'll just get one of the shelves I saw and replace the particle board, as there isn't a shelf that will be exactly the correct dimensions to hold them.

Here is what I did for a 10 gallon multi (total cost for the shelving unit under $100):
Used (6) 2"x4"x10' and one sheet of 3/4 plywood.

To make the shelf I had the plywood cut lenghtwise at 22" (done at the store).
At home (4) of the 2x4's were cut to 8ft to make rails, the scraps were used for the end rails.
The other (2) 2x4's were cut in half to make the legs.
I cut a groove in the rails so the shelf fits inside the groove and gives a lip for the tanks to fit in. The whole thing was screwed together but depending on tools and skill you could dowel or biscuit the whole thing too.
The rest was just plumbing, which my vary depending on what you want to do.

It's been set up about 6weeks or more and there has been the same 1/8" of sag in the shelf the whole time. That is with 8 tanks on the shelf that have 9 gallons each. If you want more strength simply add another set of legs at the center.

The lower shelf will be tanked after about 6 months. Just want to see how much deflection I get on the top shelf. I'm probably going to add the extra set of legs in the center which would require 1 more 2x4 and that is like $10

[MatsP]

Mine is a similar woooden design, but I didn't use the slotted design, just screwed plywood to the top of the horizontal long pieces. Of course, mine is alos 10ft long [actually, about 10'7" with the end pieces].

Here's how it's put together in about 45 seconds (it took more like 15 hours, tho'):


--
Mats

[apistomaster, posts: 4569]

I bought a steel stand at Home Depot which has an inside space of 72-1/2" which is exactly what you need for two 40 gal breeder tanks side by side.
I have mine configured for three shelves with the bottom shelve/tank 10 inches off the floor. The top row is about 6'-6" to the top of tanks so I have to use a short step ;ladder when doing major work in them. I like having the tanks on the bottom shelve to help provide a lower center of gravity for a tall stand. I always drain top, then middle and finally shelf tanks and refill in the reverse to keep from having it top heavy. I had a slight amount of settlement so the stand leans forward ever so slightly.
I bet my shelving system is from the same manufacturer.
@Shane,
Shane, are you just supporting the ends of the 40 gal tanks on the sides of your shelves? I built mine up with 2 X 2 covered with a 1/2 inch thick plywood cut slightly wider than the shelve so the entire plastic frame is sitting on wood with about 1/4 inch of over width front and back.
It is hard to beat these steel stands for economy and utility. I allowed six inches of access space between top of tank and the stringers but I have 9-1/2 inches of actual usable room between top of tanks and shelves above. I am using now discontinued 36 inch T-5 NO fixtures, single lamp for my lights. They sit on my back hinged cover glasses and I used trimmed down 36 inch lengths of white plastic rain gutters as "reflectors". Only small diameter fluorescent lamps will work within the work space I left.
Eventually I expect my fixtures' electronic ballasts to go bad in the next few years. I will replace them with 6400K T2 fluorescent fixtures and lamps. Both systems I use and plan to use in the future are designed to be used in a series and come with a short electrical pig tail connector so I can use one electrical outlet for up to 3 fixtures. Three T2, 21-1/2 inches fixtures will light six feet of shelf length. The T2's produce near perfect spectrum spikes for plant growth, are only 13 watts each and produce 73 lumens per watt. This is about 25% more than an HO T-5 equivalent. Really useful lights for DIY'ers. Another nice design feature is that these have 180* built in reflective backing and may be rotated on the axis to aim the light wherever you need it most. I recently added three of the 21 inch units in a series along the back of my planted 125 gal Tetra tank because the two Current, 36 inch, dual lamp HO fixtures were not quite enough. The newly added T2 lamps have put me into the zone where I could greatly benefit from CO2 injection but I'm afraid the plants will just have to be grateful for the added lighting.
These are 1/4 inch/7mm diameter fluorescent lamps. These are very cool both literally and figuratively.
T2 Light info:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... ng.html#t2

[Shane]

Shane, are you just supporting the ends of the 40 gal tanks on the sides of your shelves? I built mine up with 2 X 2 covered with a 1/2 inch thick plywood cut slightly wider than the shelve so the entire plastic frame is sitting on wood with about 1/4 inch of over width front and back.

This particular shelving unit (and it is the main reason I elected to use it) has a very wide inside metal lip. It is about 2" wide. Over this I placed a piece of 3/4" particle board that is painted black that came with the unit. This had the extra bonus of giving the tank a black bottom if I choose to go without a substrate for some reason.

It is hard to beat these steel stands for economy and utility.

I could not agree more.

With regard to lights... Home Depot sells dual tube 36" T5 fixtures for $29.00 (no reflector). They do need to be wired to a cord and wall plug, but that is a 10 minute job.

-Shane

[MatsP]

You can make reflectors from plastic guttering, if the styling isn't very important.

--
Mats

[Shane]

Not there yet, but the top tank is now holding fish.
-Shane