Water holding at the bottom of stand?

[spikedangles]

Has anyone used fiberglass or some other material to make a waterproof pan at the bottom of their stand to hold water in the even of an overflow?

My system is going to be in an apartment so I want to set up as many safeguards as possible. There will be 6" from the bottom of the interior of my stand to where the door rests and I'm thinking about using fiberglass to make it able to hold water.

If you used something to do this I'm curious about the materials or process that you used.

 

[Scubado63]

I just stained the inside really well, then used caulk all the way around all crevices and holes...I figured it would be in long enough to hurt anything short term....fiberglass would do, but more work and expense for something you hope to never use

 

[DaveMorris]

I agree with Scuba. Fiberglass is overkill in my opinion. Just seal the wood real good and caulk the seams and corners.

 

[mcarroll]

Yeah I agree with the rest on the fiberglass idea.

Spill preventing is in the tank design and space design. And in your everyday level of carefull-/careless-ness.

A tray, or anything similar, is off base IMO.

It's simultaneously overkill and inadeqate for the spills that are likely...and pitifully small in the face of any real spill. (Or it will be so large as to be obtrusive to maintaining the system.)

Simply don't have anything under or around the tank, within 5-10', that can be damaged by saltwater. Nothing irreplaceable, anyway....walls can be repainted, carpet replaced, etc....but your wood floor under the tank would be ruined.

If it really matters..

Always work on a bed of towels when you work on the tank

Always have a stack of homedepot towels handy for your wet hands and small stuff.

Do not carry buckets or other containers of water around the space - move water by pump and plumbing whenever possible.

Obvioiusly keep skimmers emptied, cleaned and working properly - the alternative can cause a huge mess.

 

[spikedangles]

That makes more sense. In addition to making sure there is ample room in the sump for any back flow, I am utilizing a bean animal external overflow for redundancy. I live in an apartment so I was going to buy a cheap area rug to place under the stand, on top of a piece of plywood. (Wall to wall carpet in apartment). I anticipate this to help with ease of any necessary shimming to level the tank.

I don't know why I didn't think of this but I should just fiberglass/epoxy seal the plywood! I worked for a long time in large scale wild oyster farming and my old boss/family friend literally has 55 gallon barrels of different things I could do this with. So the only cost would be the plywood/$20 rug.

Would this, In addition to multiple redundancies to resist overflows and caulking/poly on the interior of the stand suffice? I'm probably just being paranoid that's why I ask about this stuff on the forums.

 

[don_chuwish]

I made about a 1" lip at the front opening and sealed everything with rubberized spray paint. Then the sump stuck to the paint too much. So I got some thin white ABS plastic and cut to fit, caulked around the edges. The plastic was cheaper than the spray and better.

 

[AZDesertRat]

When I built my stand I laid a sheet of Marine grade plywood down first and attached the 2x4 plate to that. I painted the interior with several coats of epoxy paint then caulked the seams for extra measure.
Never had a drop of water outside the stand, even when my first cheapo calcium reactor decided to leak on me.

If I get near a computer today I will post some pics of the stand construction.

 

[spikedangles]

Thanks AZ. What epoxy paint did you use?

 

[AZDesertRat]

Its been 13 years so I don't remember but it was a white epoxy enamel pianted over a primer. Here is the bare stand before the plywood bottom was screwed on

Here is the plywood bottom on and the first coat of paint

Here I am starting to skin the stand in Oak plywood and trim

Here is the finished product

 

[mfinn]

I used a thin pvc material. It's 0.016" and very durable.
Laid it in with double sided tape and caulked the edges.
It's held up to almost 10 years of abuse.
Gave it a real test when a valve failed to close when I pulled a closed loop pump out.

 

[mikem]

I bought a piece of pond liner and stapled it in my stand.