Red1313

1... Ok so on the big wall then... if I put a plywood backing on the stand would that get rid of the problem or no?

2... Power strips= Power bars? That could work but unless they're on the outside I'd be worried about water dripping down from the tanks above...

3... Ok that I can do I'm giving a 2" buffer between tanks. To try and help the boys keep they're cool

4... No under cabinet lighting = more cords... would a reflector of some sort work maybe? I've got 4" worth of wood to hide things behind...

5... paint you think? I thought that deck sealer stuff was paint like... It was just an idea i had.

6... Ok so high end bolts (I believe in the power of over engineering )

Thanks

IIIHawKIII

the blinds and thick curtains should be sufficient, but if you wanted to do the plywood it wouldn't hurt. just more materials and weight. but it would help structurally as well.

actually, you can link up to 5 (depends on the manufacturer) under cabinet lights on one cord. they come with little short cords to link them. but i still dont' know how to direct that light. i gutted one of my light units and just kept the plastic case and siliconed 2 under cabinet lights in and it worked quite well.

you could put the plugs on the backside of the supports, but it would be annoying to unplug anything. you could also put them on the undersides of the shelves. that would protect them from water.

deck sealer, in it's most basic form is transparent. they may have tinted or colored stuff now, but i'm unsure. so you could talk to a lowe's/home depot rep. and see what they would recommend. you could stain then seal as well.

Red1313

I meant the plywood prevent it from absorbing all my heat if I put it on the other wall

prairielilly

Anything you put up against baseboard heaters, will cook. This I know for certain fact.

If you put it across from the window, and don't mind having restricted natural light for your own purposes and don't have house plants, thick curtains (or even tinfoil on the windows) will negate all that effect but leave you in the dark. If it's not a patio door, what I've found works really, really well is cheap white plastic blinds from Walmart or Zellers (for small windows you can cover them for less than $10 usually) with or without some curtains overtop. With these blinds they cut the glare and most of the intensity but you can still actually see in the room (who wants to live in a cave?)

Certain stains are oil-based, these will soak into the wood leaving an opaque (and water resistant) finish. You can also buy a water-sealing product meant as a topcoat for decks, that would greatly diminish the water effect. Or you could lay clear plastic on top of the shelves under the tanks?

Power strips = power bars. Many have small openings on the back sized to fit a screw so you can semi-permanently attach them to something. If you did go with a plywood backboard, you could attach them to that say midway up, so they wouldn't be at the bottom for water to fall on. You could do the same with a small non-supportive wood piece strung across the back if you decided not to use a backboard.

Under-cabinet lighting is freaky expensive (I was looking into installing some in my kitchen a short whiles ago). Something like $45 for a six-inch 15W piece, which can be connected to other pieces and strung together. There's cheaper plastic varieties at Walmart, Canadian Tire and Rona, around $15 for a 15W, the housing's a lot more bulky and well, the one I had from Walmart broke after two months so I got another from Canadian Tire, which broke as I was installing it (got returned), then tried one from Rona, same result... The advantage of these things is they look good and there's minimal cordage. Disadvantage (besides cost for some) - they're not supposed to be installed over anything involving water according to the instructions they come with due to fire/shock hazard...may I suggest just stick with the aquarium hoods...

No comment on bolts or bracing frequency, I'm always terrified the floor's gonna cave in or the plane will fall down or some other such silly thing - I also love over-engineering

Quite the project you've got going here - I bet you wanted to be an engineer once didn't you?

Btw congrats on your new place feels great doesn't it?

Red1313

love the new place
I would be an engineer but I can't do numbers... literally it's really really sad.
So stick with the hood gotcha
The issue is that I really like my big window... I suppose that I could just leave part of it covered and try and get the stand as far in the corner as possible...

