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steel stand


evil_elmo

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I shopped around quite a bit after the September quake and ended up with Cameron at PetWorld. He gave me a great quote on stainless steel and powder coated stands. In the end, his other offer of the recycled Rimu stands were slightly less expensive and a bit stockier (plus they have good wide ledges that prevent the tanks sliding off) so I went that way but the workmanship on those is excellent.

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wow steel isnt cheap :o

iam sure you could buy your own steel from the steel merchant and make the stand it yourself,

i used 50mm square glav for my stand, if you intend to have a black finish you could alway spray coat with gloss paint..

Why go for stainless..

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I talked to a steel worker, one of Alan's friends, and quickly discovered that you shouldn't be messing around with trying to cut costs by getting smaller gauge steel, especially in Christchurch. He could get the steel pretty cheaply but his cost for it was about $500 just for the raw materials and he then had to make it and paint it. This was a tall stand, 4ft wide and 450mm deep.

The heavy duty Rimu stand was less than half the price of the steel and it is really solid. I don't regret it a bit.

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I talked to a steel worker, one of Alan's friends, and quickly discovered that you shouldn't be messing around with trying to cut costs by getting smaller gauge steel, especially in Christchurch. He could get the steel pretty cheaply but his cost for it was about $500 just for the raw materials and he then had to make it and paint it. This was a tall stand, 4ft wide and 450mm deep.

The heavy duty Rimu stand was less than half the price of the steel and it is really solid. I don't regret it a bit.

500 makes me feel better :gigl:

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Im useless at cutting lots of bits of stuff and making it the exact same length :sml2: so i paid someone else to make it for me

i'm the same...i can do it but it since i dont have much experience it always turns out pretty crap

good thing i found someone that knows what he is doing....hehehe

I talked to a steel worker, one of Alan's friends, and quickly discovered that you shouldn't be messing around with trying to cut costs by getting smaller gauge steel, especially in Christchurch. He could get the steel pretty cheaply but his cost for it was about $500 just for the raw materials and he then had to make it and paint it. This was a tall stand, 4ft wide and 450mm deep.

The heavy duty Rimu stand was less than half the price of the steel and it is really solid. I don't regret it a bit.

i was given the same advise when i was on the search....most of them said that smaller gauge steel is no good for chch due to the earthquakes and that steels doesnt flex which will crack the welds and that i'm much better off with a wooden stand

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If you are buying box section the cheaper stuff is thinner walled and in the quakes I have seen a number of these fail. Usually the legs buckle and the whole thing falls over. When I got mine built for the fish house I used Heavy guage 50 x about 40 I think, then got it hot dip galvenised. Have a talk to Cameron at pet world. I think stainless is more expensive than you need. He also uses an insulating material that has slip resistance and a lip to stop the tank from sliding. He was setting up planted and marine tanks when I was there yesterday.

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  • 2 weeks later...
my steel stand cost about $1100 inc powder coating, it was 200 long by 75 high by 90 wide

I think that's a pretty good price given it was delivered finished and you had to do nothing but pay for it.

I've made a steel frame myself for around $100 by collecting the steel I needed from the scrap metal yard. It took a while to get what I needed as I had to wait for suitably sized striaght sections to turn up. This cost $70 for a 2.4m x 0.6m x 0.9m stand made from 75x75x6 RHS. I estimated approx $30 of MIG wire and gas. It took 3 days to cut and weld and it didn't get painted.

If the steel for your stand bought new was approx $500 then the $600 labour and powder coating component is very good given the time taken to make something like this.

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my steel stand cost about $1100 inc powder coating, it was 200 long by 75 high by 90 wide

Wow ripped off!

2.2mx50cmx3 tares, 30ml sqaure tube 3ml thick and a 1.2m x 3 tare of the same for my old fishroom, pre cut, picked up, taken to palmy, welded together at the farm. all in all including blue powder coat and petrol just over $300

Having said that, i did have a lot of hook ups at that time, trade steel from chris downs before he started working at the pet centre.

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I had no need to be thrifty, the money came from an insurance payout on my old tank which i only paid $400 for, and got $2800 from insurance.

Very well made stand with reinforcement in the middle (the whole lenght) so I'm happy.

p.s anything made/bought through a business will almost always cost more than what it would if you did it yourself or through "hook ups" due to GST and profit margin.

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p.s anything made/bought through a business will almost always cost more than what it would if you did it yourself or through "hook ups" due to GST and profit margin.

It does pay to know people in the trade, this usualy means you get it cheaper.

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IMO steel is the way to go. wood does look good but its more expensive for wood if its for a big tank i reckon, a nice wood stand, polished and everything is more.

mys tand cost me 800 from Rex Engineering in Glenfield - its 2100 byu 830 and quite tall even.

Call them, im sure they can ship for cheap! maybe:D

theya re precise too, engineering firm you see.

New Tank phil?

I know, you are getting an XB!!!??

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IMO steel is the way to go. wood does look good but its more expensive for wood if its for a big tank i reckon, a nice wood stand, polished and everything is more.

mys tand cost me 800 from Rex Engineering in Glenfield - its 2100 byu 830 and quite tall even.

Call them, im sure they can ship for cheap! maybe:D

theya re precise too, engineering firm you see.

New Tank phil?

I know, you are getting an XB!!!??

lol no XB....just had to replace a mdf stand, water damaged from the earthquakes

R32GOTMLK built me a lovely timber stand....highly recommended :happy1:

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