90 gallon stand in trouble! Need help!

[Batboi3000]

Hey Everyone! I need your input and direction. Last week I moved my 90 gallon. Took a bit of work but no biggy. Well after i moved it I noticed the cross bar on the pine stand must have been shifting a little as the cabinet door was harder to open and shut. that should have been clue number one. Today I notice 6 little 1" hairline cracks in the front of the stand and a couple cracks on the side. I have removed about 1/3 of the water and about 75 pounds of the stone in the tank to help with the pressure. I will post a video soon of what I'm working with. Here's a couple pics. Let me know what else I need to do. Never had this happen. I'm pretty sure ultimately I just want to get a new stand. These pine ones are expensive though. $259 at my LFS. Alternatives? Bandaids?

 

[Batboi3000]

Here's what is going on to get a bigger picture of the situation.

[video=youtube;kEvvwyh0-co]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEvvwyh0-co [/video]

 

[virgil2090]

if you buy the wood,you can easily make a new stand.DYI section has many great photos and tips.or you could cut and wood screw pieces cut to fit the sections in question,you could put them to the inside of your stand

 

[Mythic Figment]

Until you get a new stand or fix the current one, drain some of the water from the tank to lighten the load and stop/slow the cracking of the wood.


Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[Batboi3000]

I did drain about 1/3 of the water and removed a bunch of the heavy decor stone in the tank. last night I actually took the tank off the stand and sat it on the floor for now. I'm going to go look at some steel shelving again this afternoon at a local hardware store to make sure it'll work. This steel shelving is suppose to be rated at 2100 lbs per shelf for a 48" x 18" section. For only $117 it seems like a pretty solid structure to me. It's kind of a goofy blue and orange color, but I figure a couple cans of flat black spray paint and we'll be good to go!

 

[Belly up]

If you are talking about the cross grain marks between the hinges they look more like damage from something outside of the tank. You have vertical pressure on the support structure so the wood would not crack across the grain. It would be much more likely to spit the length of the grain and I don`t see any indication of that in your pics.

What it looks like to me is the grain raising from too much moisture/humidity or direct water contact. Is that a possibility?

 

[Batboi3000]

If you are talking about the cross grain marks between the hinges they look more like damage from something outside of the tank. You have vertical pressure on the support structure so the wood would not crack across the grain. It would be much more likely to spit the length of the grain and I don`t see any indication of that in your pics.

What it looks like to me is the grain raising from too much moisture/humidity or direct water contact. Is that a possibility?

Not sure... I've been pretty careful about water spills and such. Never have really spilled much on this stand. Now I've had it for a little over 2 years. i bought the stand used from a fella that had it for one year he said and he bought it new. He didn't seem to take care of his stuff very well from the look of the rest his house. Hard to say what happened to it during that time. Those lines are definitely cracks. I can get the tip of a piece of paper in there. On the side of the stand there's 3 cracks that are all the way through the wood. A friend of mine said he'd give me $50 for the stand as it is. Pretty sure I'm gonna take him up on it and put that $50 toward this steel shelving I found. That's my plan at this point.

 

[Belly up]

If you do not trust it then by all means get rid of it. It will make a good stand for a reptile or someone who is handy could fix it. The cracks that go through the wood are a concern. Unless you are willing to spend hours rebuilding your stand I would follow through with your plan.

The thing about metal stands is the do not flex with the glass. I had a 120 gal break on me a hour after filling it once. Since then everything goes on 1" of styro. Never had one break since.

 

[Batboi3000]

If you do not trust it then by all means get rid of it. It will make a good stand for a reptile or someone who is handy could fix it. The cracks that go through the wood are a concern. Unless you are willing to spend hours rebuilding your stand I would follow through with your plan.

The thing about metal stands is the do not flex with the glass. I had a 120 gal break on me a hour after filling it once. Since then everything goes on 1" of styro. Never had one break since.

Well that's a little concerning too then with the steel shelving... Did you have more than one tank on it? I have never used steel shelving before as a stand. It's a far cheaper way to go. I know my local fish store wants $259 for another pine stand. Part of me still wouldn't mind trying to build one but I just don't trust my carpentry skills to hold 1000lbs of water and fish.

 

[Belly up]

All I have are the usual two tank stands so I can`t comment on steel shelves other than to say if I was putting tanks on one they would have styro under them.