Opinion

[Sasher1982]

Question new here to the forum I am going to be using an edsal muscle rack 48x72x18 for my aquarium I have a 3/4 in piece of plywood... Has anyone used these for their aquarium with good results and if so where exactly on the shelf to place the aquarium 

Thanks shane

 

 

 

 

 

[ScottieB]

I’m using a similar rack system for 40 breeder and a 20long. You will probably hear a different opinions about using racks but mine has held up great. I used something less then 3/4 inch ply for a flat surface but I think your on the right track. 

I used the top shelf set at around 4 feet high (countertop height) and put a 20 long (sump) on the bottom shelf. I would think keeping the tanks lower to the ground would be safer or at a minimum bolting the rack to the wall would help. 

 

[Odd Duck]

I’ve got a similar rack, 24” deep x 48” long by 72” high.  I have tanks on the middle 3 shelves, but not all are filled, yet.  I have the center 2 of the top 10 gallon tanks filled and 4, 5 gallon tanks half filled that are live food cultures.  I could see the shelves sagging more than made me comfortable.

So, after spending time time sealing the thin, particle board shelves that came with the shelf unit, we cut 3 new boards from marine grade, 3/4” plywood, and sealed that.  Those boards finally went in today.  Quite a project that included mostly draining tanks, moving them, sorting out cords better than they were, replacing shelves, replacing and refilling tanks, installing new powerstrips, etc, etc.

My advice is to check how thick your boards are and make certain they are more than the 1/2” particle board that came with mine.  Or get the metal grid shelves and add polyurethane sealed plywood on top of them.  We had the hardware store cut the boards so we didn’t have to haul out the table saw, then sealed them ourselves.