The power of Milk Crates!
- Thread starter FINWIN
- Start date
You don't say whether you are actually planning on utilising these milk crates in a DIY stand
FINWIN
. If you are, my advice is.....DO NOT!
Plastic milk crates, and beer crates for that matter are predominantly made of injection moulded HDPE (high density polyethylene) or, to a lesser extent, injection moulded PP (polypropylene).
Yes, they are extremely durable because these crates, you can tell by their design, have to be stacked, high in some cases. And usually with glass bottles! Who wants tons of broken glass and wasted product all over the floor. Now you can see why they need to be tough.
Although they are fine for sitting on, as in your picture, or performing some innocent little stunt, as in K krichardson picture, or using as cheapskate furniture, as in
jjohnwm
university days, I would not trust them one little bit that, over a long period of time, that they'd be strong enough to bear the weight of an aquarium.
Cinder blocks, wood and metal should really be the only go to materials for building aquarium stands.
John summed it up perfectly....."accident waiting to happen."
FINWIN
. If you are, my advice is.....DO NOT!Plastic milk crates, and beer crates for that matter are predominantly made of injection moulded HDPE (high density polyethylene) or, to a lesser extent, injection moulded PP (polypropylene).
Yes, they are extremely durable because these crates, you can tell by their design, have to be stacked, high in some cases. And usually with glass bottles! Who wants tons of broken glass and wasted product all over the floor. Now you can see why they need to be tough.
Although they are fine for sitting on, as in your picture, or performing some innocent little stunt, as in K krichardson picture, or using as cheapskate furniture, as in
jjohnwm
university days, I would not trust them one little bit that, over a long period of time, that they'd be strong enough to bear the weight of an aquarium. Cinder blocks, wood and metal should really be the only go to materials for building aquarium stands.
John summed it up perfectly....."accident waiting to happen."
I have seen some aquariums on beer crates. I don't see a problem with that. Its more stable against sheering forces than the standart wood + cinder block construction and it can carry a lot of weight.
When you visit a brewery you might see the crates stacked on paletts. Each palett with full crates weights between 550 to 1200 kg. They stack up to 8 paletts on top of each other. This means the 8 crates on the bottom palett can carry over 8000 kg (1 crate carries at least 1000 kg).
But I don't know if and how european beer crates are different from US beer crates.
When you visit a brewery you might see the crates stacked on paletts. Each palett with full crates weights between 550 to 1200 kg. They stack up to 8 paletts on top of each other. This means the 8 crates on the bottom palett can carry over 8000 kg (1 crate carries at least 1000 kg).
But I don't know if and how european beer crates are different from US beer crates.
Here's my take on it, take from it what you will. You may very well be right. A stand made from stacked beer/milk crates may last a long long time...BUT....
We see posts like this on MFK a lot. Can I put my aquarium on this, or that? Usually the would be "stand" in question is a piece of mass produced poorly, and cheaply made piece of furniture that is designed for putting a plant or some books on maybe.
The fact remains, these pieces of home furniture, or beer/milk crates for that matter, were designed to hold "some" weight maybe, but there's the deal breaker in my eyes, HOW MUCH weight, and more importantly, how long can these items cope with the huge constant weight of an aquarium?
Do designers of these products ever think, "well, one day someone might decide to support the weight of an aquarium with this, so we'd better design this product to carry such a weight." Absolutely not!
That is why, in my eyes, you should only use a product that was designed for such a purpose, or in the case of cinder blocks for example, not specifically designed for holding aquariums, but obviously up to the job. Or you can build your own, and DIYer's are renowned for overkill in their designs anyway so it's win win.
I like to take as much of the risk factor out of the equation as possible, that's all I'm saying. And in my eyes using plastic crates, long term, is a risk.
And knowing plastics as I do (i've worked with plastics my whole working life), I know exactly how they can react under stress, and how much stress do you think the weight of an aquarium is putting on those crates?
Not for me, that's for sure.
I understand your approach.
But I still think a beer create is more stronger than an average aquarium stand from the store which is normally just made of chipboard. That's why I brought the numbers. For example: A big beer create here is 40 * 30 cm. You can use 6 to carry a standard 180*60*60 cm tank that weights around 700 kg. Each crate carries less than 120 kg but is designed for way more weight and has a minimum life expectancy of 10 years in the industry. Which means it goes through hundreds of loading circles before it retired. Dynamic load stresses the material more than static load.
In the end everybody has to decide with what they can sleep the best.
If I didn't need the storage space under my tanks I would consider beer crates or even just a massive block of styrofoam.
You don't say whether you are actually planning on utilising these milk crates in a DIY stand
Plastic milk crates, and beer crates for that matter are predominantly made of injection moulded HDPE (high density polyethylene) or, to a lesser extent, injection moulded PP (polypropylene).
