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If anyone is looking to build a rack that needs to hold multiple 29 gallon tanks follow the link to Angels Only web site for one. It holds 18 tanks and all the plans are available to view.
http://www.angelsonly.com/Tank_rack.htm
http://www.angelsonly.com/rack_plan.htm
That is a nice set of plans there. I would use as big a metal brackets as you can put into the braces. I also noticed the bottom brackets were upside down in my oppinion. You need the support going up ... not hanging the racks from above. The weight will slowly pull the side braces down to point of breaking or the screws pulling out.
I agree about the brackets.
Pretty Elaborate Setup you have and a beautiful web site that shows all the details Too. I'll be sure to contact you when I set up my fish room some day
Thats an impressive setup that guy has, lots of good details if/when I can get my discus to actually breed :)
their 29gal tanks must differ from mine. mine have a 12x30" base.
their rack is 24" wide. not enough to accomodate the 30" length of the tank.
it's 861/2" long. not enough to accomodate 3 30" long tanks....
what gives? are they using 22gal or 20high's maybe?
limige the plans don't fit my 29's either. But basically it shows someone how to put a stand togethere and modify it to there needs. Take a look at his hatchery and view the rest of the links on his site.
http://www.angelsonly.com/hatchery.htm
Does anyone here understand the way he set up the automatic brineshrimp feeding ? please look at :
http://www.angelsonly.com/images/Mis...osing_pump.jpg
Sure he's using a dosing pump that has the intake tube inserted in what I think is Baby Brine Shrimp. The dosing pump you set to come off and on at certain times. When it comes on it sends BBS to the baby angels for a pre-determined time then shuts off. Lets say he sets the pump to come on for the first feeding at say 8:00 am and then say 30 seconds later it shuts off. He figured out by watching how much BBS was dosed to the babies to set the times
I was pointed to this thread by an angelfish friend :)
To reply to some of your coments:
The brackets simply hold the spreaders in place. All of the weight is handled by the front and rear horizontal sections which are supported by the vertical members. The spreaders determine the width of the rack. You can make them any width that you want. They add only minimally significant structural integrety.
The width is correct for 29 gallon tanks. The tanks overlap the ends by several inches with no problems what so ever. The overlap is helpful in getting into the tank. Otherwise you would need more vertical clearance between tanks to catch fish or perform maitainance.
Thanks for the compliments :)
Stuart
Actually, the tank rack is desinged to fail. Bad idea!!
As others have mentioned, the brackets are useless, and the layout is all wrong...
Just my personal expierence.
Smokey
Gotta agree with Smokey on this one.
The bottom brackets are upside down. Also, the only thing stabilizing the stand are the brackets and end cross pieces which don't extend all the way across. This stand may hold up under optimum conditions, but will likely collapse if completely full and someone leans on it or the balance is shifted. Sure would be a lot safer if there were plenty of cross braces on the end and under the bottom extending from the very front to the back. Just not enough tying it together. Don't mean to slam someone's project, but I have had stands lean before and learned the hard way. Sorry
You guys can build it any way you want :)
The cross braces take none of the weight of the tanks, none.
All of the weight is on the front and rear horizontal supports.
The racks have been supporting a full load of tanks for over 3 years, and have been used by many other hobbyists both before and after me.
As far as stability, I reccomend using a couple of lag bolts through the rack and into the wall studs. I have both racks along the wall done like this and the end of the middle tank rack is also bolted to the wall. Even this one is extremely sturdy, you can lean on it all you want :)
As far as not enough tying it together? The weight of each tank adds additional support and acts as cross members preventing any additional twisting of the racks. I will leave it to the engineers in the group to verify this.
all the weight of the tanks are carried by the front and rear members of the stand - the side members that are bolted/screwed/nailed with the angle brackets are non-load bearing and thus either top or bottom mounting is fine (the angle brackets don't do anything really - you could toe nail these in if you'ld like). i'm not a big fan on "cantilevering" the tanks. it is my opinion that the weight of the tank was meant to be carried at the 4 corners and not 4-6" in from the corners as this rack does on the front. (cantilevering the tanks does afford you an extra 3 1/2" of clearance at the top of the rack though). it would be very important to mount this rack to the wall in the rear because lateral stability- in the front/rear direction - is not this designs strong suit. my tank rack will have 29's on the bottom and 55's on the top - thus giving me full access to both tanks and still supporting them @ the corners. one thing to remember is that this rack system would be best used in the basement or were slab-on-grade construction is typical since there is to much weight at the base columns to rest on an ordinary plywood floor without taking into consideration where the legs would fall in relation to the floor joists below. this rack design seems adequate other than the tanks cantilevered - i just spoke with all-glass's engineer and he said that the 4 corners need to be supported (they are only about 10 miles from my house).
paul meier - p.e.