PlanetCatfish.com

Hey everyone, I'm looking into setting up a tank rack, probably 3x3 with 40-50 gallon tanks. I talked to someone at an LFS about making such a rack and it's doable (and expensive). I mentioned this to a friend who said, "Why not get heavy duty garage shelving instead?" He and I then checked quickly, and rapidly found several items like this one which holds 4,000 lbs total and 800 per shelf. Obviously I might need to leave a rack or two off to make the inter-shelf height right, but three of these would be cheaper than one big custom rack.

So, is there some reason NOT to go for this option? Some dark secret all experienced fish keepers know about commercial garage shelving? I'd worry most about how level the garage shelf would be, since an uneven shelf could crack a tank in a way it wouldn't crack most other items, but I also think a slightly thicker shelf liner could help with that as long as the unevenness isn't too bad.

Has anyone used something like this with success (or failure)?

Hi Lycosid,

I'm using the Muscle Rack 36" x 18" with Aqueon 40 gal breeders. Each shelf is a perfect fit for one tank (the fit is so close you need to lower the tanks in as you add the shelves). I reinforced the shelves by adding a thicker board, but otherwise, no modifications. The uprights are able to split in half, so instead of a tall rack, I set mine up as two half-height racks. Of course if floor space is an issue, if you have a tall ceiling, or if you're a tall person, then no bother splitting it in half - just leave it a tall tower.

I believe @mexnotex uses the same setup but adds a 30 gal either on the top shelf or the bottom shelf to make the height issue work for him.

Cheers, Eric

The metal storage racks seem very popular, at least in the US, from the ones I've seen at Home Depot/Lowes, etc. they seem reasonably priced for the number of tanks they could hold.

They all seem to share a similar design to slot the shelves into the legs, either a mushroom shaped protrusion or a small tab of metal. I worry that putting them together would remove or scratch the coating and allow rust to develop in these very small areas which take all of the weight.

That said, there seem to be plenty of people using them and although I have heard plenty of stories of them rusting, I've not heard of one collapsing.

Personally I make all of my stands from 2x4 to fit the space or tank, these do take up more space though.

I remember reading that a few years ago, do you still have the stand, hows it holding up?

Thanks for the replies, everyone. This is very helpful.

Seven years later.
-Shane

Looks good, I guess at least that type hold up pretty well .