scolley
10/16/2011, 08:38 PM
I recently purchased, finished, and assembled a Mr Aqua 24" x 18" stand for a 33g Mr Aqua tank. Their low price point is very compelling. I found some information on Mr. Aqua stands here on RC before I purchased - but not enough. So I thought I would share my findings to assist others in deciding if they want one too.
SUMMARY
The Good
Fits the Mr. Aqua tanks well
Nice minimalist look
The Bad
Requires extensive sanding
Requires staining and finishing
May not ship with all the required hardware
Joints do not line up well if you use the supplied connectors
THE DETAIL
These stands are unfinished, as the vendor states. But to look presentable they'll need more than just stain. They are supposed to be ready for staining. But they are not - mine needed serious sanding, in some places more than others. You'll need a small, electric, hand sander, or a lot of time and elbow grease. Get yourself some wood putty too.
As the vendor states, the wood is Elm, which is a soft wood. You can easily score this stuff with your fingernail. So you don't want to put this anywhere where it's going to get banged into, as it will ding pretty easily. Though I guess that's a moot point, since banging into aquarium stands is generally a bad idea anyway.
The panels themselves are not furniture grade unfinished parts. They are assembled out of parallel strips of wood, with small finger joining where the skinny ends abut. When you stain them the various pieces can take stain at dramatically different rates, and the finger joints show up big time. Also, the wood has spots where imperfections have been filled in with putty. Mine had quite a few imperfections that still needed filling in, with holes at least as large as 1/16" wide. However, mine were all on the inside of the stand, so I didn't bother filling them.
The outsides of the six panels that make up the stand needed heavy sanding. And the panels varied in the degree to which they come pre-sanded. I spent a couple hours of sanding with an small electric sander. Made a huge difference.
If you are looking for one of these to have a reasonably uniform color (like most furnature), plan on using a very dark stain. Or paint. I tested with light stains, and the imperfections and uneven soaking of the stain, plus the prominently showing finger jointing all combined to look pretty bad.
I started by covering the wood with a coat of Minwax oil based wood conditioner to help even out the stain and diminish the finger joints. Using that made a big difference in my test patches for dark stains, less so with light stains. I followed that with two heavy coats of Zar Rosewood oil stain. Then I finished with two coats of satin finish oil based polyurethane. And it came out OK. Not as nice as a piece of quality furniture, but approaching a furniture finish.
The stand is assembled with IKEA like furniture connectors. And it comes with some light weight, Chinese made, door hinges humorously labeled as "Europe Hinge". I guess they meant "European Hinges", whatever that might be. The door had pre-drilled hole where the hinges attach, but the stand did not. And since the door is the width of the front, nesting under the top and over the bottom panels, getting an even and level gap between the door and the top and the door at the bottom, took a little work. It was doable, but if you are not "handy", you might find it a bit of challenge. Most stand doors go sit outside of the cabinet, which makes it easier. This one nests inside of the overhanging top lip and the bottom lip, adding a little challenge to getting it right. Not a lot of room for error, though the hinges do have screw type fine tuning adjustments for getting the door lined up right, assuming it was pretty close in the first place.
As far as fit and finish goes, the edges do not remotely line up. Since I gave mine a very dark stain it's less noticeable. And the stand and tank are going into a dimly lit of my home, so it will likely go unnoticed. The poor alignment is caused by inaccurate placement of the holes used by the connectors. If I were going to use one of these stands as a freestanding showpiece, it would mean abandoning the use of the connectors, and connecting top, bottom, back and side panels together some other way. I used the connectors. But I broke one in the process (really cheap metal). And not only were there no extras, they did not include enough in the kit if I had broken none. Of the 18 connection points in my stand, two are not connected. So I'll have to shore those points up with L brackets once the stand is weighted and compressed with a partial tank of water.
The weight of the tank is supported by three vertical pieces, the two sides and the back. The top sits on those, distributing the tank weight. The wood is roughtly 3/8" thick, and appears sturdy enough to support the weight. Though with the connectors, and the less than perfect fit of the pieces, I suspect making the stand level is going to be critical. I'm sure it can support the tank, as long as all the weight is pushing down on perfectly vertical sides. Accurate shimming is going to be a must.
Once complete, I'd rung up some additional costs. Between the pre-stain, stain, polyurethane (2 cans), a china bristle paint brush, kerosene (to clean brush), and sandpaper, I think I put another $70 or more. Then you've got to consider the 10+ hours for finishing, spread out over a week's time.
If you are the type of hobbyist that puts tanks on cinder blocks and boards, this is a great inexpensive upgrade. But if you are looking for a piece of furniture, you'll be disappointed with this stand. That said, I love the minimalist look - it goes well with at rimless tank. And if you spend a lot of time finishing it with a dark stain (as I did), and abandoned the supplied connectors and used some other technique to join the panels, you'd have a pretty nice looking stand.
