Wooden Stands

[Scott MacAdam]

I am considering making a wooden stand for a 30gal long I currently have..... With this stand, I would like to make a hood as well because I am currently using a piece of plexiglass... but this leads me to wonder.... what happens when the water evaporates...? with a plastic hood there is no problem because they clearly do not soak up water and begin to rot over time.... how is this avoidable...? DIY or not, you would think the same problem exists.....

Thanks

 

[Jozlyn]

You should probably put this question in the DIY section but I should think if you fully seal your timber with a water based gloss varnish and leave it till the fumes are completely gone, the timber should last much longer. However, over time, no matter what you do moisture will still eventually get into the timber and cause it to discolour and rot over time.

 

[SouthernCross]

Yeah, you gotta seal it with estapol or a woodstain or something. If you don't, if you get water on it (impossible not to do with water changes and stuff) it will get watermarks and rot over time. If you want you could pick out a particular colour stain. You can get it at any hardware store I would imagine.

I bought my stand and hood made out of unfinished pine and I sealed it with estapol rather than a stain cos my dad had some around! I did about 3 coats. The more coats you put on the darker it will go. It goes shiny too and looks quite nice. It might need lots of sanding first though before so it stays nice and smooth to touch. It's a lot of effort, but it's worth it. I get water on it all the time and I just wipe it off now and its fine because it's all sealed in.

We've got some wooden doors and we reseal them about every 5-10 years it seems. So you won't have to worry about it (if ever, if you do a good job) about having to do it again for a long time. But if you choose not to, I imagine you'd be replacing your stand and hood quite quickly cos they'll just get wrecked otherwise.