Aqueon Essence Aquarium Stand, Black

The unit arrived today with a one inch long dent in the top front edge, an obvious crack in the black facing on the front of the unit, and a dent and crack in the side panel. The staples and rear support panel were loose and falling off. The box was fine - this was not a UPS problem. Based on other reviews with similar complaints, it looks Aqueon is re-packaging previously damaged and/or returned units and selling them as new on Amazon. There was also no packing list, receipt or pre-printed return label in the box. It appears that Aqueon is trying to make it as difficult as possible to return this unit. I have purchased many hundreds of items on Amazon over the past three years and my experience overall has been excellent. This is, by far, my worst experience.

This is my first poor review on Amazon but I had to leave it. I didn't read the reviews when I purchased it and I regret it. The item came preassembled, which is not a problem necessarily. The only protection the item had was 8 cardboard triangles to protect the corners. The top shelf inside was broken and had fallen off and couldn't be fixed. The wood has broken where the pegs were. I sent it back immediately.It's a shame because this was a very nice aquarium stand. Good quality, sturdy. My 10g aquarium fit perfectly on it but I had to send it back. Had the wood not been broken, I probably would have just fixed it. However, for $90, I should not be receiving broken items.

Cannot believe how wobbly & rickety this aquarium stand is without my 39 gallon aquarium placed on it. Just placing my hands on each end for sturdiness, sways an inch side to side. I don't dare to even attempt to place my aquarium upon it as I feel it will only be a temporary situation & only a matter of time before it will collapse, crashing & shattering to the floor. And, the backing of the top shelf needed to be reattached as the staples didn't make contact. Possibly shipping was rough but before I'd considered placing an aquarium on top, it will have to be reinforced. I vest too much into my aquariums to risk this. I just had renovations completed in my living room where this stand would look outstanding but unfortunately looks are deceiving. Totally unhappy!

I never write reviews, but this time i was really disappointed. This stand made from the cheapest material possible; it had scratches and dents, staples were coming out, shelves not glued properly. Its not worth $50.00. Cannot be compared to Ikea $10 little end-tables, its much worse. Please do not order this item you will waste your time returning.

I purchased this item to go along w/a 10gal Aqueon aquarium kit I also purchased recently. I received the item two days after ordering (Amazon Prime member) and it was securely packaged. Imagine my surprise when I opened the shipping box to find the stand was sent completely assembled!!! All I had to do was check for any damage, loose bolts, & dust it off. This is definitely an added plus & timesaver for anyone who doesn't like to put things together. Upon further inspection, I found that the stand was also level, no wobble at all. If you have limited space to work with, this stand will do nicely, since it is very compact. The storage areas underneath are adequate enough for my aquarium supplies but since I also have two other larger aquariums 25gal & 40gal w/their own stands, I don't need alot of storage space. I checked around and Amazon had the best pricing. I thought it was still priced a little high for an aquarium stand, but when you consider that it ships assembled, it was well worth the few extra bucks as far as I'm concerned. After setting up my aquarium, I checked and the stand holds the weight well with no instability at all. Perfect! This turned out to be a great purchase for me. I would recommend this item to anyone.

Was looking forward to getting this stand (24" model) so I could put a new 10 Gallon fish tank on it.....Well it arrived today and to my surprise...it's a piece of garbage. I gave it a "1 star" only because it showed up at the door....nothing more. I was not surprised to find it already assembled as I have read that in early reviews. When I took it out of the large box I noticed a dent on the leading top edge of the stand which annoyed me right away then I set it down on my rug and noticed the flimsy and poor construction. The stand wobbles from side to side and the wood is held together by four screws, wooden dowels and staples which fell out on my kitchen floor and in the shipping box. The back panel that was stapled to the stand fell off as I pulled this out of the box. This piece is nothing more than one of those cheap put it together kits you can get at Target or Kmart but at a hefty price.....a rip off in my opinion. I bought this item because I was concerned about the weight of a fish tank and leaving it plugged in. I didn't want to come home to a tipped over tank, dead fish, fire or worse.....However this stand is hardly capable of handling a lamp and a book much less the fish tank weight.....please do not buy...I will look into using a metal rack or a real piece of furniture.

it came broken big crack on top back edge an shelf was broken where pegs on shelf went all the staples on the back were sticking out very poor workmen ship, need to hire some people that want to work an care about it. looks very nice but would never ever buy another I cant see it getting any where in one piece with the little dowels that were used to put the shelf in .needs shelf holders an you install when you get it

I was glad to see this came pre-assembled. What disappointed me was that the person that has to preassemble it must not like their job. I don't blame them, I wouldn't either. The black laminate was pasted on the edges in haste to cover up the pressboard edges. It fits a 10 gallon tank perfectly. I used a sharpie to cover up the areas where the edges of the pressboard showed. There was a little wrinkle in one of the laminate areas on the front but unless you are looking for it, you don't notice.This is our first fish tank. We wanted something simple to support the 80 lbs necessary. This served the purpose for the price but isn't anything more than a utilitarian solution.

I have to say that buying this stand was my worst experience with Amazon so far. Like so many others who purchased this item, mine arrived damaged. One of the sides was completely snapped in half. Seriously, who does business like this in 2019? Amazon were completely unhelpful about returning the item. I told them it wouldn't fit in my car to get it to the post office and they offered to do *absolutely nothing* for me. So I went to Home Depot, bought a shelf and had it cut to the size I'd need to replace both side pieces. So, in my own time and at my own expense I rebuilt the stand and now it's pretty decent. However, even if it hadn't arrived broken I wouldn't have trusted it to hold anything heavier than a printer. Honestly it was the shoddiest, flimsiest piece of furniture I've ever laid eyes on. I reinforced it with many brackets and now it's suitable to hold a fish tank. In short, avoid this product unless you like buying crap and receiving absolutely ZERO support from Amazon after the fact.

Recieved product cracked in half

it is not sturdy at all. needs to be constantly fix, specially the back.