Cali Kid Corals

Anyone have their tank on a hardwood floor?

Gonzo

Gonzo

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My new place is all hardwood floors. I've never had a 90 gallon tank on hardwood floor, and I'd rather not mess something up if at all avoidable.

Does anyone have any experience with their tank on a hardwood floor? Anything I should do differently when setting it up vs normal carpet setup? Lay a rug underneath to avoid imprinting the floor? Layer of plastic?

Thanks all!
 
Used to, I was not very careful, lots of water on it for various reasons ruined some good oak boards that were made back in the day when a 1" board was actually 1 inch thick.

But +1 to what Jeremy says, plastic would more than likely become problematic if water some how gets under it, then it'll just sit there and rot the wood.

Also you have to be ultra diligent on spills of any kind even a couple drops from your hand after doing something in the tank. A little salt water on a nail, causes it to rust, expands, poof new board needed if you're renting :D

Depending upon the flooring you could put a dent in it over the long haul, if its engineered (compressed) wood not so much, actual solid hardwood probably.. wouldn't even want to try it on Pergo or other laminants
 
I like using Dri-Dek.

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/04/28/dridek-rubber-matting-save-carpet-hardwood-possibly-marriage/
 
Matt_Wandell said:
I like using Dri-Dek.

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/04/28/dridek-rubber-matting-save-carpet-hardwood-possibly-marriage/
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YES.

Both my home systems are on wood. I deal with it by knowing that I'll have to get some repair/refinish work done if the tanks ever move. IMO, trying to minimize the damage makes more sense than trying to make it not happen - because its going to on any long term tank. :D
 
I had one spill that caused the floor in my older condo kitchen to lift. Had to have it repaired. Very thin, flimsy floor and cheap, lousy sub-floor.
 
This post from that site made me think I should pick up some rubber flooring (http://www.rubberflooringinc.com/) instead:

The big thing I’d be concerned about is the micro-beveled edges and ends. Those are spots where water can stand and get into the wood underneath the coating. If it is particleboard or MDF the stuff will swell and won’t go back down once it’s dry. Hardwood will swell but to a lesser extent. Bottom line is that you’ll have water problems putting a tank over this w/o protecting your floor. I’d suggest either not putting your tank over this stuff or using something like @Fraggle used.

FYI I actually had a tank over the old traditional hardwood floor (7/8″ solid oak, sanded and finished with an oil-based varnish) for ~2 yrs and after I moved it, I had water-stains all around my tank and I thought I had done a very good job of keeping it dry too! I ended up having to sand the whole floor, bleach the water spots with wood bleach, and then recoat the entire floor. It was *not* fun. I’ll never put a tank on top of a hardwood floor again — not without protecting it to the Nth degree.
 
Is it oak? Oak is one of the worst when it gets wet.
My pre-finished Brazilian cherry engineered floor was under the tank stand for years.
I had quite a few spills and tried to clean them as best as I could when they happened. I would use newspaper and tuck it next to the stand to wick out the standing water.
There was some minor discoloration but not bad enough to sand it down or anything.
The sun did more damage to the floor in another area than the tank did.
 
Didn't know about Dry-Dek when I just re-setup my tank (doh!) but I used some rubber mesh type sticky pads I found @ Lowe's that are made to be slapped on to furniture as feet. Ran it for most of the structurally important parts on the bottom of my stand (built it myself so I know where the pressure is). And this is all on some sort of tongue-groove flooring. Had an issue with a leak and some staining previously, but after a good wash/scrub and drying it basically disappeared. Now there's about a 1/16-1/8 gap between the bottom of my stand to the floor where I can easily slide in something absorbent. Also built it so that if I add a fan in one certain spot, it will pull air from behind the stand, through the entire under-stand area (or push it) to help with drying.
 
I just put my 50g on the 3/4in solid brazilian cherry. I wanted to have some layer between the stand and the floor but decides not to. Impossible to get water out of there. Just need to clean water as soon as a spill happens.
 
Thanks for all the replies, guys. I think I'm gonna go "bareback" on the floor and make sure to be extra careful when it comes to wiping up any spills that occur.

Also gonna pick up a few of those water mat things that tuberider mentioned in his previous post. Thanks again for that!

-RS
 
My old 75 gallon, and my new 240 gallon are on oak hardwood floors.

For the stand, each of the many legs has a felt stick-on pad.
The "heavy duty" light brown ones that are standard for furniture.
As a bonus, this allows you to easily slide the tank when empty.

Key to spillage is clean it up right away.
As long as the oak has a decent finish, it will bead up, and not soak in fast.
You could even wax it lightly if you are paranoid.

Putting a large waterproof surface over the floor seems like a mistake.
Not only can water from a spill get in there and sit/turn moldy/soak in,
you also have to worry a bit about natural condensation and moisture coming up
from the ground.
 
Not entirely off topic, but if your are going tank on hardwood floors: SODA ASH BURNS.

If and when you dose soda ash always make sure you don't leave ANY on your floor.
 
Like rygh, I put dozens of little felt pads all over the bottom of the stand (the bottom is a board, not legs) so that there is "airspace" under the tank.

I still screwed up some boards with a flood/leak or two.

My advice is to choose where you are going to put the tank, then apply several layers of oil based polyurethane over that spot. Most hardwood floors are covered with polyurethane anyway (that's actually what polyurethane was invented for, btw). If you move the tank and think it looks weird, you can sand it down. The poly should seal nail heads and the cracks between the boards (which is where the damage will be)

When I work on the tank, I throw sacraficial towels down in front of the tank, I've never not spilled some water.

V
 
Vincerama2 said:
When I work on the tank, I throw sacraficial towels down in front of the tank, I've never not spilled some water.
Click to expand...

Oh my, any1 else is using sacrificial towels in this hobby? NOBODY TOLD ME?

* out to buy some in a local sacrificial shop.
 
Gonzo said:
My new place is all hardwood floors. I've never had a 90 gallon tank on hardwood floor, and I'd rather not mess something up if at all avoidable.

Does anyone have any experience with their tank on a hardwood floor? Anything I should do differently when setting it up vs normal carpet setup? Lay a rug underneath to avoid imprinting the floor? Layer of plastic?

Thanks all!
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i have my 180 on a wood floor. the stand is empty as i have everything plumbed under the house. the only problems i've had is spilling water. both times i ended up dumping 20-30 gallons onto the floor. when doing any sort of work on my tank i put towels around the tank on the floor.

before my 180, i had 100 gallon in the same spot. there was almost no sign of my 100 gallon after 4 years when i moved it. i did learn that how salt will completely screw up sheet rock.
 
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