new tank in jeopardy :(

Well all, I need some advice. Had another skimmer overflow two nights ago and my tank overflowed about 10 gallons. It leaked into the basement and destroyed a couple of things. So, hubby is not too keen about putting the new tank in the same spot as the old. He's afraid that the wood (we have hardwood) floors may be permanently damaged and that they may not be able to support the additional weight.

Does anyone have advice on this? Is the wood damaged to such a degree that it couldn't support the weight? The new tank will be 65 gallons with a 30 gallon sump - switching from a 54 gallon with no sump.

I am soooo bummed and don't know enough about weight and wood and such to know how best to work this out.

 

Are you're wood floors sealed?
How long was the water there before you noticed it?
Each gallon of SW weights approximately 8.3 lbs.
What is directly under the wood flooring, as in what type of foundation for the flooring, they just did not lay it over beams.

 

I'm not sure what is under the floor. The water was there for about 2-3 hours I would say....it slowly leaked out and then drained down into the basement. They were stained and sealed yes....

 

Well you need to go look at the ceiling in the basement directly under where the tank is or was, look for water damage, the water could have easily just run down along the space between the floor and the wall. This tank has a sump right? What type of skimmer? There are ways to prevent the skimmer from over flowing. When does the skimmer over flow, at night, a couples hours after you feed?

 

FWIW, we had a tank dump about 50 gals of water onto a carpet over hardwood, and there wasn't really any damage, and the floor was fine when structurally when we took up the carpet and refinished the hardwood (not because of the tank, but because we liked hardwood). One thing nice about SW is that it tends to resist mold growth.

 

no, it doesn't have a sump....the new one will (if I can set it up now). It's hard to say when looking at it from underneath whether there's water damage or not, it looks the same as the rest of the ceiling (we don't have a drop ceiling in the basement). I have been keeping an eye on it (the skimmer) the water has been running very high in the body - but somehow it did it again (this just happened not too long ago although not as much water). Basically, hubby is not happy at the moment needless to say so that's part of my problem too.

I just called our friend doing the sump for me and hopefully he'll call back. He's familiar with the house and I'm sure probably knows what is between the wood floor and the beams. I also am home sick with a fever so the last couple of days have sucked.

 

I think it should be ok.
Also I would suggest a shower liner like I did:

It cost me about $50 at home depot and as you can see probably hold about 80 gallons. It has already saved me twice. lol
Also I have internal skimmer now so if it overflows no big deal but my last skimmer was external and I had a Precision marine external collection bottle. A ping pong ball was inside so when it filled up the ping pong ball floats to the top and seals off any more fluid from coming in. .. which in turn shuts off the skimmer so to speak. Many people make DIY versions.

 

I'm no wood expert, but I can get my buddy down here (oh wait, I watched pawn stars too much)

Your wood shouldn't lose any integrity just by getting wet. It would take a long time before it rots and becomes unstable. Run a fan on the area or a dehumidifier to get rid of the extra moisture and you should be fine.

Any does your skimmer cup have a drain hole that you can run a hose to a bucket or something?

 

No expert here but I don't think that the flooring would be weakened so long it is allowed to dry thoroughly.You're going to love having a sump on the new tank,if properly setup you should have no more problems with flooding.

 

Here's that waste collector. Many people make them themselves:
WC610 Waste Collector by Precision Marine - AquaCave.com

Also check out this guys waste collector(skip to 11:40):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWXQlvvPeD4