Wood floors and your tank

[MikeyZO]

A few questions as my fiancee and I have been in the market to buy a house in the very near future.

So first off, what is everyone's experience with keeping your tank on a wood floor? I would assume that some of the positives is that a spill is easier to clean up as opposed to carpet, and a negative of a spill would be that if you dont notice the spill it could get soaked into the wood and cause the floor to warp. What other things should we be careful of, and what, if any, precautions can you take in case of a flood on the floor?

Also, does anyone have any experience with having a wood floor sanded and repolished while having a tank anywhere in the house? Obviously if it is in the same room, the tank wont be able to be moved and you can not redo what is underneath. But what about the sanding and urethane? I would imagine that covering the tank will stop the dust from getting in, but will the fumes from the urethane penetrate the water in anyway leading to any sort of toxicity?

If we find a house that has wood flooring (which we actually prefer), we will have them redone, if necessary, before we move in and set up the tank. This is more of a 'what happnes down the road' thought.

 

[bad coffee]

I've spilled quite a bit of water on my landlord's wooden floor. It hasn't warped yet.

If you're going to have htem refinished before you move in, make sure you select a very good top coat for the floor. If possible you should have them completely seal the floor- meaning no gaps, and have the top coat be a solid surface. That way when (not if, but when) you spill some water, it just puddles up, rather than going through the floor.

I think I read (a long while ago) that someone put a large bag around their tank and pumped fresh air into it from a nearby window. It might have been for painting or maybe a bug bomb. I can't remember exactly.

B

 

[LeslieS]

My floors are those little wooden squares. I spill quite often, and floor area around my tank is now bleached grey.

 

[tosiek]

Ive had a complete spill out of about 30 gallons of water, the boards bowed widthwise for 2 weeks then went back to normal, and most cases if its nailed down the right way you won;t notice there was a leak or anything besides the wood turning grey where the top coat comes off.

Most cases you shouldn;t worry about spills or drips on the floor as it can take a beating if the top coat is put on right. I applied some butchers wax to the area around my tank to help repell the water which helps alot and a small rug in front of the tank itself with a rubberish bottom. Its wax and its slippery so don't go too far out and any household cleaners will remove it.

What usually happens with the wood floors is that the water soaks in between the boards, works the wood and chips the top coat between the boards and sometimes in the woodgrain depending how much you abuse it with water. Also be prepared to have salt creap build up on the spaces between the boards after spills when the wood dry;s out. Thats mainly whats going to be happening around your tank.

As for the sanding and stuff, even if you cover the tank the correct way you will always get alot of it into the tank. The fumes will leach into the water also as your skimmer will suck it into the water, ect. It will mess things up. So make sure you never really have to redo the floors when the tanks there.

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hi MikeyZO ;-)

I had my wood floor replaced with ceramic floor tiles because it is a far better floor both cleaning as well as to deal with water spilled and splashes. If you have to have wood, then you should have some absorbent cloth or carpet to use when performing water changes or tank maintenance, even if the wood is water proof or teak wood...

Also, does anyone have any experience with having a wood floor sanded and repolished while having a tank anywhere in the house? Obviously if it is in the same room, the tank wont be able to be moved and you can not redo what is underneath. But what about the sanding and urethane? I would imagine that covering the tank will stop the dust from getting in, but will the fumes from the urethane penetrate the water in anyway leading to any sort of toxicity?

No but I did have house interior refurbishing during the summer and winter of 2007 and there was a lot of dust in the air so I covered the tank that could be affected by the works, with bed sheets so that air would flow and dust would be retained. It worked well as far as dusts were concerned but no products releasing toxic fumes were used. Any way although no toxic fumes releasing products were used, something bad happened due to a heat wave that ravaged through the country during the summer of 2007, and since the refurbishing works were in full progress at the time, all windows and doors were opened...temperature raised to much...and my corals...were mass extinct...I could do nothing for them, except filling up progressively five or six 5 L buckets with their skeletons... so please what ever you have to do, do it before installing the tank. Should this not be possible, then you have to take measures such as covering it with thin bed sheets, make sure that fumes are duly exhausted to the outside and no temperature rise or drop occurs.
Following my larger tank crash it still is under recovery and I'm now preparing to replace the majority of the water and carry on with new corals.

This was what my tank looked like before the heat wave incident

some of the corals lost

The fish survived without blemish

Under the artificial moon light (the Blastomussa merletti was the last to go and it still lives under the form of the frag seen in the photograph and bellow that I offered to a friend of mine, so please when possible, always share frags because these may be the ticket to survival of a given coral)

...I miss them:sad2:...well, please take all measures so that this does not happen.

In due time I will place some more photographs in the tank thread forum of this and other tanks.

Cheers
Pedro Nuno ;-)

 

[ZANYMASTER]

I have a big rubber mat for whenever I do water changes or anything else.Saved me a lot of mess in the long run.Beautiful tank Pedro.What size is it?