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Re: fishrooms



>In some tanks it's problematic getting things in and out (such as
>bogwood), but the space (4", I think) is sufficient.  THese are actually
>our second and third racks.  The first rack I built without thinking of
>the clearance needed, and ended up with one row that was about 2" too
>short.  Ended up creating custom 6.5 gallon tanks for that row by
>"shortening" some 10's and re-siliconing them together.  You can see these
>now-unused tanks at the bottom of the rack in one of the pictures in the
>article.  We use that space under the bottom row for storage.  (Oh, maybe
>that's what you're referring to with your question?)  I entertained the
>idea of putting some of the tanks on slides, but I think anything over a
>10 is going to be a problem, weight-wise.


Ah good it's not just me it's the curse of the first time
fishtan rank builder. The curse of the second time fishtank
rack builder is TOO MUCH space! :-) I just built a rack to
hold 6 20 talls sideways and as many small tanks as I can get
under it. I think I have about a foot above them, with 8 4'
tubes above them on chains.

Never being one to underengineer things I used 4x4s. I'm not sure
I'd do that again. The hot tip would seem to be to find some 
oak 2x2's that are really 2x2, square and straight. I found
a few in the barn that were part of a snowmobile crate. I
figure these things probably get thrown away all the time.

Anyway there's a few pictures of it here. 
http://images.aquaria.net/users/r/rsexton/rack2/

I'm slowly adding tanks and will eventually build some pine
cabinetry to "skin" the outside of it.

>One addendum I just thought of: If I were starting over, I would make sure
>to spraypaint the backs of every tank black.  25 paper backgrounds coming
>out at different times is a real eyesore, and it's hard to convince Kathy
>to let me tear down a tank just to paint it black.

Two words for you young man:

        Duct.
        Tape.

:-)


--
Richard J. Sexton                                         richard at aquaria_net
Maitland House, Bannockburn, Ontario, Canada, K0K 1Y0       +1 (613) 473 1719