Yes, they are extremely durable because these crates, you can tell by their design, have to be stacked, high in some cases. And usually with glass bottles! Who wants tons of broken glass and wasted product all over the floor. Now you can see why they need to be tough.
Although they are fine for sitting on, as in your picture, or performing some innocent little stunt, as in K krichardson picture, or using as cheapskate furniture, as in
Cinder blocks, wood and metal should really be the only go to materials for building aquarium stands.
John summed it up perfectly....."accident waiting to happen."
No way am I doing this...it was just something I was having some fun with. What's crazy is a member here actually did use these for a 55. The link is still active somewhere. If I can find it again I'll post it.
I've had enough 'fun' with a failing wood stand for the 225 three years ago. Not interested in a repeat!
That's probably correct...but it's still not saying much. Every time I look at the flimsy contraptions designed and sold as aquarium stands I shudder. In addition to being cheaply assembled with a minimal number of bottom-of-the-barrel fasteners, a chipboard stand to support a box full of water makes about as much sense to me as using a carefully stacked pile of sugar cubes as a stand. In both cases, the material itself is extremely poorly suited to repeated exposure to water...and, realistically speaking, repeated exposure is inevitable.
This whole question is just a more engineering-oriented version of the familiar "What's the absolute bare minimum size tank I can use for such-and-such a fish?" The obsession with "bare minimum" in everything is disturbing.
Ok I did find some folk here who were 'thinking outside the box'. The last link is a doozy and actually has a pic of a milk crate stand. Don't know what the upshot was or durability.
A wild thread here in 2017:
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
I'm creative but this makes even me nervous:
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
WOW here's the pic
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
A wild thread here in 2017:
I need your Help
Ok, so here is the deal. I have an empty 40 gallon breeder lying around and I am going to be setting it up. Probably is it did not come with a stand. I have a bad back, but will force myself to take care of it. I have no stand for it so it will be on the grow or quite low, but I'll do. My...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
I'm creative but this makes even me nervous:
Does this table look like it will hold a 125g?
Shop table my father in law installed when they had this house. We're possibly gonna try to install a 125g on it, but I'm not sure it'll hold. It's very sturdy, just not sure about 125g filled sturdy. Here's the photos I got. It's 83" long with legs on the front left corner and center. The...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
WOW here's the pic
massive wc change
they barely were under the water Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Ok I did find some folk here who were 'thinking outside the box'. The last link is a doozy and actually has a pic of a milk crate stand. Don't know what the upshot was or durability.
A wild thread here in 2017:
I need your Help
Ok, so here is the deal. I have an empty 40 gallon breeder lying around and I am going to be setting it up. Probably is it did not come with a stand. I have a bad back, but will force myself to take care of it. I have no stand for it so it will be on the grow or quite low, but I'll do. My...
I'm creative but this makes even me nervous:
Does this table look like it will hold a 125g?
Shop table my father in law installed when they had this house. We're possibly gonna try to install a 125g on it, but I'm not sure it'll hold. It's very sturdy, just not sure about 125g filled sturdy. Here's the photos I got. It's 83" long with legs on the front left corner and center. The...
WOW here's the pic
massive wc change
they barely were under the water Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
It's funny really because that milk crate thread, started in 2012, was started by a guy who's still very active,
bassinmike85
. Virtually everyone who participated in that thread commented on the milk crates, lol. Even bassinmike85 said he was amazed they were holding up! He's got balls I'll give him that, lol.That was 10 years ago. I've tagged Mike so hopefully he'll join the conversation and fill us in with the details of how long he had his milk crate stand and what happened to it.
And
jjohnwm
was on the money when he said that these "can I put my aquarium on this" type threads, are almost identical to the ever so common "can I put this fish in this size tank" type threads.What is it with this hobby that so many people just want to push the boundaries of common sense? Lol.
Appreciate you tagging me. The milk crates oh man i forgot all about that ? If positioned right you could get away with it. I had a 180 on the milk crates. Was just a temp set up while i was waiting for a 300g to be delivered from truvu. The egg crates were awesome and defiantly a conversation starter. Tank was fine for a while but i had massive 25"-28" temensis in it and the tank itself wasent in greaat shape and one of the seems seperated. i chanced it knowing the tank would only hold for a short time. I really liked the egg crates as a stand. if i were to do it again i would put a piece of plywood between the egg crates and the tank. i didn't like how the light lit up my floor haha.
It's funny really because that milk crate thread, started in 2012, was started by a guy who's still very active,
That was 10 years ago. I've tagged Mike so hopefully he'll join the conversation and fill us in with the details of how long he had his milk crate stand and what happened to it.
And
What is it with this hobby that so many people just want to push the boundaries of common sense? Lol.
