Red1313

Ok so this has probably been done (or similar) before but I thought I'd get your guys's input on my latest "Engineering" Feat.

I'm moving to a new apartment and would like to not have all my tanks hidden in my bedroom . So I'm looking into building some sort of display stand. Now this is just a rough draft since:
a) I haven't moved in yet
b) I don't have any actual room measurements.

The stand doesn't need to be pretty but cheap and solid are mandatory since it will have to be free standing and I'm on a university student budget.

It will be a (wonderful) plywood and 2x4 construction. 3 levels. The bottom level will have 2 ten gal and (possibly) a 20 gal (I haven't decided yet though I have room). The middle will have 4 5.5 gal tanks as will the top.

Over all dimensions will be 6'4" long by 55" high and 24" deep.
Is there anything extra I need to take into consideration? (braces, stability issues, ect.)

Thanks every one

Butterfly

Before you build think about how you will do maintenance, will they siphon easily? Easy to re-fill? Will they be easy to reach into? Will it be easy to feed? actually go through the motions of what you will have to do to those tanks then make your decisions about height etc.
Brace,brace,brace thats a lot of weight.
Carol

Red1313

Thanks Carol,
I've got a stand of sorts and I'm basing the spacing off of it. The shelf with the 5's has 8" of clearance between tank top and bottom of the next (not counting open area that's actually under the plywood between braces). The shelf with the 2 10's and the possible 20 has 8" of clearance for the 10's and the 20 only has 4' but I designed the shelf for the 10's and dropping it any lower would make gravel vac'ing difficult.

Speaking of braces how often should I brace? Every 18" for the 5's? That would allow me to but the braces above the tanks at the gaps between tanks and give me 4" more of clearance. With the tank on the bottom I could double that due to the extra weight...

Would that be enough or would I need more?

agabr123

very cool, i hope you can post pictures of the building stages and finished products! i'd love to see it

Red1313

Sure thing... just need to decide which design I want.
aka
whether or not I want to try breeding betta's. The three shelf idea works for my tank needs now. If I decide to try breeding then I need to go with an earlier layout...
decisions decisions... :s

agabr123

oh that would be so awesome red! if you have the time and energy you should definitely try breeding

prairielilly

What you could look into as well is the pre-built wooden utility shelving - you buy the shelves prebuilt plus the supports and put it together however you like. It might work well for you as they often come with weight ratings and different styles of shelves are available allowing you to configure it however you want. You can also get braces for them. All from Home Depot or Rona or Walmart or...

That said, this whole wooden creation sounds pretty interesting...have fun!

agabr123

industrial strength shelving works really well, there are some that can hold up to 10,000 pounds of weight as long as it's evenly distributed

sirdarksol

Sounds good. Space above, around, and behind to load up equipment and do maintenance on everything is the thing many people (myself, for example) overlook.

You may want to consider building it so the tiers can be disconnected (2x4s are heavy). Use removable screws so they can be attached and won't slide around.

2x4s will be more than strong enough to support the aquaria you've got. Vertical strength isn't the most difficult part,. In your case, you could probably do the two sides and a center support with 2x4s, and then a few more vertical supports with smaller pieces of wood to save on cost and weight.
The difficult part is horizontal support. You don't want a roommate or friend bumping into the thing and sending it crashing to the ground. Diagonal supports, cross-supports (having multiple levels helps with this, as long as you connect the levels somehow), and hardware made for that kind of thing (there are a variety of metal braces you can get for the purpose of keeping corners nice and stable. I'd suggest using one or two of them at the corners of the unit.

Edit:
One more thing, this one about placement. Try to figure out which way the floor joists run. Depending on the floor material, a stud finder might be able to do this. You want to run something like this across the floor joists, not along them. You really don't want to drop all of your aquaria on your downstairs neighbor's head.

Red1313

agabr123: That's what I'm trying to decide right now
Prarrielilly: I've looked into pre-made stands a bit, will probably browse around some more. i need to price to see if it's cheaper to buy multiple pre-made shelves or just to build this one big one.
sirdarksol: So you're saying that I should build each tier seperate... I could divide it into two parts (the top most one is just tanks sitting on top so there really isn't much there to count). It's a solid concrete building so I don't know if floor joists are a concern.

