Question on building a rodent rack

I need to expand my mouse colony, so I am going to be building a rodent rack.

When we build the snake racks that we've built, the spacing is obvious... just enough room for the tubs on each shelf.

I'm not so sure on the rodent racks. I plan on using the method of just piling food on top of the hardware cloth, and I also plan on using one of those watering systems. How much room is needed between the top of one tub and the bottom of the next for this to work?

No one?

We use around 5" between the top of the rack and the tub above it but if you want more then by all means.

Thanks! But I definitely don't want more. I'm trying to minimize it to be able to get the rack as many tubs high as possible without making it too hard to reach the top.

Do you think 5" is close to the minimum that would work? I know there needs to be enough room for plenty of air circulation to keep the odors down, as well as room for the food & watering device.

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat_rack/ratrack.shtml
here is the setup i have and built to spec here

I've only got "about" 3 inches between mine, just enough to get my hand in to pull/install the water nipple..I also boxed in a feed tray so the feed stays in a limited area..The previous plans are nice but we used 2x4s on the uprights for additional strength..Our tubs also pull widthwise and not lengthwise but thats a matter whatcha like or fits the space..

I found an odd sized litter pan on the Linens N Things website.

20 1/4" L x 13 5/8" W x 3 1/2" H

These are by far the best size for breeding mice. If I were building a mouse rack those are the pans that I would use.

http://www.lnt.com/product/litter-pa...d-colors-.html

space depends on if you plan to use bottles or watering system and how much food (how many days worth) you plan to be offering.

I only run 6 tubs per rack because I only add food every other day normally.