novafishy Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Just a really quick question. Will a 3ft x 14" wide x 2ft high tank be able to be supported on a 1 inch MDF board on top of 6 egg crates stacked 3 across x 2 high? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest parallel Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Hi, My thought.... Modern days milk crate is made with reprocess HDPE or PP, (cheap stuff) and with the way it is designed (structural ribs). I say it is fairly rigid and as long as you can spread the weight evenly across, it shouldn't be any problem. Oh..make sure the crate is free from damage such as cracks and chips, then you might have problem. Cheers Hilton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colfish Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Modern days milk crate is made with reprocess HDPE or PP, (cheap stuff) ← why would they use a more expensive material? i think there are more milk crates being used for many other purposes than what there is at the local processing plant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wui39 Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Hey nova you know a civil engineer don't you? Although his structural skills have proved to be "faulty" in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted February 8, 2006 Author Share Posted February 8, 2006 HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! sure do!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlos Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 hmm correct me if i'm wrong, but isnt it illegal to steal milk crates?!?!? haha tsk tsk wes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest parallel Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 why would they use a more expensive material? Yep you are right Colfish, they should not use anything but cheap material for the application, or else they will go belly up with so many missing milk crate every year. I read somewhere they lose about 50K plus each year for all those missing crates. Even with the cheap material I reckon they cost about $2 each to manufacturer. Ummm very interesting I'll might quote one tomorrow and see what is the actual cost to mould. Funny thing is at work I was looking into reprocess PP today for a customer and they are bloody cheap compared to the virgin PP. But can have their disadvantage but lets not get into details, I think I am getting a bit side track now. Hey Wes have you received my PM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wui39 Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 http://www.abc.net.au/newinventors/txt/s1436432.htm I thought I remembered this from sometime ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted February 8, 2006 Author Share Posted February 8, 2006 Basically I filled the 3x14x2H tank and withing minutes of filling it up, i noticed one of the crates (*ahem* tnx for crates, Carlos! ) started to wobble and warp. I immediately knew it wouldn't be able to support 200+kg. Quickly transferred all the water to a 4fter waiting for a water change. I reckon if I had left it overnight, I would've seen 200L on the floor this morning. hmm...now to get a stand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTR73 Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 What about besser bricks instead? MDF will be a good load spreader but evenly spaced bricks should do a better job underneath I reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D6C1 Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I thought about the Milkcrates before. I am glad someone tested it out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Hasn't Merjo or someone posted a pic of a tank on milk crates? I'm pretty sure it was a smaller tank though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wui39 Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I've used besser on outside tanks and containers. It work okay although the height is relatively low. I got the idea after seeing a book where the guy in Hawai had a 8ft tank supported by concrete blocks. This was in his lounge room though so he must have been pretty brave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 with ply under it it'd be pretty safe, depending on how you stacked the bricks of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 Ive used milk crates on tanks much smaller that the 3x14x2. I've used 2 milk crates on a std 2ft tank no probs. I think when you start to stack the crates, you start to get problems. Maybe an idea would be to have one layer of crates, then some MDF board to even out the weight, then another layer of crates. that *might* work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellow Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 ive got two five footers stacked on milk crates with mdf as a base.works fine.i dont know about the 2 foot high thing though mine are standards.ive never found them to be a problem with standard tanks though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 how many milk crates have you got under the 5fter? are they single or dual level stacked crates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellow Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 ive got two rows of five under them so ten in total.i have one stacked two high (20)and one just one high Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 Are they all the same type of milkcrates? cos as you know, there are many of them with different patterns. any chance of a photo? do you see any bending in the wall structure of the crates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellow Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 ill get a photo up for you on the weekend im too stuffed right now and ill be worse tomorrow.but no thier not bending and i havent really checked to see if their the same but they are different colours whether or not this represents anyhting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellow Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 stopped feeling sorry for myself and went and did it for you.hth theres a piece of mdf under the foam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 Thanks for that Jason! Looks like the 4 milkcrates supports that standard 5fter just fine. Does your other milkcrate structure that is stacked 2 levels high warp? meaning do the bottom crates's wall structure bend? maybe i just got dodgy milkcrates. haha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D6C1 Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Arent you worried that the tank sides that dont look supported by milkcrates might break? They are only sitting on the MDF. I have heard it happening before where the side of the tank hangs and doesnt sit supported on a solid base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlos Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 (*ahem* tnx for crates, Carlos! bigsmile.gif ) I dont know what your talking about! sorry dude, they worked for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellow Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Arent you worried that the tank sides that dont look supported by milkcrates might break? They are only sitting on the MDF. at first i must say yes i was but i only had it that way in the beginning because i didnt have enough crates but its been this way for 3 years now and ive never had a problem.the board that i have underneath it comes to within a cm of the foam so it looks worse than it is. Thanks for that Jason! Looks like the 4 milkcrates supports that standard 5fter just fine. Does your other milkcrate structure that is stacked 2 levels high warp? meaning do the bottom crates's wall structure bend? i dont have a picture of the double stacked one i had as i shrunk it down to a single story when i moved it.i honestly cant remember if they did bend.here it is in its current form i prefer this system ten crate five each row with board on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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