# Strength of "floating" shelves



## JimGo

My wife and I are thinking of getting a fish tank, but our son is almost 1 and pulling himself up on just about every piece of furniture we have.  Obviously, we don't want the tank to take a dive if he pulls himself up on its stand, so one option we've toyed with is actually putting the aquarium on a shelf, where it's high enough that he can't get to it easily, but low enough that he can see the fish.  The rest of the room has fairly clean lines, so we were thinking of using floating shelves, but I'm not sure that they will be strong enough to support 120+ lbs of fish tank and related "stuff".  Does anyone have any idea how much weight floating shelves can generally hold, or whether there's a modified design that might permit us to do something similar?  It wouldn't be the end of the world if we had to use brackets, but we'd prefer not.

Any suggestions are appreciated!


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## jthompson1995

I've seen floating shelves with metal bars that slide into the shelf to support it at IKEA, but I don't recall the weight capacity.  You'll also need to make sure it is fastened securely to the studs with that much weight.


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## Dario

Note the farther out the weight from the wall, the more it becomes critical.  Close to the wall, all the weight will produce mostly shearing force...farther out it will also have moment/leverage action.  In this case, you want to make sure that the TOP fasteners are strong enough and secured properly (find the studs).  The bottom ones don't matter as much as they will be subjected to compressive pressure against the wall.

Is there a system that can handle that weight, yes (a lot).  It all depends on your wall.

Ofcourse the best way is to test it after.  I always hang on what I installed before putting whatever I want to put there (no not by the neck) []


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## ed4copies

Jim,

Have you thought of making clear acrylic brackets?   I would be very reluctant to trust 100 pounds to MY "floating shelves".  JMO, in this case, somewhat humble, not REAL well informed.


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## wood-of-1kind

Jim reconsider your decision especially if you're looking to support anywhere close to 100 lbs. even when you hit a wall stud. I value my 'son'. How about a build-in aquarium right within a wall cavity? More work yes, but less of a safety worry IMO.

-Peter-[]


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## jtate

There was a wonderful article on custom-building an aquarium in a cabinet in onw of the wood-working magazines this month.  Sorry, I don't recall which one.  The thing that fascinated me was that they used plywood for teh back and floor and seales it with System Three epoxy which was originally designed for the marine industry (boat-building and such).  This would solve the problem of the potential for it to be pulled off the stand since the stand becomes an integral part of the aquarium.


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## Tangboy5000

I'm quite familiar with aquarium accidents, this is a bad one waiting to happen.  What size aquarium are you thinking about?


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## whatwoodido

I assume you are thinking of a 10 gallon aquarium, which with water gravel and all weighs in at about 100 pounds give or take.  You might be better off getting a larger tank that a toddler wouldn't have a chance of moving.  A 30 gallon long tank would be a pretty good choice, the low height keeps the center of gravity low and 300 plus pounds makes even the most rambunctious toddlers unable to budge it.  Larger tanks also have the advantage of being able to be neglected for periods of time without having fish die.  

I have been keeping fish for 27 years now, and have a 1 and 4 year old.  My smallest tank at the moment is a 20 long, which is low to the ground and both kids at about one figured out how to open it and put their hands in the water.  Neither has done more than that to this point.  The other tank is a 75 gallon and it is beyond the reach of the kids, though I do let the older one feed the fish from time to time.


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## JimGo

Thanks for the feedback.  I had a feeling it was going to be too heavy for the shelves, but figured it was worth asking!

I was looking for something in the 10-18 gallon range, though I've seen a few 28 gallon tanks that are pretty sweet.  We're thinking of trying to do a "nano-reef".  The idea of embedding it into the wall occurred to me, and is actually pretty tempting, except that we're not planning on staying in our house for TOO much longer, and the wall on which the tank would go has a faux finish that will be a pain to try to match if I patched the hole.

Ed, the idea of an acrylic bracket never occurred to me, but that's a really neat idea.  Probably still not going to be strong enough for my needs, but it does give me some interesting ideas for some speakers that I need to mount.

Drew, it sounds like I need to pay you a visit! []


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## mick

Jim , I'll echo What's suggestion. I've always had 30 tanks, more specifically a 30 "long". It looks good and would be much too heavy for pulling it over to be an issue. A 10 gallon will ust make you want a bigger one....lol. Plus bigger tank = more fish. More fish  = more enjoyment!


