[Acro]

I'm looking to buy a shelving or rack system for my aquariums from Home Depot or Lowes, etc.
The setup will be like this:

• 75 gallon standard aquarium ([FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]48" x 18" x 21")[/FONT] on bottom.
• 50 Gallon Low Boy Aquarium (48″ x 24″ x 10″) in the middle as show tank. ( https://zoomed.com/wp-content/uploads/BFT-50S_Low_Boy_Breeder_Flat_Aquarium.jpg )
  
• 5 and 10 gallon aquariums on the 3rd and 4th (and 5th?) shelves.

What are some rack or shelving systems that you use (or would use) for this?


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[splattered]

Just build it out of 2xs. I wouldn't trust anything already assembled at the depot to support the weight

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Be sure to start with a 23"x47" box to account for 1/2" of plywood if you're gonna close it all up for a finished look

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[NapTeamCaptain]

I also suggest building it out of 2xs. If you go on YouTube and search for The King of DIY, you'll find a fish keeper who's older videos are chock full of building stands. He recently built a rack system, but im fairly certain it's based off his standard stand design. He's great.

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[Acro]

I originally started to DIY, but I found that my skills weren't as fine tuned as I thought they were, also I am short on time and I want to get this done quickly.

I looked into the racks, and some can hold 1500 lbs, 2250 lbs, 2500 lb per shelf. I don't see why they wouldn't work or why they shouldn't be trusted. But please look at a few of the links below and tell me your thoughts, maybe you'll see something I overlooked.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-Yellow-4-Tier-Steel-Garage-Storage-Shelving-Unit-77-in-W-x-72-in-H-x-24-in-D-DXST10000/302361205

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Black-4-Tier-Heavy-Duty-Industrial-Welded-Steel-Garage-Shelving-Unit-77-in-W-x-78-in-H-x-24-in-D-HBR782478W4/310651468

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Red-4-Tier-Heavy-Duty-Steel-Garage-Storage-Shelving-77-in-W-x-78-in-H-x-24-in-D-ERZ782478W4R/308458510


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[NotThePainter]

I looked into the racks, and some can hold 1500 lbs, 2250 lbs, 2500 lb per shelf. I don't see why they wouldn't work or why they shouldn't be trusted. But please look at a few of the links below and tell me your thoughts, maybe you'll see something I overlooked.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Black-4-Tier-Heavy-Duty-Industrial-Welded-Steel-Garage-Shelving-Unit-77-in-W-x-78-in-H-x-24-in-D-HBR782478W4/310651468

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We used that black husky in our fish room for awhile. Lots of 15 and 10 gallon tanks.

It is very strong and well made, that's the good news. The wire shelving is crap though. We didn't trust it. We put 3/4" plywood cut to sort of fit. (You can't make it fit exactly unless you are installing the plywood as you assemble it.)

You can really only get 2 rows of tanks on it though. Doing the bottom row would be a maintenance nightmare.

It's also pretty industrial looking, this is certainly for a fish room, not a living room.

 

[Griznatch]

Cinder blocks and 2x4s work pretty good - probably aren't going to get 4 shelves though. Like was mentioned before, you need decent space above the tanks on lower shelves, or maintenance will be a nightmare. Check Aquarium co-ops video on 2x4 shelving for tanks.

Industrial shelving would work, like in a warehouse but it's pretty expensive.

Just a thought, but how are you going to do anything on a 4th shelf? With even small tanks that's going to be pretty far up...

 

[ichthyogeek]

I agree on the cinder blocks and 2x4s.

However, if you're into prefab (which is also 100% ok!), I'd suggest looking up Muscle Racks. I'd also look at the nearby supercenters (Costco, Sam's Club, etc.) and search for equipment racks, etc. As an example, this looks like a good starting rack (I would double check weights and stuff first!): https://www.homedepot.com/p/Muscle-...W-x-72-in-H-x-18-in-D-UR601872WD5-R/303093605

I would caution against more than 3 layers of racks though. At a certain point, things just get aesthetically unappealing. For me, that's any rack above 3 layers, since I need to bend to reach the first layer (suspended off the floor for better gravity cleaning), and need a ladder for the third layer. It also just depends on how tall the ceilings are. If you have 20' ceilings, then that's a whole lot of fish tanks...and you'd need a ladder to properly enjoy everything. For context, the standard room height is 9', which is perfect for a triple layer of tanks (55 off the bottom, space for vacuuming and arms, 20s/29s in the middle, and 10s on top) while allowing for ventilation, air flow, and elbows.