Fishroom Rack questions

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

In my 3 years in the hobby thus far, I’ve always just used the furniture in my dorm or apartment for my tanks, but I’m about to move my stuff (from one room to another) and this will be the first time I’m full time living in the same room (my gf is moving out and I have someone else moving in so I can have a separate room for my fish) and I want to get a rack instead.

im looking at the Husky and the Gladiator racks, but I have a few questions.

first being, what type of plywood should I get to put on top of the mesh? I’ve never bought plywood before.

second, which rack is easier to disassemble in people’s experience? I’ll have to move it to a nearby state this time next year.

Third, what can I get to put under it to catch debris or anything?

im planning on getting the smallest rack as I have a 10, and 20 long, and a 13 gallon fluval tank to put on it, along with an 18x18x24” vivarium

[lefty o]

just my opinion on the wood, i personally would go with a hardwood plywood, maple/oak etc. cut it to fit on the rack, then paint it to protect it from water. i'd lean towards 1/2" or 3/8" plywood. less than 3/8 really wont offer the support you want, and 5/8" or 3/4" are way overkill and much more expensive.

[regular_guy1]

If you're in a part of the world with Menards stores the Xtreme garage racking is sold modularly so you can build different size stands and they're all super study.

 

I don't even use the steel mesh and have always built a "floor" with 1x4s tied together with more 1x4s run below, because I'm scared of plywood getting wet and bubbling.

[ChemBob]

If you go plywood, I recommend you seal it. I used polycrylic on mine. 

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

So I ended up going with a Muscle Rack andddd went right through the wooden shelf during building. Ugh. Gonna try and return it or something to Home Depot and go with a husky rack with sealed 1/2” hardwood plywood instead. 
The muscle rack claims it can support 800lbs per shelf, but there’s no center brace, and just me leaning on it a bit had it bowing significantly, and then more pressure completely cracked it. Here’s a picture of the box and of the wood after I broke through it. Glad I tested it with my body before putting glass boxes full of water on there.

[Andy's Fish Den]

Those muscle racks don't hold up to well with the particle board on them, especially if it gets wet. I am going to be getting one of the Husky racks from Home Depot myself and then put a piece of 1/2" plywood on top of the wire shelves. Sealing it well with either paint or a waterproof sealer like is used for decks. 

[ChemBob]

On 8/4/2021 at 7:30 AM, Andy's Fish Den said:

Those muscle racks don't hold up to well with the particle board on them, especially if it gets wet. I am going to be getting one of the Husky racks from Home Depot myself and then put a piece of 1/2" plywood on top of the wire shelves. Sealing it well with either paint or a waterproof sealer like is used for decks. 

I'd strongly recommend that you use something labeled for indoor use. Some of the outdoor sealants may off gas for a while, and I personally wouldn't want that in my house. The indoor ones are designed to be safe in confined spaces, while the outdoor ones may not be. 

[David Ellsworth]

Yeah you will need to replace the particle board shelving. I would recommend using the muscle racks that have the shelf to leg connector with round metal pegs and the wire shelfing. There is one that is like 44.5" x 24" on the shelf dimensions at menards. That is just wide enough to place 3, 20 gallon tanks endwise on each shelf or one 40 gal tank per shelf with room to spare. They have a 1200 lbs rating per shelf for the one I found at menards. I place either 1/2" or 3/4 " plywood cut to fit over the wire racks for stability. 

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

On 8/4/2021 at 7:30 AM, Andy's Fish Den said:

Those muscle racks don't hold up to well with the particle board on them, especially if it gets wet. I am going to be getting one of the Husky racks from Home Depot myself and then put a piece of 1/2" plywood on top of the wire shelves. Sealing it well with either paint or a waterproof sealer like is used for decks. 

That’s my new plan. Is there a way to buy pre sealed plywood? This muscle rack was my first time in a hardware store since I was a kid 😅 and I’ve never bought lumber before

[Hobbit]

I’ve never seen pre-sealed plywood? Sealing it yourself will be a pain but you can definitely do it! I believe in you!!

The trickiest part may be getting the wood cut to the size you want. Is it possible to pay the hardware store to do that for you? I know for me, they would only make one cut. Or do you have a friend with a table or circular saw?

For the actual sealing, if you want to do it in one step, there are products like Polycrylic that @ChemBobrecommended that can go over bare wood. Just paint the stuff on (maybe do multiple coats) and you’re done!

If you want to make it pretty, here’s a more detailed breakdown:

Pretty Level 1 requires you to sand the wood. Maybe a friend has an electric sander you can borrow? Better yet, bring the boards to the friend’s place so you don’t have to deal with the dust. 😁

Pretty Level 2 requires some end grain veneer. Here’s an example. It’s really easy to use if you have any experience at all with an iron. It will be a little thicker than your wood, so once it’s on the wood, take a razor blade or sharp knife and trim it. If it’s hard to trim, try trimming in the other direction.

Both of those steps are technically optional. The non-optional part is deciding what to use to actually seal it. Do you want to use stain, or paint? Paint is more forgiving but it can take longer. For stain, you really can’t skip the sanding if you want it to look at all decent.

For stain you’ll need:

1. Pre-stain (for enhanced prettiness—not strictly necessary but it prevents the stain from looking blotchy)
2. Stain. You can get stain that has stain+sealer in one, like those meant for outdoor furniture.
3. If the stain doesn’t have a sealer in it, you’ll need to paint a sealer on. @Kat_Rigel used this method in her stand build. I used a stain+sealer in one for mine.

For paint you’ll need:

1. Primer, since you’re going over bare wood
2. The paint itself
3. A sealing coat like polyurethane

When I made my tank stand, I did two coats of each of the above.

And of course you need brushes, drop cloths, etc. no matter what.

So… yeah. A pain. But you can totally do it!

I’ve also seen people put down vinyl shelf liners over wood. It won’t protect the wood from a large spill, but it will protect it from the occasional drop here and there.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Hobbit

[Steph’s Fish and Plants]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I definitely should’ve known I was gonna be doing this sooner because I need to get tanks on it yesterday, anddd now the wood is just too long. Home Depot cut it for me but I should’ve gone 1/2” shorter than I did because it won’t fit. I’m running on a deadline and might just have to move everything twice because I have to have the tanks moved by the end of the day tomorrow (Friday). I don’t have any sort of cutting tools that would work, or stuff to paint. I did get a husky rack that’s 18x36 and has the wire shelves. And assembling that has been no issue. But the wood is just a hare too long and also for some pieces too wide. 

[Hobbit]

Ugh that’s the worst. I’m glad the other rack went up just fine though!