Cali Kid Corals

Vinyl Wrap a Stand or Paint over Finish?

Rostato

Rostato

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I’m looking at potentially upgrading my tank. But the tank I want to buy comes with a marine grade white stand over high density MDF...kinda like the Red Sea and Waterbox tanks.

I’m trying to look around but can’t seem to find any reliable information.

Can I lightly sand and paint over the very thick epoxy like finish?

Or is it possible to wrap the whole stand in a vinyl that matches the decor of my home? If so where the heck would I go to find someone who can do this?
 
That’s kind of funny; you said high density MDF. MDF stands for medium density fiberboard, so that would be high density medium density fiber board.

The white on the outside of the rsr stands is melamine. It’s a good durable material but if water gets to the core of the plywood it will swell up and ruin its structural integrity.

The only plywood I use on my stands are ones with a veneer core. I’ve heard of people using MDO but I’ve personally never tried it. This is an application where solid wood is probably best.
 
I consider MDF stands to be time bombs, so I vote that any effort in to one is throwing good money after bad. If you insist on doing that I would try to paint a small area first. If that fails then I would ask the places that do wraps on cars. Be aware that the vinyl car wrap does get tears somewhat easily.
 
The stand is in pretty good shape. Just ugly white, and does not match my home at all. I’m aware of the pitfalls of mdf. But if protected properly it’s just fine, and stronger than real wood.

I’m just very budget oriented and would hate to throw away a perfectly useable stand just because it’s ugly or not the right color.
 
melamine tends to not let stuff stick to it, so you'll probably need a good aggressive primer to bond to that, and then you can paint to that, although I'd test an inconspicuous part of the stand first as I've never tried to paint melamine.

I really wouldn't try to sand it down, you're not getting toe melamine off, and if you sand it allow stuff to stick better chances are it'll have some texture that's always visible in the surface.

I know they do have glue that sticks to melamine because they have edge banding and obviously that has glue to it. So vinyl wrap might be an option if you can break the stand down into individual flat pieces.
 
Rostato said:
The stand is in pretty good shape. Just ugly white, and does not match my home at all. I’m aware of the pitfalls of mdf. But if protected properly it’s just fine, and stronger than real wood.

I’m just very budget oriented and would hate to throw away a perfectly useable stand just because it’s ugly or not the right color.
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Plywood can be stronger than standard boards, but I'm not sure how you get MDF or even OSB for that matter as stronger. That said, I can understand using the stand if it's in good shape, just keep an eye on its seams and edges every now and then.
 
I asked this question a long time ago. I never tried it, so cannot speak to whether it works, but I was pointed towards this solution:

User Zinsser Bullseye 123 primer: 1 coat plus another spot coat
Paint 2 coats of your color
Seal with Minwax Polycrylic clear coat

I will echo others on MDF vs wood. My Red Sea MDF stand looked pretty bad after a few years. I would not even resell it as I was worried it would fail.
 
MDF is a bit weak, and fails if it gets wet. In my opinion, it should not be allowed around tanks.
Not just spills, but the high humidity, especially in sump area.

But if you must ....
Several coats of exterior grade paint will generally seal it.
A nice two part epoxy would be better.
You can also put a 1/8 sheet of acrylic or PVC between tank and stand.
 
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