MissMTS

Red, this sounds so great! I can't wait to see it when its done. Sorry, I don't have any experience building stuff so I won't be much help, but I am really looking forward to watching your progress

prairielilly

If your window faces north or even east in toontown, I wouldn't worry about too much light intensity on the fish tanks. If it faces west or especially south, you're going to bake a little. Maybe curtains would work the best, that way you could pull them open when you're home but while you're away during the day you can close them and not cook your fish tanks. I was going to suggest that peel- and stick mylar stuff that's semi transparent (good for glare) but I know what you mean about loving windows I need to be able to see blue sky and trees, and if I don't get my sunshine fix I get reeaaaaalll grumpy. Blah. Who wants to look at concrete all the time, we do that at work!

IIIHawKIII

well you don't have to keep the blinds closed EVERY MINUTE. just when you aren't there or during the brightest times of the day. and white plastic blinds don't make the room dark. lessens the intensity of the light, but it would be far from dark.

curtains are different tho. i have an electronics fetish as well as fish tanks and like to watch my tv/games in the dark. so i don't mind the darkness from curtains. blinds don't get it dark enough for me.

Red1313

lol it's a west facing window so it's going to be toasty this summer for sure

I suppose that I could just keep them open while I'm home. It isn't that big a deal to close them when I'm gone

I've spent this semster living in a basement room and yeah, it doesn't agree so well with me I lose sense of time and I don't get enough sleep as a result

Thanks Miss MTS

djbrist

Red1313, you sure are getting lots of good advice, its great because my "wall of tanks" idea is being influenced by your thread,!! Here is my SIMPLE sketch of the idea with your numbers for measurements... its not exact and I would tweek it as necessary, but I might use it as a start for my own... you may already have your Dad starting it anyway so please don't let me meddle if you've already started. I hope its FUN. Congrats on the new apartment btw.

Attached Images

Tiered Tank Shelf.jpg (81.9 KB, 39 views)

IIIHawKIII

now IMHO, i would make the vertical and angled pieces one board. and bolt the shelves on, so you could disassemble easier. cause even if you do toenail them to the top of the shelf below....that's a lot of pressure on some piddly nails. especially if you cuts aren't just perfect. maybe i'll work up some sketches tomorrow if i get time.

and if the tanks aren't takin up the whole shelf area, why use the angled board at all?

djbrist

You have a valid point, it may need to be verticle, but I always like screws and joints w/ carriage bolts. As mine would be more modular to adjust or seperate too, but point taken. Thx

IIIHawKIII

even taking the green and orange angled lumber from your diagram and making those two tiers one board would be a big improvement. just a better way to get that weight to the ground without it goin thru a bunch of joints and fasteners.

djbrist

Thx IIIHawkIII.

IIIHawKIII

i really wish i knew how to weld. cause i would love to make the same type system, but out of arcs of metal tubing. make them spans like bridges from the vertical supports.

like i said, i'll try and drum something up sketchwise. no promises tho.

djbrist

[quote=IIIHawKIII;568017]i really wish i knew how to weld. cause i would love to make the same type system, but out of arcs of metal tubing. make them spans like bridges from the vertical supports.

I know what you mean, I have never been any good at welding, but incorporating that into a stand would be cool...

Anyway here is another re-work, how's this look (kinda like my orig...lol), but I think it's better, for the reasons IIIHawkIII posted. I kinda like this collaboration thing, it's a new tool for me.


Sorry Red1313 if I'm hijacking the thread I'll back off if needed...

Dave

Attached Images

Tiered Tank Shelf.jpg (77.9 KB, 39 views)

IIIHawKIII

down in the blue, in the middle of the front view...you forget to draw a brace? or why are the orange and green tiers wider in the center? i would continue any bracing you do up top, clear to the floor.

and are you gonna have tanks on top of the orange, green, and blue levels?

like someone mentioned earlier, make sure your floor can support all that weight. figure a gallon of water at 10 pounds to be safe.

and i don't know how heavy you are, but you should climb on top of it and move around and see if you have any movement, if you do....more braces.

prairielilly

There's been several mentions of intentions to make the stand in a manner that comes apart easily for moving/storage...I think it warrants mention that any time you take apart a structure, you weaken the joints. IMO it would be much stronger if it were made as a permanent shape, heavy and awkward or not.

Maybe a workaround to that would be to make a solid frame and have the shelves be separate - they could have a small 'lip' that would lay over top of the shelf support. It would be just as strong, but the shelves coming off would greatly decrease the weight when you want to move it.

