Stand Building-Do you treat the wood?
 

Just wondering for those that have built their own stands, Do you treat the wood with anything. Stain, Pant, Wood sealants?

Yes.

Stained and polyurethaned the outside.
Painted the inside with White Epoxy Paint to make it waterproof.

Polyurethane inside and out.

mine is untreated inside, seems fine over the last 6 years.

Ok Let me tell you my delema.

The stand was built in place, right in front of my current tanks. This was because there was no way to bring the completed stand into the house due to door widths. So now I'm faced with treating the tank in the house. I'm worried about the fumes and my current tank as well, we have a Parrot and fumes of stains and what not have been proven fatal to birds.

Oh BTW. The tank will have to come in through a door 30inches wide. the tank is 30inches tall and 36 wide. So some demo of the house is required. My wife is going to kill me :0

J

Just an idea, have no idea if it would work, but if you have a bay window or something in the house, would it be easire/cheaper to pay a window company to remove the glass for you then re-install afterwards?

How about removing the door AND door frame.

That should get you enough clearance - and if your careful no one will be able to see how you did it!

no
 

jason
not unless you plan to submerge the wood in water for extended periods of time.
put it this way - the joists and framework of your entire house is not treated........ so treating the stand to your tank is not needed.

Sure its not needed but because i waterproofed the inside of my stand it saved me from having a minor flood.
Had about 4" in the bottom of my stand to soak up though.. :mrgreen:

Ya this is what I will do.

Thanks all. I think I will leave it.

BTW Sorry Chin I didn't call you during the build. I did it while on Vacation on Tuesday and part of Wed and I figured you'd be working

the inside of your house is not 100% humidity, which the inside of your stand will be if you have a sump in it.

so if you don't treat it... think dark warm and humid... mold city is one possibility. also the higher humidity will cause the wood to swell and warp which could lead to a tank crack.

your best bet would be to move the parrot to another room with a window and place rags around the bottom of the door to seal the gap fairly well, then open a window in the room you are painting in and have a fan forcing air out the window.

other things to consider are the type of sealer you use.. if you use a water based polyurethane it is relatively low in VOC and drys quite fast.

Steve

sump or not
 

yes i agree. if you are putting a sump under the tank, i would treat. if not, don't bother.

Treat the wood. What I discovered on my 90gallon stand when I moved it yesterday, was that all the wood was treated except the bottom panel that was against the floor. Long story short... it started to mold, and now my carpet smells like mold. Treat any surface that will come in contact with water for brief period of times.

Well there won't be a sump under the tank. But I have desided to paint the tank. I found some low VOC Primer and paint that I will be using.

It will look better too

J

I used Marine Spar Varnish on mine, just an idea what about using water bassed pollyurathine

My bro does hard wood flooring and says they use it all the time in existing/lived in homes