You should be OK, depending on quality of the flooring and installation. I have a 29 Gallon on "Wilsonart" brand laminate. One possibility is buy an extra case for a repair. I have a DIY stand and I installed casters (also from Home Depot)so it can be moved if necessary with out a complete tear down (just a large water change out). The laminate flooring I have is very tough, it is like formica. It shouldn't crease. I realize your potential aquarium is possibly 3 times heavier, still should be OK as long as you install it per manufacturers specs. Also a smooth,level subfloor will help.

Furniture scratch guards??? beats me ?I have a pack ironically right in the computer armoire, it is labeled "felt guards".

Seems to me that even with old fashioned oak flooring , there were some dents left from the heavy tanks.

Dents and marks in a good ol' wood floor gives it character, LOL.

Thanks,

It would seem to not be too big a problem.... After all, many people put large and heavy furniture down on these types of floors.... and you hear nothing bad about that.

I'm going to make the stand myself, - It will be a wood frame, OAK veneered type. I should have very even weight distribution....

I might take a 7 x 3 or 6 x 3 piece of 3/4 plywood, lay down some 12" or 18" ceramic tile, and put a border around the edges... then glue felt on the entire underside... That would totally ensure even distribution of weight, allowing me to shim between the stand and the tile "rug' I made instead of the floor. Will also accomadate slight spills.

That way when we go to sell the house I just pull up the tile underlayment, and there's the "wood" floor - no need to fix anything or such....

Least that's the plan....

Especially when you're laying down a new floor there's no sense in taking chances on getting it scratched up or dented after all that work!

Consider putting those superslider things under the tank base. Those things are incredible, and if you ever had to move the tank (like away from the wall to clean or whatever), after emptying it a bit, believe me, you'll still be able to slide it with those superslider things.

I think as long as there's even weight distribution, you should be absolutely fine. The tile idea is good - no matter how careful we try to be, there's always bound to be some spills.

Good luck!

Sounds like a plan. Good idea on DIY stand. It will save alot of $$$ for a sturdy stand. When I looked at the quality of some stands for aquariums I was shocked. Most lower end ones I wouldn't trust to hold a glass of water. The more sturdy ones are way over priced. I made mine for about $50 materials. I finally made a matching canopy (well almost, some light construction and finish coat) with DIY lighting for plants. It sounds like you are handy so investigate DIY plans for some equiptment like filters if you have the time for all the projects.

I'd agree about those stands I guess, though some I've looked at are the type you assemble yourself, and I wish I could see an assembled one before buying one, though from the prices I'd think they "should" be sturdy. I always had good ol' heavy wrought iron ones and always trusted those, but it seems the darn stands can cost more than the entire "set-up". Seems they hook ya' with the price on the set-up and then stick it to ya' with the stand price!!

Wacky, I would use real wood rather than a laminate. Water spills/leaks can get under the skin and swell the wood. Build a full frame for strenght.

This is true. Better to use contact cement rather then the iron-on type of veneer. Good quality contact cement is engineered better now. It is meant for kitchen and bath applications, like formica counter tops. It holds up better in damp environments.

If you built it yourself then you can put 2x4 or larger around the botton to distribute the weight acoss the entire base or maybe even a piece of plywood for the bottom. Then you could put some felt on the botton to prevent scratches.

dont know if this is too much too late. we have installed a 7'x2' salt water aquarium in our basement. my husband rescued it from some guy in jersey who was moving to fl and couldn't take it with him. we were in the process of finishing our raw basement and planning on installing laminate wood floors by wilsonart. all the installers said to install the flooring around the aquarium AND any other built in cabinetry as they would exert too much pressure on a floating floor. hope this helps.

I agree that laminated flooring should be installed around built ins. However you should be aware it only takes one disaster with the aquarium to ruin a laminated flooring. I went through a similar incident involving parquet flooring. Laminates can absorb water easily, swell have and start buckling. And with aquariums there is alway that possibility of water spilling largely because of having to do water changes on a regular basis. By the way I have laminated flooring in the rooms in my home and they can support very heavy items with not problem - that includes the beds and the heavy chests of drawers, the armoire, etc... It's water accidents that can easily destroy any well built laminated flooring. Just not too long ago the out take for some reason got dislodged and water spouted out of the aquarium creating a huge pool of water. So guard against this possibility.

I have my aquarium set up as a built in, set in the laundry room with ceramic floor tiles. The contractor who did it was very ingenious, himself an owner of an aquarium. We needed to create a wall to separate the laundry room from the rest of the basement so he created a window in that wall, had very heavy lumber to support the aquarium and set the aquarium in that window frame. Making water changes is done much easier now where I have my hose/snake hooked up to the faucet nearby. The aquarium window looks very pleasing. My basement floor is carpeted because if a leak occurs, I can easily tackle that without much damage.

Ianna

AC3 grade laminate flooring should be ok for your requirement.

Here is a link that might be useful: laminate flooring

This may be a little late for Wacky Dan because of the time lapsed, but I wouldn't recommend laminate for any area that may get the potential water problems a tank can present. In addition to that, in particular I don't recommend Laura Ashley by Witex be used for much of anything. I am finishing up laying said laminate in the livingroom, one more row to go. It is already showing cat scratches and scratches from normal usage, including moving a futon on gliders. I've talked to the seller and mfg/distributor and they say moving furniture is abusive use of the floor and won't stand behind their 'lifetime scratch warranty'. I've practically been told I'm wasting my time since some warranties are written so they mean nothing. Beware what you get.

gootziecat

Nah... I'm still around. :)

I've had these replies sent to my email.

I've actually done quite a bit of research on this and found that it really depends on the laminate flooring you use. So It's a crap shoot.

I've decided that I'm going to put down engineered hardwood. This is a project that is under delay but I should start by February.

The Engineered hardwood is better for the concrete installation, but typically won't hold up as well as laminates for scratches, though it can be sanded and refinished. It will hold up under heavy weight a bit better and once it's refinished once, most spills.