Just 2c.

IIIHawKIII

if you made your connections with pre drilled holes with bolts and nuts that won't weaken it. screws would.

Red1313

No I don't mind the hijack Long as it's still on stand design I'm cool.

In regards to chosing a tiered shelf even though the tanks to use all the space (as in my design) was a choice on stabilitly. I can't bolt it to a wall and considering the height relative to the width the tiers seemed like the best thing to prevent if from falling forward. (Triangles are the strongest shap )

I chose solid sides with the pre drilled holes to attach shelves with bolts. While that shouldn't cause too much of a stress problem on the joints (the shelves are all going to be solid construcion with 2 bolts in each end to support) One issue may be the relative "hardness" of the wood vs the bolts. Wood is tough so it won't be an immediate problem but the bolts will be holding all the weight so they could begin to "sink" up into the wood due to weigh deforming the holes... Not sure how valid a concern that would be.

djbrist

IIIHawkIII, I had the back vertical center posts turned sideways (extra 1 1/2") to free up space on shelf, but for sure I agree it needs t/b there... Yah All 3 shelves to have tanks so lots-o-weight, and I always climb and put my weight (215lbs.) to check, wife always laughs... and mine will be in bsm't on concrete.TY

Prairielilly, interesting now that is to think about and figure re: shelves removable... TY2.

Red1313, TY for not minding and your's sounds like it is going to work great for you, I might be concerned w/ diagonal cross supports in back or something to keep from turning into parrallelogram if that makes sense. As my wife's shoe rack recently collapsed this way,LOL. I'm in no hurry so I'm takin' my time "thinking"

I figure the wt of the piece: 73.2 ft of premKD 2x4 @ .96lb/ft = 70.27lbs
45.7 sqft 3/4 ply @ 1.42lb/sqft = 64.9lbs.
5-10 lbs of fasteners = 7.5lbs

as scketched total weight of 142.67 lbs
divide into 3 approx tiers = 48lbs per tier
tank wts, I'll have to do that math too...next.
hmmm....

Red1313

tanks are usually said to be empty 1 lbs for each gal capacity , then 10lbs for each gallon of water. But that's a rough guide line. A 10 gal tank would be roughly 110 lbs.

djbrist

OK, so my maximum load on this sketch-up would be:
4- 10 gallons + 40lbs gravel = 480
2-20's + 40lbs gravel = 480
960 lbs + 143lbs = 1103lbs.... wwOOOOww! yep, lots-o-weight... but this wt. will be only totalled at the base tier, second tier w/b 480lbs (4-10's) plus 96 lbs approx tier wt, and the third w/b 240lbs (2-10's) plus 48 lbs approx tier wt, Time to test...

IIIHawKIII

that is over half a ton! i'd hate to see what people who run fish stores put on their floors. imagine how much the petsmart rigs weigh!

Red1313

I think that one way to overcome the weight issue is to go with metal stand instead of the wood. Better strength (if done right) and you can use less

Red1313

And now I've started thinking metal stand... I suppose a metal tubing frame with wood shelves wood be neat... however I'm not sure if 1" tubing would be near strong enough...

MissMTS

Hmmmm, that would look nice, but I would be weary of the 1 inch metal tubing being strong enough. We made barres for our dance studio out of metal tubing (1.5 inch) and they are really wobbly. You would have to find a way to make them really sturdy....

prairielilly

Solid frame welded together + removable wooden shelves. Standard 1/2" metal pipe (rebar) is strong enough to hold concrete together but is slightly unpretty - then again, you can paint it. Then, you just have to find someone to cut it and weld it for you....

IIIHawKIII

rebar would NOT be good for weight support. not trying to be rude, but i have to disagree. rebar isn't a tube, and it's not load bearing. it's primary purpose is to keep concrete from breaking and shifting.

you would need steel tubing, 1" at least. and fence companies, or welding businesses should both be able to build the rough structure. but it wouldn't be as cheap as doin it yourself with lumber.

Red1313

We have square iron tubing on the farm that we use all the time (1" I believe) would that be strong enough?