The Long Stand.

[Tolak]

If it is a commercially finished piece of furniture, a little spill here & there should be no problem, as long as you wipe it up in a reasonable amount of time. If you are getting enough water on it to start causing damage, you are probably getting the floor soaked as well. If this is happening during regular maintenance, you need to slow down, or evaluate how you are doing maintenance. The only time I can see this happening would be a tank or filter malfunction. While rare, they have been known to occur.

Hoods are a different story. They are above the tank, constantly exposed to humidity & condensation. Multiple coats of spar varnish, which is designed for boats, is what is needed. There is also 2 part epoxy paint designed for coating the inside of water storage tanks. It's expensive, but designed for being in constant contact with water. Many people use it for coating the inside of homemade plywood tanks.

 

[Fastblur]

I'll start at the bottom and work up.

-The wood: at the moment it's just plain pine, I was planning on lathering it with Ronseal (varnish for fences) but wasn't going to bother with a hood or anything of the like. I found some old steel braces out in the shed, so I think I'll use those as well.
I was also thinking that for the top part, as the tank might stick off the edges of the case a bit, and so was considering putting a bit of MDF on the top.

-The tank: It's nice to know a Rena is good, I'm thinking of setting this one up as a Gourami/plec/Guppy community (plus an nice oddball of some sort), but that's a topic a month or two away. The bit about the hood being sturdy is important as I do love my shrimp but am mortified by the idea of waking up with one crawling across my head.

 

[BBrain]

Fastblur:

Don't worry that pine is a "softwood". That's just a label commonly used for conifers. Most are moderately to very strong.

In fact, Douglas Fir, a "softwood", is the strongest framing lumber used in house construction in Canada. Spruce, another "softwood", is the strongest-for-weight wood in the world; hence its use for spars in airplanes.

And don't worry if it gets a little wet...won't affect its strength much if at all.

BUT......if MDF gets wet, it gets soggy and soft and disintegrates.

DON'T USE ANY COMPRESSED WOOD PRODUCT like MDF or K3 or particle-board around aquariums. Use only solid wood, or plywood.

Tolak has you on the right course.

Wet Coaster (journeyman carpenter)