Refinishing/Reinforcing a Name Brand Built Stand

[cprings]

Hello all. I am currently looking into purchasing a 200+ gallon tank. My intent is to purchase a tank (preferably used) and then build the stand and canopy. I recently came across a 7' tank that comes with a blank stand. The seller will not sell the tank separately. It looks like the generic black, pine stands that come with most setups. My concerns are that it won't be strong enough or at least to my standards and I do not want a black stand. All my tanks are in my bar room and family room. I do not have a fish room so I need to make them look damn good for my wife to approve =) Plan was to do a white beadboard stand and canopy like the one pictured here that I just built for a 5' 120 gallon:


Does anyone have experience reinforcing these generic stands with 2x4's and/or refinishing them to look niceR? Any suggestions, build threads, experiences, etc. are greatly appeciated! Thanks!

 

[xraycer]

You could just purchase the set-up, resell the stand, and then build your diy stand.

 

[cprings]

You could just purchase the set-up, resell the stand, and then build your diy stand.

I have considered this but I don't have a ton of room in the garage to store the stand while building another. Just hoping someone has some experience with this or has done this successfully in the past. Thanks for the response.

 

[xraycer]

You're going to need to post pictures of the stand from various angles including the insides, since not all commercial stands have the same design