pergo flooring/rug and aquarium

[spoiled739]

Hello,

My boyfriend and I have numerous tanks, but we are moving our 125 gallon into our apartment with us. The problem lies in the fact that for some unknown reason the apartment has pergo type flooring right where we want to put our tank. We plan to make everything as water tight and leak proof as possible and put controllers and water censors on it, but I am so afraid of messing up the flooring. My mom has Pergo flooring at her house and she freaks out if water drips on it.

I can't really do anything about the flooring and the tank has to come with us and I already signed the lease so what I was thinking was putting down a plastic sheet on the floor and up the wall a bit under the tank and then putting down an area rug over the plastic. What are the chances that if there was a spill the flooring underneath would still get ruined. What do people (contracters/floorers) think of this? Would the plastic discolor the floor? Also I have renters insurance and they said it would not be a problem to have the saltwater aquarium, but I was thinking of calling back and asking if it were to have a big leak would they cover the cost of replacing the flooring? We would like to be in this apartment for quite sometime while we are saving to buy a house so my boyfriend can have his dream fish room and what not. So likely this should be our last place. We are on the bottom floor of the apartment building as well.

Please put your 2 cents in, because I would like to move into this apartment with the tank well informed and not rack up a huge bill.

Thanks

[Toddrtrex]

This is just my simple opinion, I have never installed a hardwood floor, and don't plan on ever knowing how.

I would be afraid that moisture would get under the plastic, and would never be able to breathe out, which would really mess up the floors. The rug MIGHT be a happy medium.

I have bamboo flooring on the main floor of my new place, I put my 40 breeder down right on the flooring. I just make sure to put a beach towel down, on the floor, whenever I am doing any work on the tank. Granted this has only been going on for about 2 months, but so far, so good.

[spoiled739]

still looking for replies, so ... bump

[d0ughb0y]

I have pergo flooring. As long as you wipe any spills immediately, it should be fine. Pergo flooring is not exactly the best flooring, as over time, when it expands, it lifts up a little on the seam between two planks. If water stays on it too long, meaning like half hour or more, then you will see the same effect. The pergo board itself is waterproof, it's the seams that you want to keep dry. If you are using a controller, you can add a water/flood sensor so it alerts you if water starts leaking to the floor.

[trb]

How big of an area is the laminate flooring? Hopefully it is not the entire apartment because I would just plan on having to replace it when you move out. And if you are very good and don't spill anything, then that is just a bonus. I have my tank in our den, and it has some heavy duty 12mm laminate on the floor. It has only been about 5 months, and the ends of about 6 boards are already peeling up. This is just from a few small spills that I was able to clean up fairly quickly, like within a few minutes, maybe 10 at the most. Luckily I have about 60 extra sqft of floor to replace the bad boards before I set up my new 120 in it's place.

But the best way to help alleviate spills is to use towels around the tank, and maybe even get some of the carpet tiles to surround the tank. It is hard to always put down a towel every time you get into the tank, I know I say every day, "oh I'll be careful, I won't drip anything on the floor" and I always end up having to run and get a towel.

You don't want a carpet or anything directly under the stand because it will just wick the water where you don't want it. It would be good to make sure there is space for ventilation under the stand too. I have several of the plastic floor "sliders" under my tank and they give me about 1/8"-3/16" of ventilation space.

A local reefer (d2mini) used this http://www.flor.com/ around his tank to protect his laminate floors. Fits custom and is easy to pull up for spills. His whole tank is completely awesome, here is a pic:



Good luck on the move and set up!

[spoiled739]

I did some searching on the subject on reef central and found someone else used that plastic/vinyl that you would put under a rolling office chair under their tank and they did not have any issues with it discoloring. So I think we might go with using the risers that have been talked about while having the clean plastic carpet protector (which they do make it in different sizes so it wont be circular. Our plan was then to have a nice rug in front of the tank which we will be putting our counter height table on right up to our tank, so we can have dinner with our fish every night

[spoiled739]

How does that sound to everyone?

[d2mini]

I just saw this thread, but trb is correct with everything he said, and i have had the same problems as him with the laminiate bubbling on the edges or worse. Not just near my tank, but everywhere. Around the fridge where an icecube may have dropped. Where the dogs' water bowl is. And other random area. But wherever there was a big spill with like a gallon of water, there is major warpage.

[taku]

Does anyone here have wood flooring like bamboo or anything in the house that doesn't warp in a humid home?

[dublo8]

Laminate floor sucks to say the least, it looks nice but you have to be extremely careful and you end up putting rugs everywhere to stop any issues so why not just have carpet? Lol. Either way, since you can't change anything I just use a towel or two when I work on the tank and I even have a couple shamwow's in the stand just in case. Ironically the one place I don't have bubbling/warping is around my tank. Also, another thing is to seal your stand with silicon. Get into all the edges, corners etc. Also, maybe reseal the inside with some type of latex or rubberized primer. Killz works well. This will help big time so you don't have to worry about finding something to put under your stand or really worry in case something does happen. This way your stand will hold the all the water instead of it ending up on the floor.


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- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Toddrtrex]

Originally Posted by taku

Does anyone here have wood flooring like bamboo or anything in the house that doesn't warp in a humid home?

Mine is bamboo, but I have only had it for a couple of months now -- new construction. So, far so good, haven't seen any warping.

[PDAlber]

I have laminate flooring throughout the main living area of my house. When I installed it, I sealed the seams in the kitchen with silicone. I also used silicone around the edges in the kitchen. Despite a dishwasher flood and significant spills, the floor in the kitchen still looks great.