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## Randy_

Jim:  I understand your dilemma perfectly.  When I visit my G/F on the weekends, she is frequently babysitting the grandbaby who has just turned
and gets into everything!!  We are gradually child=proofing Grandma's house and it is a challenge.

I have absolutely no question that you could build/buy a floating shelf that would support a small fish tank.  Folks have different ideas about what they are looking for when they say "floating shelf"; but here is a site I found by searching the Internet.

http://www.shelfbar.co.uk

Take a look at the picture in the center of the home page.

Personally, the idea of a tank on a floating shelf doesn't appeal to me(aesthetic and safety reasons); because of all of the wires hanging down from the installation....at least two, presumably, for a filter and a light.  Ugly and something the kiddo could grab and pull something down on him.   

I just saw a DIY show on child proofing homes for young kids and one thing they had was a small bracket that attached to desks, dressers, tables...anything that might be pulled over by a kid...which would attach the piece of furniture to the wall or floor.  Think you could do something like that for your fish stand with $2 worth of small 90Â° brackets from Home Depot??  They pointed out that dressers were particularly bad because they are very unstable if the top drawers are pulled out and usually very heavy.

One final thought,if you haven't already done so.....visit a few Internet sites that discuss child=proofing.  You may find some other ideas that would be helpful??


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## skiprat

I wouldn't trust floating shelves either. But to keep it 'clean' you could mount the brackets upside down so the web is on the sides of the tank. You would of course have to use a bigger bracket to get the shelf inside the bracket, or use nuts and bolts to hold the correct size shelf under the brackets.
Hope it helps[]


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## Blind_Squirrel

You could do a ceiling mount.  Tap into the rafters []


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## Tangboy5000

If you're even thinking about reef, go with a 46 bowfront.  It's still small so you can move it around by yourself, not full of course, you have enough room to add some cool stuff, evaporation won't be as big an issue, you'll have room for the equipment you need, and it will be heavy enough that your kid can't pull it over.


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## Ron in Drums PA

I'll echo what has been said, floating shelves are too dangerous

What's wrong with waiting a few months to a year? 
I'll bet he'll stop climbing on things.  


Do you remember the old movie "Please Don't Eat The Daisies"?
Do you remember how Doris Day solved her problem with her youngest son?
I'm not suggesting you should do this, today you would go to jail for doing that.[]


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## emackrell

I've seen some very nice aquaria in home shows that are actually coffee-tables.  They come with lights and filters and a lid that clamps firmly down.  It looks and acts like a glass topped coffee table but is full of fish! Some are big enough to house a reef setup.  Something like that might be a potential solution -- can't be pulled over, low enough for the little guy to admire, and a locking lid.  And they look really neat.  Downside is you'll need to hire someone to wipe his fingerprints off the thing 24/7 []

cheers Eileen [8D]


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## Randy_

> _Originally posted by JimGo_
> <br />.....I was looking for something in the 10-18 gallon range, though I've seen a few 28 gallon tanks that are pretty sweet.  We're thinking of trying to do a "nano-reef".....



When you say reef tank, I assume you are talking about a saltwater tank??  Don't know how much investigation you have done; but reef tank are probably the most difficult of all tanks that the home hobbyist can attempt and trying to maintain a small reef tank compounds the problem, seriously.  I suppose you could attempt to set up a small tank(10-20 gal.); but long term success will be greatly enhanced by having a larger tank.  I have a 55 gal tank with fish and would be very reluctant to try SW with anything smaller.  Certainly, it can be done; but you have be meticulous in caring for your specimens and there is little if any margin for error.


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## whatwoodido

Jim-
  I dabbled at small Saltwater tanks for a while and they can be done, there is even a big movement into NanoReefs as you obviously know.  Sinking a Reef Tank into a wall, or having one as a Coffee table is asking for problems due to salt leech.  I think anyone that has kept a SW tank is probably as amazed as I was about exactly how much salt can leech out and around the tank.  

