How do you make wood safe to hold aquariums that will be getting some water splashed on them from time to time? (And make them last awhile?) I have wood stands, but not sure how they last without warping and such...I just don't get how it works, but I would like to know...Thanks guys!

deck sealant?

I would think so too...but it doesn't feel like it...maybe they sand it and use clear coat?

You can use a product called toung oil. This is used on many gun stocks and antique tables. It last for years. Actually to think of it they use to use it on many old ship parts for weather proofing. If you dont want to go that route you can always use a polyurathane product. But this can crack and allow intrusion. The bad thing about wood sealant is...You dont seal all the faces of wood when you use these products.. This said the wood still is able to breath. If you seal all the wood faces with these products it WILL split. The fore mentioned products are designed to allow moisture to escape and not split the wood.

HTH

If you have a finished stand then just use paste wax every few months. Follow the directions and you will be fine. It will not alter the finish from mat to satin or gloss. This wax is what is used on hardwood floors.

sounds complicated! the toung oil can go on all sides, or none can? Would be awesome to have an aquarium that looked like a rifle stock. I have a standard black painted stand on the 72, and the 50 is basic wood look.

Not complicated. All that I mentioned can be applied to all faces of the wood. Those products allow the wood to breath. Thus allowing it to swell and contract as it would in the uncut tree.

Here is my 29 that I built. Its handrubbed toung oil and finished with paste wax 3-4 times a year.


No flame I know it needed a hair cut.

+1 to Tung Oil

Spar Varnish FTW! Love the stuff. Has a nifty mildewicide <--no idea how to spell it, but my stuff don't get all moldy and turn into a penicillin farm.

40$ish a gallon at Lowes.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...Varnish%20Gloss

This is the brand I use, and it's awesome....but cost an @$$ two hands and a foot.
http://www.sutherlandwelles.com/

Nice planted tank! I like the look of your stand. What kind of wood did you use? Is touring oil available commonly (HD, Lowes, etc) or is it a special order item? I'm still thinking of how I want to build the shell for my new stand, so I'm option to suggestions. I'm debating between finish plywood, finish oak plywood, and whiteboards, which I'd glue together and plane the joints. I do like the idea of touring oil and wax, rather than the hardwood floor sealant I've been using!

oh cool, i like the stand. would you be able to paint over that? (Yours stained nice, but me and stains never went well....splotchy, and all that...I dont have any touch so to speak) I was thinking of painting my 50 gallon a dark blue....but wanted to get a smooth texture now that we have gone past safety - )I see some tanks with a nice smooth almost plastic finish...let me see if I can find the link....since I got you here might as well pick that brain...



okay here is one...
http://hydrophytesblog.com/wp-content/uplo...bracket-i-s.jpg

maybe he just sands the wood well, but it looks like it has that smooth to the touch thing going for it. (before the brackets at least - )

One thing to note is to be careful and make sure that the wood you're treating isn't already pre-treated as some plywoods & such are. The oil-based stains & sealers won't absorb properly.

In my opinion you probably don't even need to worry about this, unless you're crazy messy and spill water all over the place the wood should be safe just by itself. I think the main reason for treating the wood is cosmetic, however, painting/staining/varnishing will make it a little more durable in the long run. The exception to this opinion though is some low grade plywood/particleboard. Those woods I don't think should be used at all in making stands, at least not where water can get to them. My first stand was untreated pine sealed probably 15 years ago with some regular minwax stuff... $10 for a quart. I've gotten some water on it and it's still straight.

I like the look of your stand cowkid.

Thanks. The toung oil is avaliable at lowes and HD.

That stand is a mixture of woods. Believe it or not that hood has 13 different pieces of wood. Dont ask to name them, but its a mixture of hardwood, MDF, shower board on the inside, crown molding and .25" white oak ply laminated to the top. The hood is almost 40 lbs. But I was trying to match the armoir that hold out tv... The doors are made up of popular, and the rest of the base is made up of red oak ply. Dont skimp on the wood.

