Safe Multiple Aquarium Racks?

Sooo I have a nice little collection of 10G's and soon two 20G longs and I've been looking for a nice minimalistic *SAFE* aquarium stand (rack?) to hold the two 20G longs and a 10G or two.
I was thinking about building a stand using bricks and timber but I've seen people use these a time or two, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] but is it stable enough ? Because I don't want to chance 40+ gallons of water and my Bettas ending up on my floor. So I was wondering if anyone is successfully using these? Or unsuccessfully?

i bought this wire rack at home depot for $60. holds 3 of my 20Ls nicely. each shelf is rated for 200lbs. goes together in about 15 mins with no tools required. works for me.
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Be careful what shelf you get and how you load it. Storables sells a version rated for 500lbs per shelf (300 for the 4' version). Home Depot has racks that do 200lbs, 300lbs and even more. Walmart has some 200lbs shelves, and some 50lbs shelves (usually unrated!). Check carefully before you buy. The higher rated shelves do a lot better. I upgraded to a 500lb shelf when I figured out my Walmart shelf was warping with a barely empty tank.

Even with those, you should try to load the weight evenly in the middle to avoid warping of the shelf. If you have these shelves standing against a wall, and setup the tank to the back, then they are very stable. You should try to tie them to a wall in case of earthquakes (full disclosure: I haven't done this yet). Also, they sell these really handy rails to hold the tank in the shelf... just in case you feel the need for them.

If you wanna go bigger, there are commercial racks that work great as well. A 40 gal breeder will fit nicely on a commercial edsal 18x36 rack. Pricewise they are almost equivalent to the wire racks above... with the wire racks charging 20 bucks more for adjustable feet.

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Sweet setup! What kind of lights do you have over the tanks? Remember, each gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs. A 20 gallon tank will weigh more than 160 lbs, more if you include the weight of glass.

I've always used 2x4s and screws for my stands, 4x4s for bigger tanks. Cheaper cost on material but need a saw and screws and time.

I eventually bought finnex lights for all the tanks. The lower power use lets me run more of them without tripping the breaker when the microwave goes on

Good point on calculating the weight and adjusting. 200lbs is a pretty low estimate for a 20L if you have any heavy decor. I have about 30 to 40 lbs of rocks in my bigger tanks!

That's a real nice set up MRTom. I think I'll go that route in my garage. I want to set up a few tanks for plant overflow and grow out. I have a couple aquascape ideas I wish to do on wood with nano type plants and a set up like yours would be perfect.

Awesome setup MRTom!!
And I love your aquariums

Thanks! Hope it inspires you and your rack adventure! One nugget of info that I love to share about these racks: a 36" wireframe shelf (from storables at least) fits four 5 gallon tanks sideways... to the millimiter. The fit couldn't be more perfect... making it an awesome rack for a set of nano tanks!

Thanks for the tip MRTom
And thank you everyone for the great advice

aside from the tank on my bottom rack my tanks are bare bottom grow outs with no decor. i will look into those storables racks in the future if i can find them in Spokane. the more weight they can hold the better .

Costco has some really heavy duty ones that could hold a horse on each shelf.

MorganEA wrote:Costco has some really heavy duty ones that could hold a horse on each shelf.

Clean up would be a mess however.

I Prefer Muscle racks over at LOWES

dwarfpike wrote:

MorganEA wrote:Costco has some really heavy duty ones that could hold a horse on each shelf.

Clean up would be a mess however.

Man... that would make for some heavy duty aquarium fertilizing!!!

But yeah, those heavy duty racks are awesome too. Loews has one that has nicely covered fronts that look great too. I think Cory uses a bunch of those at home and at the store.

Thanks, I'll remember that

MorganEA wrote:Costco has some really heavy duty ones that could hold a horse on each shelf.

Next time I'm in the Portland area I'll check them out