Tank stand.

[Seth72]

Originally Posted by reefwars

unfortunately it doesnt work like that , from a business point of view theres alot more to consider like building maintanance,taxes,employees,merchandise,customer satisfaction,sueings,borders,shipping fees,building lease fees,etc. and the list is endless, all these have to be paid for from their products or services.ill admit i wish it was cheaper and some things seem way overpriced but as a customer i look at getting a deal, but as a business owner i look beyond what i see and whats in the bigger picture youd be surprised at how often an lfs will try to help you out regardless of how much money you have its the continuous business they want , well the good ones anyways try to buy from local reefers but remember this stuff doesnt grow here and it couldnt hurt to support your local fish store if there was ever a major problem you would be wise to have some friends in the business

Fair enough,but i have no doubt that the local stores will make plenty from me,but i also like to support my local electronics store and my local bank... Im just saying that some of the stands ive seen for sale,have been for sale for a very long time....there is a good reason for that.

[reefwars]

it sucks that its so expensive but its not just aquariums that are like it , its hobbies in general my friend is huge into biking paid over 10,000 for his bike ,a hobby of mine is music and that gets pricey too. any hobby is pretty much expensive and for the most part the local business just get by some go under. its always nice to find that special deal or great buy but its not always there so we jump on it when we can and spend for it when we have to it keeps everything balanced....the stores get a profit and we keep finding different deals etc. another good side note is eventually your tank will be filled(if its not already) and youll be looking for trades and the deals will find you you may even give it away for nothin, i bet the majority of reefers around here have given things away for nothing due to size etc. i know i have

[reefwars]

and the stand i would think is there to show what they can build if you liked kind of give people an idea of what is out there or what they would need or it could be plain ol lack of business.personally i agree that stands have a high price of labour in them for what they are and if you were half good its not that hard to do for a basic finished stand, custom stands need a little more tlc and you could go high end which is where youll see a big jump in price

[ReefOcean]

High end being made of actual hardwood...no not Poplar... (but 40 times more expensive than the actual board foot market price because NOTHING except Bentley dash boards are made from real solid hardwood anymore.

[reefwars]

sorry seth if we hi jacked this thread its not hard to wander and stray lol

[reefwars]

personally coming from a carpenter if you build a stand from pressboard your wasting your money i cant believe it sells ive seen pressboard soak up water and swell to 3x its origional width ...garbage, if it gets dented then wet swells ..garbage lol i hate it, my stand is made completely from maple and pine all done customly by my self just not finished as i rarely finish my own projects lol

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by reefwars

my stand is made completely from maple and pine all done customly by my self just not finished as i rarely finish my own projects lol

thats an interesting combanation, are both wood visible? or did you use pine for the hidden stuff?

Steve

[The Grizz]

I used birch to make the top and doors on my steel stand and then use a stain with varathane, nice wood grain patterns and nice to work with for a welder.

I priced it out to build all quality wood or steel with wood skins and if you have seen my thread you know which way I went.

[reefwars]

the pine is hidden as it is very soft and its in a high traffic area plus its cheap and easy to use everything else is in maple then stained very dark im going for an antique look with matching trim going up the corners on all sides then canopy all trimmmed out with a very decorative trim its actually crown moulding im just gonna customize it a bit. its not cheap though the stand is being done in four stages the first stage set me back 700 and that was just skirting and framing .the second stage was trim the skirting and prep and stain the trim was another 300 plus cost of stain,clear coat etc. did it all in a few hours though so im in to it a 1000 bucks but i dont have a crap quick mix stand now i just got to finish it lately theres been no ambition as the bottom half looks done the next step is to finish my corner pieces that ill pre stain then ill do the grusome task of making the canopy which im not quite sure yet as i may change my light set up

[The Grizz]

WOW that should look sweet reefwars.