Padding for hardwood floors?

H

hegi

A friend is planning the setup of his 110 gallon tank and intends to put it on hardwood floors. Is there some kind of covering or material that you can put underneath the stand to minimize the possibility of water damage etc.? Does anyone have experience with this? Thanks.
 
I have hardwood floors, and since my dogs had pretty much already had their way with them before I set up the tank, I didn't worry about it.

But, if I were to do it again, I would get one of those indoor/outdoor carpet matts from Sam's Club for $20.
 
For water damage... or to put in a barrier for water you should do that in the stand. That will be the most likely place for 'invisible' leaks or something. Depending on your stand, you can line it with a variety of things to seal it and make it water proof. Epoxy liners and sheets are probably the better ideas, but there is fiberglass sheeting that is used for shower installations as well.

Are you buying or building a stand?

For padding under the tank to avoid indentations into the wood... a tight wound carpet would be good or throw rug.
 
hardwood floors..... leaks.... not a great idea. A while ago my tank had a leak, only about 5 gallons were spilled, but it was enought to warp my floor about 2 ft up. there is really nothing that you can put under the floor. My floor was 1in. hardwood. so my lil spilled cost me a fortune. my next flooring was that armstrong lock floor.
 
Granted, the Sam's rug things wouldn't help in the case of a larger leak - but it would help in terms of spilling random stuff while working on the tank, water changes, etc.
 
Just remember that if you put a rug or something on the floor, it needs to be the kind that 'breaths' (in other words, the bottom of the rug shouldn't be that solid rubber, nonskid stuff). Otherwise, humidity will get trapped under the rug causing it to be slightly wet.

I would suggest what the other person said, which was line the inside of the stand in a way that spills will be contained, etc. When doing general work on the tank, just always have some towels to catch small drips here and there.
 
You can protect your hardwood floors from being damage y water. Coat the floor and even the joints of the floor with a liquid polyurethane. It comes in a can, not a spray can. You essentially seal the floor that way. The urethane is somewhat flexible also. I used our handscraped flooring to cover my stand and it works great.
 
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