Reef on Hardwood Floors...

[CodeToad]

I'm planning a smaller aquarium that will be located on hardwood floors.

I'd rather not have the inevitable salt-drips get on the floor and was wondering what other folks do in this situation?

Thoughts, ideas, experience?

[sjj80]

My 90g used to be in a home with hardwood floors and I always just put a few towels around it on the floor when I was doing waterchanges & maintenance. I also always kept a few hand towels inside the stand for quick cleanups. Personally I think a tank on a hw floor is better than carpet cause any major water damage is easier and cheaper to fix on hw than it is on carpet.

[lovethereefer25]

Ya my 55 is on hardwoods. I do the same with the towels. It is inevitable that salt will get on the floor. I have found the swifter wet-jet is the best go to cleaner. I would suggest sealing and waterproofing the inside of your stand. The hose popped off my return pump one afternoon and sprayed around 5 gallons of fresh seawater all over my living and dining rooms. The floors would have been f'd if I hadn't had a couple towels underneath the sump. I would also suggest trying to match the color of your stand to the floor if they are both wood.

[Anteverius]

I also like having my tanks on the wood floor rather than the carpet. Much easier to clean up, and you dont have to worry about permanently staining the carpet. Just keep towels around and lay some down when doing maintanence and you should be good.

When I moved my tank from the previous owners house it looked like the carpet underneath the tank was screwed. The weight of the tank flattened the carpet pretty good.

[CodeToad]

Thanks guys - anyone else?

[dougc]

My 210 gallon tank was on laminated Bruce flooring and I experienced a few spills where water got under the stand. After my tank broke a few years ago, I tore the tank down and moved the stand. The floor underneath the stand was completely destroyed. Most of the damage was from the many small spills, not the catastrophic tank failure.

Before putting a new tank in place, I ripped out the ruined flooring and laid in ceramic tile underneath where the tank sits. There is about 6 inches of tile along the sides and about a foot in front of the tank. I also put a drain at one end to route any semi-major leakage outside. I tend to spill a bit of water during water changes, but don't worry about the floor any more, since it pretty much all lands on the tile. A quick wipe with a towel after I'm done and it is as good as new.

I would worry about a tank sitting on hardwood flooring unless the area under the stand is accessible. With mine, it was impossible to dry under the bottom of the stand because the bottom of the stand had a plywood floor. If you can get to the floor under the stand in the event of a spill, it should be less of a problem. It still might be a good idea to have a water detector under the stand to alert you to leaks or spills. My son's room has some warped flooring from a leaking filter that dripped down the back of his dresser. It went undetected for too long!

[CodeToad]

Thanks dougc - that was insightful. In my case it's not feasible to tear up new hardwood floor to put in a tile area, but that is a great idea. Next house :-)

Luckily though I'm still in the pre-planning stages for the aquarium itself. It will be a smaller aquarium and I can easily have the bottom of the stand open for easy cleaning. Thanks!

[LeslieP]

I have my 55 on hardwood but I put a small rubber-backed area rug underneath the stand and it extends ~4" on all sides of the stand. Small spills are caught by the rug and don't go through the rubber to the floor, and I keep a few towels around to swipe up any drips that land on the wood.

[corals b 4 bills]

General Contractor here!...And Iv'e been a Hardwood flooring Contractor for 24 years, The thing about hardwood flooring is it doesn't mind a 100 gallons of water on the floor as long as you get it up as soon as you can. Standing water is different, it will buckle, bow and leave dark areas in the floor in the pattern of your stand. Iv'e had twenty gallons flow under my tank one time and I was able to soak it up within 30 mins. except under the stand, I put a fan aimed at the stand for 24+ hours and the following year when it was time to upgrade there wasn't a mark on the floor. Do not use heat, heat will cause the boards to shrink, they have to dry out on there own. At the end of this year I'm upgrading to a 220 and I am going to have (or make myself) a pan made under the stand with a drain under the house because this will be the last tank I will ever own. Because I am a contractor for my current tank I just drilled four holes in the stand all the way through the floor incase I do have an over flow the entire room will be saved at least. Finally, hardwood flooring is very forgiving I wouldn't worry about having water spill on the floor just wipe it up throw a fan on it and your good to go again!

[CodeToad]

LeslieP & corals b 4 bills - thanks! Both comments are helpful. I considered the rubber bottomed mat thing myself and was curious if anyone else had experience.

corals b 4 bills - given your experience and profession, if you had the choice of an open bottom stand with felt feet along the bottom sides or a rubber bottomed mat with a close-bottomed stand, what would you recommend?

