Best flooring choice

mech-a-nic

mech-a-nic

Member
I plan to redo the floors in my living room and than add a150 tank what would be the best floor covering for a aquaruim? I was hinking bamboo but I heard the humity from a tank can warp a floor the same with hardwood over time. Carpet is out any ideas?
 
mr-toad

mr-toad

New Member
I have seen a couple of people do tile or laminate flooring for the tank area and carpet elsewhere. The best thing seen in my opinion was rock floor in the fish tank area and went into old style hardwood floor. I am not sure where the rock came from or was cut but it looked very nice.
On another note if you varnish the hardwood well you should have no problems with the fish tank and spillage from normal goof ups. If you are worried about warpage, liquid nail that area of the floor down instead of just the tounge and groove. You could stop the moon from moving with that stuff if you could give it time to set.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
Hard tile, vinyl, or a sealed hardwood floor are you best options, steer clear of laminates, engineered wood, prefinished hardwood and carpet if you can.
 
fishy125

fishy125

Member
We have bamboo and it is very resielent to water, I flooded it bad left water running overnight to do a water change and it was drippping, it did not buckle or discolor.
 
small triggers

small triggers

Active Member
either tile or something that could be replaced if neccessary. Tile would be optimum. If you do wood floors, it actually needs to be a gluless floor so engineered, tongue and groove, or laminate are your best choices. Any wood product or wood byproduct flooring that gets wet constantly will need to be replaced eventually. I did a laminate plank flooring, and bought an extra box for when we move to replace around the tank. You do need to make sure it can handle the weight and do not pick anything soft or medium hardness because it will dent. ALSO, if you choose a prefinished floor, make sure you get it with a uv protection coat or put UV tint on your windows because alot of the pre-finished will turn colors ie get darker in a sunny room (but not where a rug or your tank is)
 
kmart189

kmart189

Member
Originally Posted by Fishy125
http:///forum/post/3011083
We have bamboo and it is very resielent to water, I flooded it bad left water running overnight to do a water change and it was drippping, it did not buckle or discolor.
Just because it didn't warp doesn't mean there isn't mold growing under it from a result. +1 for any stone or tile if you are thinking you like the look of wood there are some tiles that resemble wood. I doubted that they would look fake and not so good til my sis put them in her basement and it looks great. They were put in for the same reasons wood floors in basements+moisture=problems. Fish125 im not tryong to be mean, just honest.
 
chilwil84

chilwil84

Active Member
Originally Posted by small triggers
http:///forum/post/3015582
either tile or something that could be replaced if neccessary. Tile would be optimum. If you do wood floors, it actually needs to be a gluless floor so engineered, tongue and groove, or laminate are your best choices. Any wood product or wood byproduct flooring that gets wet constantly will need to be replaced eventually. I did a laminate plank flooring, and bought an extra box for when we move to replace around the tank. You do need to make sure it can handle the weight and do not pick anything soft or medium hardness because it will dent. ALSO, if you choose a prefinished floor, make sure you get it with a uv protection coat or put UV tint on your windows because alot of the pre-finished will turn colors ie get darker in a sunny room (but not where a rug or your tank is)

certain woods are highly light sensitive and the exotics like brazilian cherry are a lot more sensitive than a native oak. even regular incadesent bulbs will darken it.
tile is ur best bet and make sure u seal the grout
 
mech-a-nic

mech-a-nic

Member
Tiles it is finishing them today thanks for all your help.
Wow this is an addiction.........I redid a room just for my fish..... I need help lol

 
fishyfun2

fishyfun2

Member
My tank is currently over wood laminate, but we recently experienced a very minor leak under the kitchen sink which ruined the laminate floor. So, if it warps that easily, I figured I'd better replace it with something more permanent. We are going to do tile flooring, which will also be under the tank. Tile is nice because if something does happen, you can pop out damaged tiles and put new in fairly easily as long as you buy extras and store them away.
 
arv99t

arv99t

Member
I sold flooring for 7 years. If you are going to do wood do not use the liquid nails like someone posted. The floor moves in all directions depeding on the temp in the room. The liquid nails will cause the floor to buckel. Look for a glue called Bostiks Best
As for the rock look it is tile that is on a 12x12 mesh wich is easy to install, but might not be as level as you would like depending on the style you buy. Keep in mind that it is rock and if you buy one based on picture the rocks might vary in height.
Laminate is very hard to damage and comes embossed now so it does have the appearance of real wood. If installed correctly you wont hear the hollow sound or have the floor that feels like it is moving.
Your subfloor depends on the type of work you will need to do for either floor. Is this an upstairs, basement, or what? Is the subfloor wood, or concrete? What is on the floors now? Do you know what condition the subfloor is in? You also need to test for hydrostatic water pressure if considering the wood. I will check back for answers to these questions to try and help out some more. Also bamboo is very soft and will dent easily with the weight of this tank. Once you move the tank you will probably see where it set. Also if you do wood and ever decide to move the tank or sell the house you will notice a big difference in the color of the wood where it and other furniture were at. They will need some time in the light to catch up in color. This is only for the wood not laminate.
 
arv99t

arv99t

Member
guess i should have finished reading the post before i started typing....could have saved some time
 
mech-a-nic

mech-a-nic

Member
I was thinking of stone but i needed that level floor. I put 1/2 cement board with screws every 6 to 8 Inches it should be enuff to beef up the sub floor. but thanks for the post :)
 
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