Question about restoring an old aquarium stand

[mrfobber]

I'm helping my friend restoring his 80 gallon that has been left in his farmhouse for the past couple of years. We cleaned up the tank, and its pretty nice, but the stand is in a horrific condition. There are stains everywhere, bird poop, dead incests, and just about anything you can name it. We have never really worked with something like this before, and is looking for some advices. Do we sand it down first? Clean it with damped cloths? What should we do? Thanks!

[sbanks78]

Throw it out! Or try to clean it first then sand. But i would torch it!

[LotsaFishies]

Before you sand, wipe off as much as possible... You don't want to be breathing powdered bird crap etc! And wear masks.

[jt_milstead]

If there are a lot of water stains I would just replace it...

[BajaReefs]

especially if it's particle board

[JAHGYDI]

paint it

[smirkis]

dead incests

lol

if its that trashed its not safe to use. most stands are made of particle board which are fine when brand new, but get crappy after years of abuse

[mrfobber]

LOL. I mean dead "insects" my bad my bad

[mrfobber]

How do I know if its particle board? Its pretty unsafe to use it huh? How much would a basic stand cost that's 48LX18WX15H. BTW the tank that size is about 60 gallons or 75 gallons? Thanks

[Black]

take a pic for god sakes. now im interested. you will definataly know if it particle board or not. is it made of copressed saw dust. look inside. if its particle board the inside wont be finished with an iron on vinier. if its wood it will look like wood. usually neither are finished inside. if asthetics are not an issue you could build a bullet proof stand for less than 30.00 bucks. if you want to use funiture grade and enclose it your looking at more like 75. to buy a particle board 150 to 250. furniture grade 250 to 600 depending on fancy or not. If you need help let me know. DO NOT breath any of that old paint and or bird flu poop. wear a mask!! that paint could be lead based and nasty. not to mention the poo.

[mrfobber]

Thanks for the tips. I will be going to the farm house tomorrow morning and take some pictures and post it.

Right now my fear is that the stand is in such a bad condition that its going to collapse when we add the water and the rocks in the tank. That would not be fun. How can we check if the stand is still strong enough to withstand the weight of the fish tank?

[vinny73]

If you question your intuition, toss it! If you gotta worry about it, toss it! If it really looks bad and is stained , paint it. If money is not an option to spend, do what you can to fix it. But if it at all feels flimsy or shakeey, toss it! Use common sense when checking if it will hold. Sit on it. Stankd on it. Jump on it. Did it break? no? Then it might either fall apart cause you jumped on it, or it will work fine. Pictures aren't gonna tell anybody squat! Only that it looks like it's been in a farm and pissed on by god knows what and it might smell once you put it in the house. I know times are tough, but you can also add some supports to help brace it if you need to rather than buying a stand from a store. A store bought stand requires a good amount of money for a little bit of craftsmanship. You're better off hitting up used stores and finding a dresser of a tv stand for 10 bucks.

[mrfobber]

Yep, its the right move to toss it. I took a look again, and found out that the base, and most of the wood are all decomposed. I don't think it can be restored. Its a really nice stand, what a shame.