  My foray into Saltwater happened about 15 years ago and had rather a good bit of fun with it.  The shop I frequented humored me by giving me the hitchhikers that came in with the live rock.  I go some interesting crustaceans that way, not always in a good way either.  I once heard this popping sound from the area around my tank and got curious as to what it was. I was doing homework for grad school at the time so it didn't take much to distract me.  I walked over by the tank and the sound stopped and I was looking all around the area where the tank was for the source of the noise.  I surrendered and went back to my studies.  After a minute or two the sound started again, I went back over and looked even harder to find the source, well I guess I stayed in the area long enough because the sound started again, I eventually found out it was coming from my tank.  I look over and see my newest hitchiker, a mystery crab sitting ontop of my spiny urchin snapping its spines with its pinchers.  I never figured out if the sound was the spines snapping or them shooting in to the glass as they rocketed off once snapped.

Since those days the quality of the equipment for Saltwater has both improved greatly and decreased in price.  Someday I may try my hand at SW again, my wife thinks it would be fun, but right now I have a hard enough time managing the two tanks I currently have.  And even a heavily planted 75 gallon Fresh Water tanks is only a fraction of the effort to maintain relative to a SW.

Drew


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## JimGo

Drew,
I can't stop laughing at the image of the crab on top of the urchin.  That must have been painful for you!!!!


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## Rifleman1776

I have had aquarium tanks up to 30 gal. wall mounted. The key is strong brackets well anchored into the studs. But, as stated, a large aquarium on a floor stand would be unlikely to be pulled over by a three year old. Or, for extra security, the legs of the stand could be secured to the wall. I had aquariums for most of my life. Gave them up when we bought our current home. The way it's arranged we don't have the wall space and we plan on traveling and don't want to leave living things unattended. Same reason I gave up cattle ranching.


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## Randy_

So Jim.....how about a follow-up?  What did you decide to do about the fish tank and floating shelves.....or are you still recuperating from the holidays?[][]


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## TBone

A 10 gallon on a floating shelf....maybe but agree the wires and tubes will be hard to hide.  I wouldn't even consider anything larger on a shelf.  Water weighs just under 9 lbs/gallon plus rocks, tank, filter, hood etc.  So, figure a bare minimum of 10 lbs per gallon for weight of the tank.  And if I were putting an aquarium on a floating shelf, I'd want at least 3 times the weight for a limit.  I've had various aquariums over many years and agree that anything under 30 gallons will only make you want larger.  Build a solid wooden stand and secure it to the wall so it won't pull over.  Full 30 gallon tank with rocks will weigh in at over 300 lbs.  A toddler that can pull that over is destined for a football helmet.  []


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## JimGo

Randy,
We're still recouperating, and deciding on a final arrangement.  We've basically nixed the idea of the floating shelves, so now it's a question of how best to make it viewable by our son and us, but stable/high enough that he can't get to it easily to either try to "play" with the fish or to have him knock/pull it over.

As an aside, we took him to the National Aquarium at Baltimore last Friday for his first birthday, to see how he would like the fish there.  He was kind of bored during the ascent, but on the descent he lit up every time a fish swam by.  Here's a pic of us; that was as close as we could come to getting him to pay attention to the camera!
<br />




<br />
If you've never been to the National Aquarium, I think it's an amazing place, and well worth the price of admission.  I won't give away what I mean by "ascent" and "descent" for those who haven't been there.


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## Rifleman1776

Agree, fish are great. I love visiting aquariums. When I had fish, for close to 50 years steady, never once did one talk back or argue with me. They don't mess on the floor or yap when visitors come and they don't need walking every couple hours. And, they are beautiful.


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## whatwoodido

> _Originally posted by JimGo_
> <br />Drew,
> I can't stop laughing at the image of the crab on top of the urchin.  That must have been painful for you!!!!



I did return that crab, but I still got other hitchhikers when the opportunity availed itself.  One piece of rock that I got had a Mantis Shrimp in it, unknown to all.  I had to get him out before he broke the tank, another unknown tapping sound.  I was forced to take everything out of the tank because he had an incredible ability to hide.  The shop really didn't want him back, but took it since I was a regular, they sold it a day later for $25 or $30.  They didn't want to sell it due to the likelihood that it would eventually get big enough to break the glass on any tank, but the guy just kept offering more and more money.


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