How do those Iron Stands hold up??

[number1sixerfan]

How do the cast iron metal stands hold up? They are almost as expensive as the wooden ones, but the wooden ones look so cheap to me I guess. And I can't fit it in my car. lol

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444180 9318&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030055&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1173363650740&itemNo=1&In=Fish&N=2030055&Ne=2

The tank is a 55g.

Thanks!

[J double R]

the iron stands hold up just as well as the wooden ones, provided theyre actually made for a tank, as the one in your link is. i prefer wooden stands, though.

[number1sixerfan]

Thanks. I don't know which I should get. I already have an oak stand in my living room, I just wanted something different for the bedroom.

Anyone else's opinion?

[johndumas]

I have 3 angle iron stands each one with a 45 on the top and a 30 below.
the angle iron is over an inch and 1/8 inch thick, I have seen some new, much more lightly constructed ones, I do not know how much I would trust them.

[johndumas]

On the other hand, all my wooden stands now have 4 2x4s i have inserted inside to the floor and placed 3/4 plywood on top creating a superstructure.

[Shocker6966]

The "iron" stands you want to stay away from are the thin walled square tube cheapies. 2 things, one - wrought iron hasn't actually been iron for at least a century. It dropped out of sight with the blacksmithing trade because iron is hard on machines and is tragically difficult to weld because it isn't homogeneous and heats and cools at different rates causing cracking. This info has no bearing on the performance of a stand, just interesting info. Second bit of info - the thin walled square tube frames, although they will support the weight of your tank, will fall victim to corrosion more quickly than a solid bar would. Also, if you get a chance to look at them closely, the quality of the welds that hold them together tend to be questionable at best. Bad welds are porous as hell which traps moisture from the air inside the welds which several years down the road can lead to spontaneous failure of the weld.

Primary indicator in any case is the "you get what you paid for" rule. If you have the option of buying several iron stands for your tank ranging from $50 to $250, then logic tells you that a few corners were cut in the production of the $50.

[jagarundi]

How do the cast iron metal stands hold up? They are almost as expensive as the wooden ones, but the wooden ones look so cheap to me I guess. And I can't fit it in my car. lol

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444180 9318&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030055&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1173363650740&itemNo=1&In=Fish&N=2030055&Ne=2

The tank is a 55g.

Thanks!

If you can spare a couple of hours on a Saturday, you can build your own wooden stand for less than $30 bucks. It took me 2 weekends to build my first stand and 2 hours to build my last. I'll never go back to buying stands from the LFS again. There are plenty of plans on this site if you do a search.