75g stand

[tetrin]

i was planning on a 40g long tank. but my lfs just got a 75g on display and i caved. its just so biiig....
however, being on a student budget, i got the cheapest stand i could find - an iron stand. but it had a definite bowing along its length. so the tank is not supported along its longer edges, but only on the shorter ones. so, i'm going to return it.

now comes the problem. i don't trust the pb stands. so the next cheapest (which is not really cheap) option is the pine stand ($180 at my lfs). but i saw this stand at bigals for $132 with shipping -
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=31167;category_id=2167;pcid1=2253;pcid2=

so should i get this instead? i'm not good with DIY, so that's out of question. TIA.

 

[severum mama]

That link looks like a pressboard stand to me, but of course it is hard to tell from the pic. :? If you have the $$$ to spend, I would personally go with the pine stand from your LFS. It's nice to be able to see exactly what you are getting, anyway. Congrats on the 75g BTW- I am so jealous! Did you get a good deal?

 

[tetrin]

wow...you were right severum...it is particle board...
this is the reply i got from them -

The stands are made of particle board. Actually, I think all of our stand
products (with the exception of the metal tubular ones of course) are
particle board,


Chris
Customer Service Supervisor
Big Al's Online
1 888 824 4257

so i guess i'll order the pine stand. they are costly!
there was a deal actually with the whole setup (excluding stand) for $300. but i didn't want others deciding what equipment i'm going to use, so i bought just the tank.

 

[severum mama]

Oh, of course. Most of the kits I've seen come with pretty crappy equipment. I would much rather choose my own.

BTW as the proud owner of a particle board stand, I guess I know 'em when I see 'em. And if it makes you feel any better, my particle board stand for my 55 gallon was $170 at Petsmart. 8O

 

[mrcrazypants05]

heh The particle board stand Petsmart had for their 125 gallon tanks they wanted $340 for it. Of course when I got my 125gallon they wanted the stand out of there and I got it for $25 If I was gonna pay the money I'd probably get a nice wood and build one myself, or get one thats steel.

 

[tetrin]

i didn't see much of a difference between the prices of a pb stand($150) and a pine stand($180) at my lfs. at my local petco, the prices are higher than the lfs.
so i finally went with the pine stand as severum suggested before. it seemed a small amount of money to pay for the added peace of mind.

 

[severum mama]

I'm sure it looks great too! What will you be keeping in your 75 gallon? I am going to guess African cichlids BTW.

 

[tetrin]

i really don't mind how it looks. there's no one to bug me about decor... .

and you are right again on the cichlids part. it's going to be a malawi tank. haven't decided whether mbuna or non-mbuna yet. there's a lot of reading to do...