Keep the comments/idea's coming guys. I'll get some rough sketches up here in a few hours.

sirdarksol

Yes, that's what I'm saying, though you should make sure that the vertical supports rest on top of one another. You can get L-shaped connectors that would allow you to use screws to attach top and bottom together, and then it's easily deconstructed for when/if you need to move.
I say this out of experience (okay, my dad's experience). Dad made a dresser when he and Mom got married. He made it out of 2x2s and 2x4s. The thing is about 6'x3'x3' (which means it's a bit smaller than what you're making). Without the drawers in it, the thing is super heavy and difficult for even two people to move. I moved a 90g tank on my own (not far, and it still wasn't a good idea), and I'm pretty sure that was easier than moving this dresser with my wife's help. Anything you can do to split the weight up into more manageable pieces will have you thanking yourself later on.

If the floor is solid concrete, you're good to go. You can stack all of your tanks in one column, and the floor would likely support them. If it's just the walls that are concrete, and the floor is typical fiberboard/plywood with wooden joists underneath, it's still a concern.

Red1313

Hmmm.... I was told that it was a solid concrete building (will double check that next week when i pick up my keys). I'll try to work on the piece by piece idea.

Thanks!

sirdarksol

No problem. BTW, if you're on ground floor and if there's no basement/underground boiler-room/etc..., then you shouldn't have to worry, because the floor is going to be mounted on solid ground anyway. I live in the middle of tornado country, so I always presume that there's a basement level in any building.

Red1313

I'm actually 3rd (aka top) floor

sirdarksol

Aside from having no problems with placement of aquaria, if it's actually solid concrete, you won't hear as much of your neighbors (I had particle-board ceiling and floor, and drywall walls in my apartment. My bathroom fan also connected with the fans above and below. I heard all too much of mine.)

prairielilly

I've lived in both solid concrete and wooden/sheetrock apartments...'solid' concrete may mean just that, in which case it's super quiet Or it may mean concrete block, the kind that's concrete on the sides w. open space in the middle. I heard EVERYTHING. It really depends on your neighbours and how sensitive you are to noise. Also if the floor's not concrete I'd check w. the landlord - some places have rules about how heavy something on the floor can be (had that too. In my present place I just know the floor's too weak to support a big tank unfortuately)

I have some wooden utility shelving in a closet with a bunch of heavy stuff on it; I used to use similar for a tv stand and yes, once as an aquarium stand (held it up ok but unfortunately didn't prevent the cat from getting in). The metal X-braces across the back work wonders.

Red1313

OK so here's the first attempt to attach the sketch I did with sketch up.

I've been thinking about it and if I tucked some florecent tube lights under each shelf and got glass lids for the tanks that would be below them would that be more cost and light efficient then lighting each tank?

Attached Images

TankStand-Apt-1.jpg (82.3 KB, 223 views)

IIIHawKIII

First, make sure you can get it in and out. Like thru stairways.

The lighting idea sounds good. Just make sure you won't be pulling too many amps. Cause that whole room will probably be on a single 20 amp breaker. So think on that.

Brace the plywood from horizontal to horizontal. And you might want to cut that in two. Less horizontal span. Smaller manageable pieces for stairways.

Red1313

Hmmm... OK so I was toying with my stand plans and I sort of redid... almost everything... Sorry.

OK so here the break down of the idea and I'll try scanning my sketches up here after I post this.

First issue with old idea: Stability.
The "Fix": Instead of a straight up and down shelf sort of idea I decided to do more of a terranced effect. The top shelf is now only 12" deep (still lots of room for the 5 gals). The middle shelf is 18" deep and the bottom shelf is 24" deep. The "base" is 14" high and I haven't decided if I should continue the angle, go straight down, or down then make a 4"-6" step out at the very bottom for ease of working on the tanks on the top shelf (thinking the last one)

Issue #2 with first idea: Poratability.
The "fix": Well it's not so much a fix as a comprimise. This thing is still going to weigh a tone and it's still going to be permanent-ish once it's set up but I'm thinking of building each shelf, and the stand separte. Then drilling holes in the proper places and just useing steel bolts to connect everything. This would allow for it to be broken down and moved without much difficulty. (I think)

The new over all dimensions are approx. 64" tall and 50" wide. and at max approximatly 30" deep.

I lost width since I realized I didn't need the 20 gal on the shelf anymore and also that I'd counted the number of tanks I needed on it wrong. The top two shelves will hold 3 five gals each, while the larger bottom shelf will hold two ten gals with dividers (hoping glass dividers).

I'll try to get some pics up ASAP for you guys but how does this sound?

Red1313

OK so here are the sketches. They're a bit rough hope you guys can read them...

