Water proof floor mat?

[GoReefin]

Hi all, I will be moving my fish tanks from my office at work to my house which has original 1930s wooden flooring. Anyone have any experience with a good waterproof floor mat I can place underneath the stand? Happy wife and all :)

 

[minorhero]

You can get rubber mats in a variety of sizes for snow blowers, laundry machines, heck even cardio mats for home gyms. BUT I wouldn't consider one for under a tank because no matter how big, it will have an edge. If water wicks under that edge then the result will be 100X worse then if it just was on regular hardwood floors and left to dry on it's own. Water under a waterproof mat will stay wet MUCH longer. As someone who has 2 tanks in a room with hardwood floors, my advice is to just have a bunch of towels you can use whenever you need to. If that's your regular bath towels or beach towels then fine. But make sure you have a bunch. Then use them liberally after/during water change or any time there is water getting onto the floor.

 

[Nate Chalk]

You can get rubber mats in a variety of sizes for snow blowers, laundry machines, heck even cardio mats for home gyms. BUT I wouldn't consider one for under a tank because no matter how big, it will have an edge. If water wicks under that edge then the result will be 100X worse then if it just was on regular hardwood floors and left to dry on it's own. Water under a waterproof mat will stay wet MUCH longer. As someone who has 2 tanks in a room with hardwood floors, my advice is to just have a bunch of towels you can use whenever you need to. If that's your regular bath towels or beach towels then fine. But make sure you have a bunch. Then use them liberally after/during water change or any time there is water getting onto the floor.

Second

 

[davidcalgary29]

Second

Third

 

[GoReefin]

Thanks guys! Hopefully the wife will understand the reasoning to not use a floor mat!

 

[minorhero]

Thanks guys! Hopefully the wife will understand the reasoning to not use a floor mat!

Managing The Wife is at least 50% of the requirement for entry into the aquarium hobby I have found :P

My wife had similar concerns as yours. I talked with her about it and told her I could keep it under control and make the tanks look good. She was hesitant but agreed to let me try. A few years into keeping the various tanks and she no longer has reservations about me keeping them looking good, but I still must negotiate each 'new' tank I acquire so I'm part way to getting it right ;P

 

[GoReefin]

Managing The Wife is at least 50% of the requirement for entry into the aquarium hobby I have found :p

My wife had similar concerns as yours. I talked with her about it and told her I could keep it under control and make the tanks look good. She was hesitant but agreed to let me try. A few years into keeping the various tanks and she no longer has reservations about me keeping them looking good, but I still must negotiate each 'new' tank I acquire so I'm part way to getting it right ;P

This x1000 happy wife happy life! She saw my old 90g aquarium about 12 years ago when we first started dating so hopefully she will be happy with the new tanks but it will be a battle to start with I'm sure!

 

[Porpoise Hork]

One idea that may work to prevent damage to the wood flooring. Get a sheet of plywood 1/4" to 3/8". Sand/prep the crap out of it Run a router around the edges and then stain it the same color as the original floor and seal it with silicone or other waterproofing material. Then place the tank stand on that. You could also apply peal/stick vinyl tile to the plywood and put a nice molding edge with rounded corners (no stubbed toes) on it. The "platform" would only need to be a couple inches larger than the stand and would catch most of the spills/splashes when working on the tank.

The peal/stick vinyl is pretty tough stuff. When I built my chicken coop I used it as flooring for the roost area and cover it with aspen shavings. It's been 2 years with weekly cleanings using a flat shovel, exposure, and 22 chickens later the stuff is still solidly in place, and looks almost as nice as the day I put it out there. Oh and I used the cheapest stuff I could find too. So a few splashes from salt water would be nothing for this stuff.