Shelving options

Jeff120 · Post by **Jeff120** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:54 pm

Ghaz and idea what brand your shelf is? I dont have a Costco membership, I was looking online. I assume that you have to be a member to buy anything there.

Jeff120 · Post by **Jeff120** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:59 pm

chris_todd wrote:Jeff, at my prior employer, we used shelving similar to that in the second link to hold servers and multiple desktop computers in a small computer lab. If the shelves in the link are anything like the ones we had (and they look similar), I would not trust them to hold the weight of tanks. They are adjustable because there are rubber gaskets that slip into grooves in the vertical posts, and then the shelf has a lip that rests on the gasket. We had some of these things slip on us, when we only had about 150-200 pounds on a shelf, and dump computers onto the floor. Hard to tell from the pictures in the link whether these shelves work the same, but if they were, thought I should give you a heads up.

Chris, here is how to assemble the shelf. Does it look like the ones you mentioned?
http://www.uline.com/PDF/IH-1748.PDF

Looks like some kind of snap that holds the shelf

PaulS · Post by **PaulS** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:50 pm

Ghazanfar Ghori wrote:Paul, that sounds like the one I have. Its a NICE unit.

It is a very nice unit. I've been thinking about getting one for a while.

chris_todd · Post by **chris_todd** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:39 pm

Jeff120 wrote:
Chris, here is how to assemble the shelf. Does it look like the ones you mentioned?
http://www.uline.com/PDF/IH-1748.PDF

Looks like some kind of snap that holds the shelf

Jeff, it may not be identical, but it is very close; it is certainly based on the same design. The snap-together part has a rubber strip on the inside that fits into grooves in the vertical post, and it basically functions as a wedge. But the only thing keeping it from slipping is the rubber gasket, which gets compressed by the weight of the shelf. If the snap-together part cracks or breaks, then the rubber gasket comes out of the groove, and you can have one corner of the shelf collapse. That happened to us. I wouldn't recommend this shelf, but YMMV.

chris_todd · Post by **chris_todd** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:40 pm

Ghazanfar Ghori wrote:I got my heavy duty shelf from Costco - 6 feet x 2 feet deep x 8 feet tall.
Rated to 2000lbs per shelf. ~$130 from costco 2 years ago.

Ghazanfar, got any pictures of these shelves? We may go to the Columbia COSTCO this weekend.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:42 pm

I've only ever seen the 6' long version. I'm sure someone has to make a shorter one though.

Ltrepeter2000 · Post by **Ltrepeter2000** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:17 am

Costco has a smaller version but they are not as strong, 4 feet long I believe. I have three of the larger Costco shelves and then two of the stainless steel shelves from Home Depot. Both work well but the Costco ones are definitely stronger. Shelf holds a 75 gallon and a smaller tank next too it no problem.

Ghazanfar Ghori · Post by **Ghazanfar Ghori** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:22 am

Jeff120 wrote:Ghaz and idea what brand your shelf is? I dont have a Costco membership, I was looking online. I assume that you have to be a member to buy anything there.

Don't know. I can check.
You don't have to be a member - you can buy there as a guest too as long as a member accompanies you.

kerokero · Post by **kerokero** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:16 pm

I have the 5' versions and a 3' version of racks Ghaz is talking about. The 5' racks I have are rated at only 500lbs per shelf, and that's the highest lbs per shelf rating I've seen for them (short of some of the specialty restaurant ones). It's the 6' ones that really get the lbs per shelf! (And what I'm likely going to replace my 5' shelves with... just one big 6' one!) Just note - there are many cheaper and weaker look alikes... some that are rated at 500lbs for the whole shelving system, not per shelf! Also, if you have the wheels on the bottom, the 5' are only rated at 500lbs for the whole system - the shelves can hold the weight, but the wheels cannot. I don't know why you'd want a shelving unit full of fish to be on wheels, but I've seen frog people do it and almost have the system fail. The 3' version I'm getting rid of because it isn't that stable, too tall for it's width and I don't feel comfortable putting any weight more than 2.5' up on the unit. I also don't think it could hold my 65 with water in it (tho I was told it would) even tho it's the perfect dimensions to show off that tank

Just make sure to read the box and determine what it's rating it PER SHELF. I've seen units show up at BJs (where I've gotten my chrome racks) that look just like the 500lb per shelf, but are only 500lb for the whole unit. Then I also found one that had a 1in lip on them... thought I was putting the shelves on correctly (lip down) but turns out I was wrong. That shelf still pisses me off.

marydotson · Post by **marydotson** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:41 pm

If you want to go full-grade, the gold standard in commercial shelving is "Metro." They invented chrome shelving for commercial kitchens, back in the early 1930s. You can buy it from a commercial kitchen supply store--or easier, from the Container Store.

Here is a link to the company that makes Metro (http://www.metro.com/) and to the Container Store webpage (http://www.containerstore.com/browse/in ... ATID=13379) for it.

It is pricey...Is it worth it? Maybe. We have an imitation version that I have full of tanks. It's been up 2 months--no problems--but it is a fairly sturdy version.

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