Attached Images

	TankStand-Apt-2(front).jpg (268.9 KB, 56 views)
	TankStand-Apt-2(shelf).jpg (286.3 KB, 54 views)
	TankStand-Apt-2(side).jpg (265.2 KB, 52 views)

djbrist

Just brain storming with you... Like many have said make it sectional tiered, allows some room to work and store equip. Maybe give a little more floorspace and even leave access to back, maybe perpendicular to a wall? I don't know these are just some ideas out for thought. All the points I've read are valid, how cool for you Red1313

Attached Images

Tiered Tank Shelf.jpg (48.8 KB, 50 views)

djbrist

Drat, yoour already there...

Red1313

Thanks djbrist

Any drawback ect to the design that you can see?

I want to keep the lowest tanks at least a foot off the floor b/c I don't want to ignore them and also I need to keep the gravel vac pail below the water line.

If I were to attach the strip lighting on the under side of the shelves for the 2d row of 5's and the 10's would that work? By my thinking that would be less cords to have to plug in...

djbrist

I'd have to think more, but maybe cladding the sides with ply sure would help strengthen... if you don't necessarily need acess to the sides? and I think Sirdarksol mentioned to build it "platform" style as opposed to "balloon" style, so you can keep it modular, mobile, and lighter. got it with the siphoning... my bad and its way past bedtime.

Red1313

no problem.

djbrist

Lighting... you might loose some by stacking and enclosing, but strip lights up under ? maybe worry about shattering during maintenance, as would be disastrous, but if just t-12 or t-8 in their own housing and screwing up into ply, make sure to have proper screws, or maybe velcro so you could take them out when needed. saving cords good idea, safety first. Come to think of it my t12 and t8 get pretty warm and they are single strip, and they have heat vents in the housing on top, so maybe some "under cabinet lighting" there are some fixtures like the ones used in new homes w/ kitchen updates now that are made for such things and have covers so you could keep open tops for the Betta. Here's a link, it's not advertising, but I understand if a mod takes it down. I just googled under cabinet lighting and found lots.

http://www.farreys.com/lighting/kich...ercabinet.html

djbrist

How's this?

I'll keep thinking...

Attached Images

TankStand-Apt-2%28side%29.jpg (385.5 KB, 43 views)

Red1313

That's pretty much it except that I'm thinking of making the base a solid type cupboard so that I can store most of my fish gear out of site and close at hand.

Red1313

OK UPDATE:
I am now in possession of the apartment and so have a few questions for you guys Sorry for the list

1) Base board heaters vs sunlight.
Which is worse? In my living room 2/3 walls have base board heaters (one has the AC as well). The wall without gets sunlight all afternoon because of the windows. Which is the lesser of the two evils?

2) Is there a way to install an electric "panel" or something similar on the stand? My dad isn't really a fan of the octapus effect I've currently got going on.

3) How often should I bace the shelves? I was thinking approximatly every 2 feet for the shelves with the 5's and every 10" for the bottom shelf with the 10's.

4) Since I changed plans to the "stairway" effect I'm not sure if attaching lights under the shelf above will work anymore. Any input?

5) Should I look into getting one of those deck sealer/stains to try and water proof the stand?

6) 5" steel bolts should be plenty strong right?

And Lastly my parents (rather my mom) has decided that my dad is going to build it for me now (apparently I study after 9 o'clock at night <never>) so I won't be able to post construction pics but I'll get lots of ones when we got to assemble it.

Ok so that's the update please comment b/c I need to finalize these plans and get them to my parents so I actually get my stand

IIIHawKIII

(1)
all the tanks will absorb your heat/ac before it can get out and into your room. makin the tanks run more to regulate temp....and makin your furnace/ac run more cause you can't warm your house up. I would get some THICK curtains and blinds. cheaper and better for your electric bill.

(2)
i would get some power strips and mount them to the vertical uprights. and if you do need more, just make sure you are getting 12 gauge wire cords. they are the thick ones with grounding plugs. they can handle more power.

(3)
i would brace between tanks or near tank edges. so if you have two tanks that are gonna be right up against each other, brace there. if you have two tanks that are 3 inches apart, brace between them. let the tanks determine where you brace. no real need to make sure everything is measured perfect. (spacing wise)

(4)
if you get under the cabinet lighting they have quick disconnect cords. so you can just take the fixture right off. but that would be tedious. and i wouldn't use velcro to attach them, the adhesive could relax and let them fall in the water. not to mention you are gonna have a lot of light just spilling out into the room, as opposed to being directed into the tank. might just have to put hoods/lights on them.

(5)
i would look more into painting it. cause you are gonna see all the stamped writing on all your wood. so you could paint it, then top coat it with a sealer. if you really wanted to.

(6)
bolts are graded. they have little raised bumps on the top of them. that indicates their strength. you'll need to get some decently strong ones cause you are talkin some pretty decent weight, even tho it will be spread across several bolts.