Water damage on used tank cabinet- is it best to buy a new one or overreacting?

[timhowe93]

Hi everyone. New here. New to buying fish tanks. Picked up a second hand 190 litre corner tank, stand included. Made the mistake of not checking the stand until I got home. Tank itself seems ok, and was being drained etc when I arrived to pick it up. The 2nd and 3rd image show the water damage which is around the bottom of the stand. Can't see it anywhere else. There's an external filter inside of the cabinet so likely it came from there. Underneath, the base had black mould on it, which I've mostly got rid of. Also a concern. The 1st image shows that it's likely made of chipboard? Worried that the integrity has gotten worse, and am paranoid that it'll just crumble when I'm not around. I live in a 2nd floor apartment building so I would not like 190 litres of water soaking through the floor..

Think it's just best to get a new one? Or is there a way of fixing this?

Thanks

 

[Grizleyguy]

Depends if it's real plywood or particle wood. If particle wood then I wouldn't trust it. If it's plywood Take a screwdriver and stab at the worse water damage spots. If the screwdriver don't go through the wood that means ur wood is still good. Just sand and paint to cover the water damage

 

[lnsaneM]

Not sure if stabbing it is gonna do any good. But you could probably try to reinforce the whole supporting structure it with some plywood before using it

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

When in doubt, throw it out...

 

[timhowe93]

Depends if it's real plywood or particle wood. If particle wood then I wouldn't trust it. If it's plywood Take a screwdriver and stab at the worse water damage spots. If the screwdriver don't go through the wood that means ur wood is still good. Just sand and paint to cover the water damage

Took a few stabs, made a good dent but didn't go all the way through. Is this what you meant?

 

[Grizleyguy]

Yes if the screwdriver made good dents then I would throw it out

 

[timhowe93]

Yes if the screwdriver made good dents then I would throw it out

No problem thanks for the advice. I got ripped off big time but hey it's a lesson learned.

 

[GaryE]

Presswood is really shortlived under aquariums. I don't know who thought that was clever as a material for tanks, but there are a lot of stands out there I would run away from.

 

[Fishmanic]

Presswood is really shortlived under aquariums. I don't know who thought that was clever as a material for tanks, but there are a lot of stands out there I would run away from.

It's all about the benjamins....the makers of stands wants to put out a product as cheaply as possible to feed their bottom line. A plywood or solid wood stand would be very expensive unless you build your own.