# Gorilla racks



## PPulcher (Nov 17, 2006)

In dekstrs thread about his planted tank setup there was some discussion about gorilla racks. I figured I put in my 2 cents as I use these for my tanks.

Brian said



Brian said:


> The Gorilla Racks definately do not need to be reinforced.
> 
> There are discus breeders that put 1-2 120gallon tanks on each tier.


I have mostly small tanks, (5.5s, 10s and a 15) and where the tanks overlap the front and rear rails, there is no problem with reinforcing. Where tanks don't overlap the rails, use 2x4 lumber under them. I don't trust the cheap particleboard shelves that came with my rack to support the tanks. I guess you could add 3/4" ply decking instead, but I had the 2x lumber handy.

Here is how the rack looks assembled with three tiers of tanks:









The top shelf has 5x5.5 gallon tanks. The shelves were assembed upside down, and a 4' length of 2x4 was placed in the 'gutter' at the front and back, as the tanks are not long enough to bridge the top of each rail. The particle board deck (painted with a few coats of primer to seal against water) and some styro under the tanks brings the bottom rim of the tank pretty much level with the shelf rail.

The middle tier has 2x10s and a 15. You can see the 2x4 supports under it for the tank to rest on, as the 15 does not bridge the rails. 









It might be overkill, but it works for me. It does impact the clearance I need above the tank, which puts the top tier a few inches higher than I would like, but c'est la vie!

For the bottom tier, I have the tanks just resting on the sealed particleboard on the shelf rails. It works great.

I think the newer racks have better decking, so you may not need to worry about saggy particleboard. YMMV 

Oh, when I got the racking, there are two sizes of uprights. The instructions said to use the taller ones on the bottom, and the shorter ones on the top. I didn't like the way the shelves were arranged that way, so I did it the opposite way. It's worked fine.


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## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

It also depends on the type of Gorilla Racks that you are using as they have ones rated for higher mass and hence, larger tanks.


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## PPulcher (Nov 17, 2006)

I can't remember, it's been a while since I bought the rack. IIRC, the weight wasn't an issue. I'm not really reinforcing the rack per se, just distributing the weight of the tanks on the flimsy particleboard.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Thanks for the info PPulcher  

Being overly cautious is a good thing in my book when the hubby is easily upset with stand failures.. Rofl.


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## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

Thanks ppulcher for the great information.

My rack is slightly unlevel because the basement floor is sloped at an angle toward a drain. I haven't solved this problem yet.

I think I will redesign my rack so that it's more reinforced like yours--just to be on the safe side and overkill with cautiousness.


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## PPulcher (Nov 17, 2006)

I think your metal racking looks very substantial! The decking is metal, yes? Unless you see some bowing, I wouldn't bother messing with it.

My basement floor also slopes towards a drain. You need to shim the rack so that it remains level left to right, and back to front. It can be a trial and error thing to get it right.


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## KnaveTO (May 13, 2007)

Cause I was thinking about adding a rack into my place for organizing tank space I decided to look up the weight of full tanks. Here is the link.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/tipsandtables/l/bltanksize.htm


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