Staining/sealing 125 gallon aquarium stand

[mt12505]

Hello

I bought a 125 gallon tank & stand 2nd hand & it needs a lil TLC. I've already resealed the tank but I also want to redo the stand. It looks like it might be a oak (but not completely sure) stand without any polyurethane on it (I've attached a side view pic of the stand to give you an idea of what it looks like now). What I want to do is take off the old stain & restain it & then seal it in polyurethane to make it waterproof & I want to do the inside of the stand too. I've looked online but I'm having problems finding instructions on how to do this to a aquarium stand. It would be greatly appreciated if someone who has done this before or knows what their doing could give me instructions on how to go about this the right way. I'm trying to find out as much info as I can so I only have to do this project once. I plan on this being a show tank in the room with cichlids in it.

 

[Colin_T]

Just use a normal wood stain and vanish it afterwards. The stand is no different to any other piece of wood furniture except it holds an aquarium.

 

[Carolyn N]

I agree with Colin. You need to decide what color stain you want. Then check and see if you can get a stain/sealer/combo. Makes life much easier. I did that with the stand I built. Came out real nice. Just clean it good and lightly sand and then get all the dust and dirt removed first. You can get the stain/sealer/combo in acrylic too. Easy cleanup.