How can I keep the floor dry?

[krishj39]

Hey friends,
I am about to move into a 90 gallon from a 40. The 40 gallon is in a carpeted room, and maybe 1/2 gallon of water got under the stand and the carpet got all mildewy: very bad. The 90 gallon is going in the same place the 40 was. My question is,
What can I put under the tank and stand that will help keep getting water off the carpet? I am looking for something that won't look too bad, since it is our living room. I was thinking, maybe one of those plasic sheets that people put under their office chairs? But I doubt it could handle all that weight on it. I want something that will catch all the inevitable little spills and drips, you know what I mean I want the area right in front of the tank to be protected too. Surely many of you have had to come up with solutions for this same problem. What can I do to set something like this up? What have you guys done?
Kris

 

[wamp]

Never had that problem. I don't know of anyone who has not spilled some water but you could use a wet/dry vac to suck it up..
Wish I had a better answer but.... Thats all I can think of.

 

[slothy]

what about using a towel to soak what ya spilled... thats what i do.. but i havent dumped a 1/2 gallon of water

 

[krishj39]

Thanks guys,
Yeah, I DO vaccuum up what I can, but it still ended up under the stand, which i can't get to. Because it is pretty much sealed under the stand, the water didn't evaporate for forever, thus the mildew.
Oh, and I didn't dump the water , my over the back skimmer leaked and I didn't discover it for over a day
Maybe I'll just use a fish theme door mat in front of the tank, if I can't think of anything to put under the whole thing. Any ideas still welcome!
Kris

 

[slothy]

caution wet floor sign too hehehe kidding

 

[krishj39]

or maybe a floor mat that says caution wet floor
kris

 

[melbournefl]

Do you own or rent? Seems like a silly question but if you own the place I'd cut a rectangle chunk of carpet out (where the mildew etc lurks) put down a cement backer board and tile an area about 2-3 feet larger then the stand using a nice tile that goes with your existing carpet. If you want to sell the house you're going to probably have to replace the carpet and pad anyway so you're not losing that part. If you don't permanently attach the cement backer board you'd be able to just lift it out when and if you needed to re-carpet. The other point is that if the water has been lurking under the carpet for any length of time you're running the risk of dry-rot forming on the subflooring, now this can be a *serious* expense to repair down the road if you want to sell. If your subflooring is cement, I'd still use the concrete backer board, just because it could be removed later. Installing floor tiles is not that difficult nor expensive if you do it yourself. HD and Lowe's both offer classes in tiling so don't be afraid!
On a side note, I guess the idea would be okay even if you were renting, you'd just have to have the room recarpeted when you moved out.
Just my .02,
Paul

 

[newreefers]

If you don't want to cut the carpet you might try buying an area rug of some sorts and puting this under the tank to save the wall to wall. Just a thought.

 

[javajoe]

Tile is an AWESOME idea... here's a good tile to use....
Trim (2 inch x 6 inch)

Designer tiles....

Mural tiles....

we almost did our bathroom in this, till we totaled it all up at over $800!

 

[krishj39]

thanks guys, I'll look into the tile idea.
Java, those tiles are beautiful, maybe too beautiful for the room they would be in, if you know what i mean

 

[jester]

Maybee try drillind some 1/2" holes in the bottom of the stand. This will at least allow some air in there. Just a thought.

 

[krishj39]

thanks everyone,
just to let you know, I decided just to stick it right on the carpet again, I don't have the patience to figure it out anything else, basically. You know how it is when you have the tank and just need to set it up This stand is totally open in the middle, so the carpet isn't sealed under it, so I shouldn't have the same problem with it. We'll see. I will still put a mat in the front, I meant to do that with the 40 gallon too, but never got around to it. I only had the 40 for about a month though. How's that for an addict? I had the 40 gallon set up for less than a month and already it's too small!
Kris

 

[goalie66]

I would be suprised that alot of water soaked up under the tank
in the carpet anyway. If you take a sponge and compress it
not much water there, my guess would be that if you soak up
as much as you can & then leave a fan on it for a couple of
days that should take care of the water. Is the new stand
wood with the doors on it that open. I may be way off base here
but I have been cleaning carpets for over 20 years and that is
just my suggestion.

