Quote:
Originally Posted by Basile
Please don't tell me that i'm putting a few thousand into this project lol ; its my semi retirement gift to myself, something to tinker , and old passion of my youths...lol 
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Ha, ok, we'll tell you you aren't going to put anew thousand into the tank... You'll come back to us later and tell us you did. It's inevitable

I've learned to just stop counting (and I'm a poor, frugal student). It's a hobby that I really enjoy, so I've stopped caring about the cost as much.
I'll echo what others have said: as long as you've coated the stand with a decent waterproof paint, you're good to good for a long time. At work I conduct experiments with fairly caustic solution (2.2M sodium carbonate) that pretty much insta-rusts steel and I get spills constantly. My whole experimental apparatus is mounted to a steel frame stand. I painted it with blue Krylon paint and 4.5 years later, no rust.