[BigJay]

Mine is going on a hardwood floor, with a cheap rug in front of it.

Because if I spill salt water on the wife's nice carpet, she's packing my things.

[TrojanScott]

Mine is on hardwood as well. Towels always available, and be good about laying 'em out and preparing for a spill before it happens. I like keeping cans of compressed air around too, like the "DUST OFF" type cans, they come in handy if water gets between my stand and teh floor, I can blast whatever I can out.

[seanm001]

One of my tanks currently sits on hardwood floors. I'm very careful when doing water changes, I keep towels in the sump, and I wipe my (gloved) arm off every time it comes out of the water so I don't drip. I still have the occasional accident, though.

I've seen in Drs. Foster & Smith a mat that will absorb 8 times its weight in water with a rubber backing to keep water from soaking through. I'm likely going to purchase one of these soon as they're only $10 or so and, when it's time to upgrade the tank, might look into some solution to place such a material underneath the entire stand.

[corals b 4 bills]

I would NOT do the mat, not having air movement of anykind (even stand to floor touching) would be detrimental to the floors performance, don't even use pads they would only cause the stand to be uneven, just bare stand to finished floor is best.

[AquamanE]

corals b 4 bills- how about good quality laminate wood?

Although I always keep towels around and water never sits for more that 10 min or so, i am concerned about under stand. i dont think any has gotten under there but you never know.

I also just order a mat from Drs F&S. worth the 17 bucks in the long time i think.

[AquamanE]

the mat im referring to is used only when performing maintenance. not under stand.

[mccrat]

I have had a tank on laminate and HW flooring. Laminate will almost take anything and have never had a problem with water under the stand. HW though is different. My skimmer over flowed one night and ended up with water behind my stand and didn't get to it for a few hours, the boards are ok, but they have lifted a bit around the edges. For fear that this would happen again, I bought a cheep clear plastic shower curtain and tacked it to the wall behind the tank and the bottom of the stand to make sort of a pocket for water to be caught in that rests on the floor. It has saved the floor more than a few times. Works great and you can't even see it.

[scbadiver]

I have mine on old oak hardwood and have had no problems at all. when I'm doing maint I throw towels down across the front and as metioned above, I hit it with the swiffer when I'm done. 5 years or so into it there isn't a mark on it(from the tank anyway!)

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/11194new_tank_in_green.jpg

[corals b 4 bills]

Laminate floors are great for heavy traffic areas such as laundry rooms, mud rooms, children's play rooms offices with rolling chairs. These floors are NOT......NOT for rooms that could have even the possibility of having water on them, a laminate floor is made up saw dust (particle board) and glue once it absorbs water it swells like a sponge and doesn't go back to it's original position, solid wood for the most part will expand and contract in many instances back to normal. With laminate flooring it's not the top surface that of the product that the water penetrates it's the seams, the older laminates had a glue that helped to some extent but now most manufacturers are using the Non glue/T&G styled interlocking system so there is nothing but bare wood in the seams. after many lawsuits the laminate market has diminished 50% because of this problem, BTW the mat is fine for the front of the tank I just keep 5 towels on the side of mine, again just to reiterate to all reefers that if you have a 100 gallon tank break in the middle of the night (on your solid wood floors) don't panic, even if it takes you an hour to clean it up your floors will take it, here are a few things you can do:

1. If it's in the middle of the night call a water recovery company, or clean-up emergency service.
2. If during the day use all the towels you have and get the water off the floor or use a wet dry vacuum, if you don't have one buy one there cheap to have on hand, you can even rent one (yes you do have small but doable window of time).
3. Open all the windows and Rent a commercial fan run it for 1 to 3 days, it may seem dry but the water is under the boards in some areas, Do NOT use heaters, this will only cause more damage to the flooring by drying them out too quickly.
4. Remove the baseboards, the water IS behind them and the fans cannot do there jobs to dry them out unless you remove them.
5. If you feel fans cannot complete the job rent a commercial Dehumidifier and close the windows (remember to run the dehumidifier hose out the window or door-don't kink the hose) the dehumidifier will pull all the moisture out of your home, if you leave a window open it will take millions of years trying to remove all the moisture from the planet.

If you follow these simple instructions your floors will survive this disaster and should outlive you and your tank.

Good times again!