Any floor protection under a team tank?

[richiev]

Red Sea Reefer 500. We just got new LVP flooring installed. The subfloor turned out to be wood planks (that part of the house is probably from 1950).

Installer suggested before putting the stand back in place I put something under the feet to help with support, such as some plywood. The tank is perpendicular to the direction the boards run.

I didn't have anything they under it before, but given how much flooring costs I'm debating. I could stick a piece of plywood under. If I did, I'd cut it small enough so it wouldn't stick out from under the stand, and be the width of the feet + a bit.

Thoughts? If I went this way, any suggestion on wood thickness?

The other thing I'd like to do is do something to reduce the risk of water getting under the stand. Whenever I spill it almost without question goes under the stand, and it's a huge PITA trying to push the corner of towels under. Putting something under would reduce the chances of water getting to unreachable spots, but increase the chance water gets under that board and is sitting there molding or otherwise causing issues. Another middle ground for that could be to just put squares of wood under each foot, spreading the weight a bit more. That seems complicated though

 

[richiev]

Updated thought if I do this, I'd probably instead either buy tiles, or just keep some offcuts of the planks we have. Tile would be hard and help spread load. LVP would help avoid there being indentations from the stand feet and to a very minor load spread. Both would be waterproof.

 

[finalphaze987]

I went down this rabbithole with my contractor after telling him I needed the corner of my room to support around a ton. Dude looked at me crazy and ended up bringing in a structural engineer to map things out for us. I ended up with a metal plate and an eternally cold floor in my tank area during the winter.

Rather than putting it on wood blocks, would ypu be opposed to putting your current stand on a frame of aluminum extrusion? You'd be able to elevate your stand to deal with spills easily.

You wouldn't need casters, but they do have leveling feet like the ones on my extension box that can elevate it slightly. With LVP, you don't have to worry about denting or scratching luckily, and although it holds up well against water, I'd imagine you'd want to be able to dry it to avoid mold.

 

[finalphaze987]

Just the section pictured.

 

[Galoot]

Updated thought if I do this, I'd probably instead either buy tiles, or just keep some offcuts of the planks we have. Tile would be hard and help spread load. LVP would help avoid there being indentations from the stand feet and to a very minor load spread. Both would be waterproof.

This is the better solution. Plywood will take on any water, LVP planks will not. Make a simple frame the matches the footprint of the stand. The weight will be distributed out from the frame to the floor. And denting from the weight of the feet will happen to the frame and not your floor beneath.