Over the next few blog entries, I will walk through the steps for a DIY (Do-IT-Yourself) aquarium rack for a fish room. This will allow you to use multiple tanks all linked together to a central filtration and circulation system. It’s a pretty big rack, so you will need some space or even your own fish room. If you follow the directions over the next few posts, you should have a plan that will allow you to connect 8 ten or twenty-gallon high fish tanks together in a roughly 5-foot x 2.5-foot space. For materials, you can use 2×4 wall studs and 3/4 inch plywood.
The first major task is to build the horizontal shelves which will ultimately support the fish tanks. The image to the left shows how the pieces fit together if viewed from above.
The dimensions in the image show 24 inches deep by 55 inches long. To do this yourself, you will need 2 studs cut to 55 inches and 2 pieces cut to 21 inches (since the studs themselves are 1.5 inches in width).
For additional strength, cut one more length to 53 inches and use it as a brace a few inches in from the edge. I chose to put the brace at the spot where the 10 gallon tanks were likely to rest since they were not as long as the 20-gallon tanks. Finish the shelf with a 3/4 inch thick piece of plywood cut to fit the top of the frame: 55 x24 inches. I used galvanized deck screws to hold all the pieces together.
Repeat that process two more times to create 2 shelves and the top of the rack.
In the next post, I will outline the vertical part of the frame and show how it all fits together.
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