For what this stand costs, I'm happy with what I was able to make of it. But it did require a lot of work to get it remotely presentable.
SUMMARY
The Good
Fits the Mr. Aqua tanks well
Nice minimalist look
The Bad
Requires extensive sanding
Requires staining and finishing
May not ship with all the required hardware
Joints do not line up well if you use the supplied connectors
THE DETAIL
These stands are unfinished, as the vendor states. But to look presentable they'll need more than just stain. They are supposed to be ready for staining. But they are not - mine needed serious sanding, in some places more than others. You'll need a small, electric, hand sander, or a lot of time and elbow grease. Get yourself some wood putty too.
As the vendor states, the wood is Elm, which is a soft wood. You can easily score this stuff with your fingernail. So you don't want to put this anywhere where it's going to get banged into, as it will ding pretty easily. Though I guess that's a moot point, since banging into aquarium stands is generally a bad idea anyway.
The panels themselves are not furniture grade unfinished parts. They are assembled out of parallel strips of wood, with small finger joining where the skinny ends abut. When you stain them the various pieces can take stain at dramatically different rates, and the finger joints show up big time. Also, the wood has spots where imperfections have been filled in with putty. Mine had quite a few imperfections that still needed filling in, with holes at least as large as 1/16" wide. However, mine were all on the inside of the stand, so I didn't bother filling them.
The outsides of the six panels that make up the stand needed heavy sanding. And the panels varied in the degree to which they come pre-sanded. I spent a couple hours of sanding with an small electric sander. Made a huge difference.
If you are looking for one of these to have a reasonably uniform color (like most furnature), plan on using a very dark stain. Or paint. I tested with light stains, and the imperfections and uneven soaking of the stain, plus the prominently showing finger jointing all combined to look pretty bad.
I started by covering the wood with a coat of Minwax oil based wood conditioner to help even out the stain and diminish the finger joints. Using that made a big difference in my test patches for dark stains, less so with light stains. I followed that with two heavy coats of Zar Rosewood oil stain. Then I finished with two coats of satin finish oil based polyurethane. And it came out OK. Not as nice as a piece of quality furniture, but approaching a furniture finish.
The stand is assembled with IKEA like furniture connectors. And it comes with some light weight, Chinese made, door hinges humorously labeled as "Europe Hinge". I guess they meant "European Hinges", whatever that might be. The door had pre-drilled hole where the hinges attach, but the stand did not. And since the door is the width of the front, nesting under the top and over the bottom panels, getting an even and level gap between the door and the top and the door at the bottom, took a little work. It was doable, but if you are not "handy", you might find it a bit of challenge. Most stand doors go sit outside of the cabinet, which makes it easier. This one nests inside of the overhanging top lip and the bottom lip, adding a little challenge to getting it right. Not a lot of room for error, though the hinges do have screw type fine tuning adjustments for getting the door lined up right, assuming it was pretty close in the first place.
As far as fit and finish goes, the edges do not remotely line up. Since I gave mine a very dark stain it's less noticeable. And the stand and tank are going into a dimly lit of my home, so it will likely go unnoticed. The poor alignment is caused by inaccurate placement of the holes used by the connectors. If I were going to use one of these stands as a freestanding showpiece, it would mean abandoning the use of the connectors, and connecting top, bottom, back and side panels together some other way. I used the connectors. But I broke one in the process (really cheap metal). And not only were there no extras, they did not include enough in the kit if I had broken none. Of the 18 connection points in my stand, two are not connected. So I'll have to shore those points up with L brackets once the stand is weighted and compressed with a partial tank of water.
The weight of the tank is supported by three vertical pieces, the two sides and the back. The top sits on those, distributing the tank weight. The wood is roughtly 3/8" thick, and appears sturdy enough to support the weight. Though with the connectors, and the less than perfect fit of the pieces, I suspect making the stand level is going to be critical. I'm sure it can support the tank, as long as all the weight is pushing down on perfectly vertical sides. Accurate shimming is going to be a must.
Once complete, I'd rung up some additional costs. Between the pre-stain, stain, polyurethane (2 cans), a china bristle paint brush, kerosene (to clean brush), and sandpaper, I think I put another $70 or more. Then you've got to consider the 10+ hours for finishing, spread out over a week's time.
If you are the type of hobbyist that puts tanks on cinder blocks and boards, this is a great inexpensive upgrade. But if you are looking for a piece of furniture, you'll be disappointed with this stand. That said, I love the minimalist look - it goes well with at rimless tank. And if you spend a lot of time finishing it with a dark stain (as I did), and abandoned the supplied connectors and used some other technique to join the panels, you'd have a pretty nice looking stand.
For what this stand costs, I'm happy with what I was able to make of it. But it did require a lot of work to get it remotely presentable.