Building a rack ... finally

[brewmaster15]

Hi everyone,
Well Iam finally retiring some furniture and building a proper rack. I've moved a bunch of tanks to the garage temporarily and cleared out a corner of the room. The first rack will be 9 feet long , and will house 2 75 gals on the bottom and 8 29 gal breeders at the top.. There will eventually be 4 more racks in that room.
The plan I drew called for 2X4 construction, so I called my brother, a commercial contractor, and had him stop over to help me lay out the rack, and supports on paper. I showed him a few pics of those fancy metal racks systems some commercial breeders use, and a light clicked on for my brother... One of his main construction projects are building Cell phone towers. These towers are made largely out of angle steel... Hot dipped galvanized steel. Just so happens these towers are often worked on, upgraded, torn down, and built with material left over...... See where this is going ;) ;D;D

Spent today cutting 3/8 in steel thats 4 inch angle Iron. We may weld it or use a hydrolic punch to punch out bolt holes. If it goes well, He has access to more of this stuff for my other racks. Whats amazing is the cost of this material. Its literally going to have over $1000.00 worth of hotdip galvanized angle steel in it. Its over kill for the weight it will carry,. but free is free, and it'll never rust, or rot.

I'm hoping to put this thing together this week. I'll take pictures as we do.

-al

[sgt95b]

Sounds like a winner to me. Post a few pics when you finish. Been trying to decide on a tank rack myself.Just can't figure out how to fit two hundred tanks into a 18x16 room.LOL

[limige]

cool beans brew. finally add some organization to that chaos?!

hehe,
hope you don't have to move them much, sounds llike the rack itself will be quite heavy :o

post some pics, we all like ideas,. let us know how things work out.
i started mine, built 2x4 racks, now i just need to buy some new tanks and put all the plumbing i bought to use.

where's that money tree when you need it?

good luck!

[gary1218]

Al,

Let me know if you need help installing a "spiffy" water change system on those tanks. I work cheap ;D

GARY

[chuck]

Hey Brew... When your finished with your brother, you can send him over to my place... ;D ;D
Can't wait to see the pics...
Good luck.
chuck

[Jason]

sounds awesome Al!

evertime I build a new rack, or re-build an old, I always next time steele!

its just the cost that stops me all the time, but if I had a huge free pile of the stuff I'd be all over it!

ever think of building a modular or universal type of rack system that you can adjust shelf heights on and move them arount the room in different configurations?

[mench]

Al,say it ain't so..all those "neet" tank stands are no more :'( :'(....Sounds like ya got a plan...and like Gary said,if ya need help with the water change layout ..as they say..."will work for fish"...or free too..

Mench

[April]

now that sounds pretty spiffy. just think how much faster it will be when their all togeather in a line.
I have tanks all empty stacked waiting for a rack..
one of these days..i;ll get it done.
cant wait for pics.

[brewmaster15]

Okay, .. Heres some photos of the project. At thsi point well put this thing together next sunday. its the soonest My brother can borrow the hydrolic punch from work.


This is a representative of the room before. Basically If it held a tank.. It was used...

[brewmaster15]

the demolition....

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[brewmaster15]

....The material

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Now I just have to build the thing... :) and fill this space with tanks....

[brewmaster15]

hi Jason,
I drew this thing a bunch of different ways , even toyed with having it on wheels ;D Hopefully after working on this one I'll learn alot about the design side and can improve it.

Gary... I may be looking to work a deal here ;)

-al

Good Luck :)

alex

[Jeff]

Have at it Al. I did my electric first after my tank layout if that helps. :)

[RandalB]

Have fun Brew!

Got the good stuff for construction. I had to settle for 2X4's :'( and a lot less space.

Let me know when you decide how much water storage you're going to need ;)

RandalB

I don't think you have to worry much about racks made from that stuff supporting your tanks... :o ;)
hope it goes smoothly...

[gary1218]

I PROMISE not to screw up your pairs this time Al ;D

GARY

[Tyler]

Al,
That looks great........I am dissapointed you are changing it though, as when i visited the most interesting thing was seeing what you used for stands! lol
Can't wait to see pics of the final product....

Tyler

[Fish_Fin-atic]

Wow, nice "before" picture Al! That room was a work of art in itself *LOL* Good luck with your project. With material like that, I'm sure you'll have a great rack, take lots of pictures of your rack so everyone can see.

(you know ... I probably couldn't ever say that to a lady without getting slapped) ::) ;D

[McGilly]

8)

[Surfghost63]

Hi Al.

Good to know you are improving your fish room building the rack system, we will miss the ol' stands though LOL.

Congrats, I'm sure it will be a really good looking room :thumbsup:

Take Care,

Bill :guitarist:

[dm]

This looks really great Brew!
IF you get organized in there you will have room for more tanks. :D

[April]

Al..think you should paint all your cement walls background blue first....
cant wait to see the pics.
oh.....p.s. forget the wheels. lol.

[Ardan]

Looks good!

If you lived close we could take it in the shop and cut and punch it real quick!
Good Luck with the project, should be real nice! 8)

[brewmaster15]

Thanks everyone. Looks like I'll be able to move up the assembly date to sat. I can get the hydrolic punch and a welder on Friday night.

For everyone who will miss the nostalgic old setup... don't worry... I will slowly be replacing all those desks, stands and chairs. I hope over the next half year. Though knowing me... they'll get moved to the garage, and will winding holding additional tanks.....maybe with Uaru and angelfish fry!