They way they get those crazy shiny stands is...Many coats of shelack, sand, buff, recoat...as many as you can stand. Me I would rather go with a little satin finish. It hides imperfections and dust.

Staining 101. Wipe all staining surfaces with denatured alcohol, let that dry completly. Oh use nitral gloves to keep the oils from your hands from impregnating into the wood.

Now steal, beg or ask for some of your girls old pantyhose. This is your staining brush. No bristles = no marks. DONT USE FOAM BRUSHES. They trap bubbles and can melt. I take one of those big ole black and chrome paper binder clips and clip that around the folded up pantyhose. Thats the handle.

Dip into stain, APPLY STAIN AND FINISHES IN ONE DIRECTION ONLY. Like left to right or right to left not back and forth. Let the stain set for 5-8 mins and wipe off in the same direction that you applied. Let that dry. You may need to sand with 600-1000 grit paper and tack cloth that off b4 the next app. But apply as many coats as you want to gain the depth and color you want.

DO NOT SHAKE STAINS TO MIX! This will introduce bubbles and that will splotch the finish.

HTH

John that stand looks like white pine coated with plain ole polyurethane. You can do as many coats of that stuff as you want. I've done up to 100+ coats for automobile dash inserts. You could swim in that stuff it looked so deep.


Hey MJ. That is the exact tank that went KABLEWIE.

i am happy you mentioned matching the furniture...i never though about doing that...brown leather couches with dark blue, or even that shelack wouldn't look right...hmmm...may I will go the easy route and get new furniture to match the fish stand.

I should probably try this all first on scrap wood...

Thanks for the info on the toung oil. I'm thinking about giving that a go. I'm settling on white pine boards to create the shell, so it's either going to be toung oil or the med oak stain that I've got lying around. Almost everything in my house is oak though, so that's the snag.

Good work on the Staining 101 write up.

Wow, that is a lot of water to escape during KABLEWIE! I can only imagine the racket that must have been made between the water and a 40lbs hood collapsing!



Now you are catching on!

John, you're website is too addicting! I've got my 29g tank cycling right now, and I can't stop visiting your site trying to plan what I want to get. Not only that, but it's making me even more impatient for my cycle to hurry up and finish!

Good info

you know it is expensive if you have to contact for prices.

Ok so just to be a pain....Epoxy paint? Does it seal, keep wood safe?

I forgot to mention that you can use the tounge oil as a top coat finish. So use whateva stain you want then finish it with the oil. You can sand the oil and get a much nicer finish is you use a microfine steel wool.

Yep you gotta match the other stuff.

Luckly the hood didnt fall. I dunno how but just the front pane of glass came off. I'm thinkin that this happened. You see the trim glued to the bottom trim of the tank? Two days b4 it happened a neighbors girl pulled up on that trim. Didnt think anything of it. Then it went pow. Note to self get electric fience around all tanks.

electric fence is the first thing to put up around a tank...that is noob stuff.

well i thought that the static mats were enough. guess not.

oh no, not at all. after the light falling in the water thing happened to me I got a pit bull.

I've got an armed guard.




Me.

I remember the light mojo. Bad times.

Hey MJ just make sure that the target is not between you and your tank. KABLEWIE

That's Rule #5.

With my 1911 and AR15, I have to make sure not only of what is between me and the target, but also what's behind the target and what's behind what's behind the target.

Peace through Superior Firepower.

/gun talk for now

So John, I don't think I've seen you mention yet what this stand will be for. Is there a nice new tank in the works?

When I was working as a lab tech in undergrad we used Waterlox to seal the wood we were using to build stands for the test tanks. The tanks stood up to 2 years of water spills and abuse before I left for grad school so I'd recommend that.

there is an old tank that needs to be changed i think. just doesn't fit in, and then just plain old curiosity. it will probably be more curiosity than anything in the end.

I toyed with the idea of building commercial racks out of wood, but I will probably end up with aluminum welded racks. mo point having friends that are welders if you can't put them to work i say.