 

[krishj39]

Hey goalie.
Yes the new tank is the cabinet style, but unlike the old one which had the bottom covered, this new one is open in there, so when you open the doors, you set the stuff right on the carpet, which i think is probably better. You may be right about not much water getting under there, who knows. I haven't moved the old one yet. But, the leak came from the back, right side, and the carpet was wet 6 inches away from the tank on the front left side, so I don't think the water would have traveled that far around the stand. All I know is that it took forever to dry and smelled after a while, so I thought "there has to be a better way."
I wonder if someone could market a product for this purpose, already assembled little tile floors that sit on the existing floor under the tank, or something else achieving the same thing? I could make something myself, but it would be tough and probably expensive to make it be functional AND look good.
Kris

 

[krishj39]

Hehe, I sorta cheated, but I shouldn't have any wet floors now. My over the back protein skimmer was the leaky culprit in the first place, one of the joints in the J tube leaks at random (anyone else have this problem with Cyclones? This is the second one I had that did this) sending water all over the floor. Well, I was planning on using this skimmer in my sump and so it wouldn't matter if it leaked, but it doesn't fit, so it is still on the back of my tank, however, my sump hangs out behind my tank, so I just have my skimmer over the sump. Now if it leaks, the water will just drip into the sump. It's always cool when you think you are beaten, but then think of some way to make it work. Of course, now that it doesn't matter if it leaks, it probably won't leak at all (Murphy's Law).

 

[rsd]

Hey guys, great thoughts, I have one concern.
I Like the tile Idea, but making sure the tiles are well grouted is important or they will crack under the weight and create an uneven foundation.
Krishj39 you still should worry about dry rot in the floor if you are not on a concrete floor structure. Rot can weaken boards incredibly quickly. I do recommend fans. Also any drips will result in splashes which mean more mildew and water stains.
My tank sits on hardwood floors. Directly below my tank is a lattice work of treated 2x4's (width wise) to allow for air/spill movement and below that is a plastic sheet that wraps 8" up the wall behind the tank. Any spills MUST flow out to the front of the stand (and therefore visible) or just evaporate on rubber pads.
Also my sump/cooling fans push air across the back of stand and out from under stand....accidental bonus.
Good luck... I've spilt more than a 1/2 gallon both from power outage and 1 earthquake.

 

[krishj39]

Thanks RSD, where was your advise BEFORE I set my tank up? j/k Had I read it before I set it up, I probably would have done a similar set up to yours.
I meant to mention in my last post that the floor is carpet over cement (thankfully, of my 5 tanks, it is the only on not on hardwood!).
As far as the skimmer dripping and causing splashes, the splashes woudn't ever be big enough to get over the side of my sump. But, that doesn't matter anyway because, as I predicted, the skimmer hasn't leaked a drop since I put the sump under it. Figures.
Kris

 

[rsd]

Sorry I couldn't have been there sooner. Company keeps me runnin'.
I wish I had found this message board before I set up my tank. I got pretty lucky for the important stuff only because when it comes to safety and risking $$$$ I am very neurotic, I mean, um, careful. Yeah, carfeul. I'm an optimist on any project but still plan for the worste case scenerio. Its not a bad mindset to have considering the amount of time and money we put into this hobbie. And it worked out considering that 2 weeks after I got the water heated to 80 deg and added salt we got hit with the nisqually quake @ 7.something. There I was huging my tank and praying for my floors (I had finished refinishing 1 month previous).
Hey maybe in a couple months you'll want a bigger tank and can adjust your set up then. I mean I'm already sketching plans for the next set up (don't tell my wife).

 

[krishj39]

Wow, strongest quake i have been in was a 4. something. I can just picture you hugging that tank! Probably kinda scary then, but looking back must seem pretty hilarious. Yup, I wonder if any true fish enthusiast is actually happy with the size and number of their tanks for any amount of time? I'm very satisfied, actually overwhelmed, right now, but I am still setting up my 90 gallon. In fact, my entire living room is still a total mess from all the stuff I haven't set up yet. But, give me a month and I'll be out there looking for a bigger tank. As much fun as watching the fish and the finished tank is, I must say I most enjoy buying and setting them up!
kris