I did not have my aquarium when I laid the floor and I did not seal the area where it now sits. I have had a couple of "accidents", and water sometimes hits the floor during maintenance and water changes. The laminate has swelled in a couple of spots, but it doesn't look too bad. I have no idea what it looks like under the stand, though.

If you decide to put the tank on the laminate, you can try to put a small bead of clear silicone on all the seams around the stand, as well as along the moulding behind the stand. That way, you can wipe up any spills before it can soak in or get under the laminate.

[r-balljunkie]

hmm
seem everyone from houston is chiming in, why not ??

i laid heavy mil plastic down under my tank AND ran it up the wall behind the tank. I went to wally world and bought the nicest big rug i knew i could throw away in a few years..
i also had some foam mats under the carpeting as wel, kinda like the lock together gym matting.

its inevitable your gonna get some spills, probably some nice soakers. after a couple of years i ...broke down my tank to sell my house. when i pulled up the plastic, mat and carpeting , walla no damage. the trick of it is when you do get a spill, get it a fan on it ASAP and try to keep all the moisture off the floor, separated between the plastic and the rug.....i had some nice spills.

thats sounds like a good suggestion to get some adjustable feet for under the stand.

good luck!!

c

[spoiled739]

Just to update, I ended up getting a rubberized floor mat that has the carpeting on one side. Then I flipped it over, so the rubberized side was up and the carpet was down, that way it was a cushion and also useful for keeping water off the floor. I ran it up the wall a bit, so that if there was a big spill it would not get to the seam. We have had two minor spills and all has been okay. Actually the biggest problem was not the tank, but rather the area where the cats water dish is, even though there is a no slip mat under it (go figure).

[Meshmez]

For what its worth, my dog has had a few, umm... accidents, on my purgo flooring, and the liquid has just stayed on top of the flooring and been easy to just wipe up hours later.... if the flooring was installed well it should be fairly water tight. Especially if you wipe it up quick. If the joints are loose, yes you will end up getting water underneath.

[Bretts05jeep]

Originally Posted by taku

Does anyone here have wood flooring like bamboo or anything in the house that doesn't warp in a humid home?

Im not sure what kind of wood my floors are cause my house came with them, but they are probly 30+ years old. I have had a fish tank for about three years and if i stick my arm in the tank I dont wipe the drips off the floor and have not had any issues.

[hans24hrs]

Originally Posted by trb

How big of an area is the laminate flooring? Hopefully it is not the entire apartment because I would just plan on having to replace it when you move out. And if you are very good and don't spill anything, then that is just a bonus. I have my tank in our den, and it has some heavy duty 12mm laminate on the floor. It has only been about 5 months, and the ends of about 6 boards are already peeling up. This is just from a few small spills that I was able to clean up fairly quickly, like within a few minutes, maybe 10 at the most. Luckily I have about 60 extra sqft of floor to replace the bad boards before I set up my new 120 in it's place.

But the best way to help alleviate spills is to use towels around the tank, and maybe even get some of the carpet tiles to surround the tank. It is hard to always put down a towel every time you get into the tank, I know I say every day, "oh I'll be careful, I won't drip anything on the floor" and I always end up having to run and get a towel.

You don't want a carpet or anything directly under the stand because it will just wick the water where you don't want it. It would be good to make sure there is space for ventilation under the stand too. I have several of the plastic floor "sliders" under my tank and they give me about 1/8"-3/16" of ventilation space.

A local reefer (d2mini) used this http://www.flor.com/ around his tank to protect his laminate floors. Fits custom and is easy to pull up for spills. His whole tank is completely awesome, here is a pic:



Good luck on the move and set up!

That place is beautiful.

[hans24hrs]

Is the floor a laminate floor (Pergo is an actual brand of laminate floor) or is it real hardwood floor. If it is a laminate floor it depends on the quality of it. My father had a piece of laminate that we did in my parents house in the back of his truck for over a year and never buckled or warped, but I have had problems in my dinning room with our current floor and it has only had a spill or two on it. If it is real hardwood and is sealed properly than it can handle some small spills as long as they don't sit on the wood to long. If it was me moving in I would place some type of plastic sheathing down and then cover it with an area rug. The plastic will protect the floor and the area rug will help with the asthetics. Also area rugs can also add a little more to the decor of your home. Hope this helps.

[hans24hrs]

Originally Posted by d0ughb0y

I have pergo flooring. As long as you wipe any spills immediately, it should be fine. Pergo flooring is not exactly the best flooring, as over time, when it expands, it lifts up a little on the seam between two planks. If water stays on it too long, meaning like half hour or more, then you will see the same effect. The pergo board itself is waterproof, it's the seams that you want to keep dry. If you are using a controller, you can add a water/flood sensor so it alerts you if water starts leaking to the floor.

saw your post about lifts at the seams. when installed it should have about 3/8 to 1/4 inch spacing all around its boarders. It has similar properties to vinyl siding were it contracts and expands with change in temp. If there was no spacing when installed you can fix that by taking last row off and trimming it down a little. I had to help a friend do that in a house they had. Hope the info can help.

[spoiled739]

Well we did have a spill, the skimmer collection cup overflowed, and we put tons of fans on it and caught it right away, so I really hope when we move out it will be okay. On another note we love on the bottom floor and it is a really nice apt but for some reason their drains sometimes back up when people upstairs are stupid and put the wrong stuff down the drain. We came home about a month ago to water in the kitchen and all over in the dinning room as well, and the flooring did get wet with that, and our resident manager said we wouldnt be charged as they would most likely replace it when we moved out. so i think we are off the hook. TG.