Jeff,
I'm trying to do that as well. I already put in 2 dedicated 20 amp breakers for that room, one for each side. Theres also the existing 15 amp breaker that powered the room before ...I can use this as a backup. Luckily the basement is open and its a clear shot to the breaker panel so I can run more power as needed.

-al

[brewmaster15]

Hi everyone!
well so far the rack is being built according to schedule. Decided to make it free standing and use bolts only, no welds to make it easier to move around. I have to tell you though, this rack weighs over 1000 pounds! it isn't being moved around often...



Thank god for chop saws....

[brewmaster15]

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[brewmaster15]

That hydrolic punch is the coolest toy! It will punch a hole thru 1/2 steel like it was butter, and its amazingly quiet! alls you hear is a low chug-chug and a PING! and out pops this...

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[brewmaster15]

still have a few cross supports to cut and punch holes into, and then add some plywood, and I can add the tanks..

THis has been one heck of a learning experience to be sure, but all said and done things have gone well. Probably could have finished it tonight but it was getting late and I thought tyhe neighbors would appreciate the silence, they have been hearing the chop saw for 2 days now...

Last shots for now.... early forth of july pics....

[brewmaster15]

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[heavyp83]

hey brew,
i really like the way it is turning out. keep us posted!

[bmrin1]

Brew that thing looks awesome. Good luck withthe rest of the construction. Can't wait to see it finished.
Brian

[NoBarDiscus]

Any updates ???? .........

[brewmaster15]

Updates as requested..

To date the rack itself is done and holding 2 each 75 g tanks on the bottom shelf., 6 each 29 Gal on the top shelf(with room for a maximum of 8 tanks). The tanks have not been plumbed yet... as I have to work out the logistics of drainage.... but the tanks are all on central air pump, and are all occupied :)

Heres a few pics.... excuse the water quality I have been changing more diapers than water lately ;) ;D

-al

[brewmaster15]

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[NoBarDiscus]

al,

Nice racks ;D, fish racks that is. My only concern is the location of the surge protector. Do you have GFI installed?

[brewmaster15]

Do you have GFI installed,

yes. at the breaker panel... Though I hope That I never need to see if it was necessary.


-al

[Jeff]

Looks Good. ;)

[Carol_Roberts]

*sigh* I wish I had something like that . .

[April]

me too.....
but i do have three breeding tanks in a row and two below in my room..does that count?
what size tanks are those brew? the breeding ones. are they ends out?
looks great.

[chinoz]

nice rack you got there brew.

[brewmaster15]

Hi April,
Those are 29Gal tanks on the top. I turned them like that to fit more on the shelf. What I really like about this set up is that the breeders are pretty much eye level at the breeding cones... so i get to enjoy these fish.

The bottom shelf is set a little low but when I was building it I added a few bolt holes so I can raise it if I want.

other info... The lighting is mounted on adjustable brackets so that I can angle it to shine on a tank more or less. I also used Dual bulbs on the strips but am only using one bulb currently.

-al

[April]

yeah figured they were ends out. i thought of that.but thought itd be too hard it they were at the backs to see them and their fry.
you have the same cones as me. the pots.

[RandalB]

Nice Setup Brew!

Looks like you have room for a few more Hekels.....


RandalB

PS: Gotta love Diaper Land, Hope you bought the Diaper Genie!

[Traveller]

NICE WORK BREW !!!!! how much does it cost to set everything up ?? ???

[AndyL]

EEEEk, those construction pics would get you strung up in these parts... Just in case anyone copies your construction method, you should always wear a full face shield when using a chop saw.

Speaking from experience, discs shatter, and those guards surprisingly don't keep all the pieces from flying at you. Those shattered discs are VERY hot, very sharp, and will leave some big ugly scars.

I think the Safety supervisors at work have been on my case too much... Now I'm lecturing people... yeesh!

Andy

[April]

ok Brew you have been reprimanded. safety first. lol.
maybe you need a disclaimer." do not try this at home. "
if you build another one go buy your full face thingy or we may have to change your name to scarface. :o

[brewmaster15]

LOL Andy,
I'm lucky I was wearing safety glasses! But you are talking to the guy that got 30 stitches along his knee from a chain saw injury, and has routinely stitched himself up when out hiking and getting hurt from stupidity. ;) ;D

-al

[BlueTurquoise]

Very cool Al! :o WOW...

I wish i had the room! man what I would give (my wife perhaps ;D ;D ;D) for just a simple 2 x 4ft racks let alone what you got!

[ronrca]

Looking good Al! Thanks for the pics! ;)

[brewmaster15]

Hi traveller,

The rack itself was not expensive.. I lucked out and my brother got the metal for free, left over from cell phone communication towers.. But the metal is thick steel/hot dipped galvanized and if I wanted to by we estimated its over a $1000.00 in metal. add to that the plywood, and paint and insulated board = about $100.00

Fish tanks 6 -29 gal @ $30.00 = $180
2 - 75 gal @ $99.00= $198
Heaters....10 @ aprox $15 = $150
sponges .. 10 @approx$6= $60

Others ...Linear air pump...http://www.jehmco.com/PRODUCTS_/HARDWARE_/Central_Air_Pumps/60-H_Watt_Pump/60-h_watt_pump.html
$ 279.
Powers this rack , and many other tanks in the room.. Eventually their will be 2 more racks of similar size.

hth,
al

[rickk]

Hi Al, Really nice set up, well done

rick