HEY GUYS,NEW QUESTION FOR THE DIY COMMUNITY.....IF YOU GUYS USE WOOD FOR ALMOST EVERY PART OF YOUR TANKS...DO TERMITES EVER SHOW UP?...LIKE WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO A WOODEN TANK FRAME IN LIKE 5-10 YEARS?SO WHY NOT USE METAL?ITS PROBABLY STRONGER THAN THE WOOD,ITS PROBABLY GONNA LAST LONGER THAN THE WOOD...SO WHY USE WOOD?IS IT CHEAPER?OR..IS IT JUST THE BEST MATERIAL TO USE?
WHY USE WOOD?WHY NOT METAL?
- Thread starter harvs95
- Start date
well for one.. wood is easy to get and make and shape to what u need...
metal on the other hand.. if u dont know welding.... thats gonna be a problem.... and secondly.. metal is harder to obtain.. and they dont sell them like they do with wood...
metal isn't as durable as u think too... they can rust very easily.. and with fish tank water.. u dont really want that to happen..
also there are paints out there available to prevent terminate problems..... and its most likely cheaper to build a stand out of wood than with metal..
metal on the other hand.. if u dont know welding.... thats gonna be a problem.... and secondly.. metal is harder to obtain.. and they dont sell them like they do with wood...
metal isn't as durable as u think too... they can rust very easily.. and with fish tank water.. u dont really want that to happen..
also there are paints out there available to prevent terminate problems..... and its most likely cheaper to build a stand out of wood than with metal..
i would say wood is easier to level, its pretty hard to make a metal stand. my dad does have welding equipment since he repairs old cars and other machines. but you cant really just start metal working that easily, you need special blades to cut it, your gonna want to have a sander as you need to sand down the welds. i would be pretty worried that i dont weld the stand right and the weight of the tank would cause it to bend. i would want to have more expierence metal working before i put hundreds of dollars and pounds of water on a stand i made my first go. personally unless your good at it i think it would look like crap.
also theres a rusting issue, stainless steel would last along time but will eventually rust. if theres salt involved in your tank i would skip the metal definitely.
btw if find your stand has termites, i would be very worried not just about the tank but about your house, i would contact a exterminator asap
also theres a rusting issue, stainless steel would last along time but will eventually rust. if theres salt involved in your tank i would skip the metal definitely.
btw if find your stand has termites, i would be very worried not just about the tank but about your house, i would contact a exterminator asap
A nice wood stand looks like a piece of furniture, and even the nicest metal stand would still look like work bench.
In the U.S. wood is easy to come by. Steel is too if you know where to go and have some "skills". In the Philippines I think it is just the opposite! Steel is easy to come by and wood is not so easy to come by in sizes big enough to make a beefy stand. I never did see a lumber yard when I was in the Philippines, but saw many a welding shop!
I built a tank stand out of wood and one out of metal. personally I like the metal one better its alot stronger and yet gives me alot more room under the tank. I basically built it for $60 in materials and a bottle of whiskey. if I where to have built it out of wood I would have had to build it to be taken apart if I wanted to move it later and would have had to build it in place. the stand is 42"H X 6'L X 3'W it has no center bracing so its totally open underneath the legth of the stand. I trust metal more then wood personally but for the tank when I build one the tank will be wood with a metal stand.