Tank rack with wire shelving?

[enrique4jc]

Looking to start a bonafide fish room and thus would be purchasing some heavy duty shelving for a tank rack. I like the build quality/capacity of this one, but I am wondering if the wire rack is a problem vs some sort of solid surface. Would that matter? I would think it better than the pressed wood on a lot of the others out there. Worst case scenario I could get some thin plywood to overlay. Thoughts?

 

[DefJ123]

Personally, I would go for a solid base. Not sure I would trust wire. I used 3/4" plywood on my shelving.

How big of tanks are you looking to setup on it?

 

[enrique4jc]

Right off I have 2x 10g and a 1x 29g that would go on it. Would like to have a pair of 40g breeders on one shelf, and then just fill in with whatever along the way as I choose. Plenty of room to store all the equipment and such. Just thinking forward.

The wire shelves are rated at 2100 lbs each. One reviewer had a smaller version of the same shelf and with twin 55g loaded on it and gave it good marks. I'm not worried about sturdiness. My main concern is with wire supports vs a solid surface.

 

[Rbishop]

I've kept smaller tanks, 10/15 straight on the wire, but always used wood under larger tanks with wire shelves.

 

[enrique4jc]

Yeah, I'm thinking a sheet of plywood over the wire racks would do the trick. Just so there's contact with the entire tank edge. As a bonus, would be easy to zip tie things to the underside to hang lights, power strips, etc.

 

[Rbishop]

Yep