Hardwood floors

[SeaMaster]

Hi all,

I will be replacing my 72 bow front with an Oceanic 110 in the near future, and have decided to move it to a room over the basement and plumb everything down. I am looking forward to the change but with one hitch. The new room has hardwood floors and my wife is less than enthused with the idea.

Have any of you had experience with things that worked, or didn't work to protect flooring in the display room with a basement setup? Even horror stories welcome... better forewarned then suffer the consequences.

Thanks,
Doug

 

[Scuba_Dave]

Mop up any spills right away
I do all my water changes etc in the basement
I opened up the wall & ran the pipes inside the finished wall
That way you don't have to drill the wooden floor
It's easier to replace wallboard then a wood floor

 

[NateHanson]

I think the best thing you can do to protect your floors is to put the sump in your basement, like you're doing. Keeps all the mess out of your living space.

To avoid display tank overflows, make sure your drains are well sized, don't have unnecessary constrictions anywhere, and are always guarded with a wide mesh snail guard (too fine and it'll clog with junk - just needs to be big enough to keep out a snail that's big enough to clog your drain. 1/4" or 1/2" mesh is good, and a good length strainer too, so there's lots of area if one section gets covered by a piece of nori or something. )

 

[delta]

Nothing will protect you from a full blow tank blow out or drain leak.
But for most things just a few extra coats of a catalized waterborne urethane would do wonders. Go with a commercial grade and it will wear like iron. As long as you don't ever end up with standing water you will be fine.

 

[Scuba_Dave]

My tank also borders my hallway - which is tiled
So I do most of my work from that side of the tank

 

[KAS]

Sump in the basement is a must. Also, we have lined the bottom of our stand with a waterbed liner where the drain drains down into the cellar.

 

[SeaMaster]

Thanks

Great advise. Looks like I am headed in the right direction at least. Still a long way to go.

Thanks again!!

 

[skibum9884]

I have a 175 bowfront in my basement with a wood floor. As far as protecting it, I'd just recommend the use of towels everytime you're doing anything in your tank. Besides that, if your tank blows out or anything you'll be screwed with whatever type of floor you have, but your homeowners insurance should cover anything like that.

Also, make sure that you do a high quality wood floor, a few thousand pounds on a crappy wood floor can be pretty bad.

 

[smcnally]

I broke down a tank for a guy that had it on wood floors for about 2 years (it was a 135 Gal). The floor still looked brand new when we removed the stand.