Tank Support on Laminate Flooring

[billydreamer]

I recently purchased a new condo with my fiancée, and I'm getting ready to move my aquarium. I just bought a new 28 gal bowfront with stand.

My problem is this: with this new home, I needed to install new flooring as the carpeting was shot. We chose to install laminate (fake wood) flooring, the click and lock style. Since this flooring is much thinner, and sits directly on the slab below, it requires a foam padding underneath it.

I am worried that if I put a tank directly on top of this flooring, it will depress the boards below the feet of the stand, and squish the foam below. I'm not worried about the flooring itself, it's very hard stuff...enough to make throw sparks when we were cutting it in the miter box. But, I am worried that if the tank sits in the same spot for a couple of years, the foam will give out, and the boards will be permanently deformed because of it.

I was thinking the best way to combat this would be to cut out a piece of heavy duty plywood, just bigger than the tank, and put it below the stand, and put a small rug below at the bottom of it all. Does this sound like a good solution? Has anybody else dealt with this?

 

[BigJim]

A piece of plywood would spread the weight out over the entire floor and prevent pressure points form the stand legs.

 

[OldMan]

A nice piece of half inch ply should do the trick of distributing the pressure over the entire area.

 

[FishEggs]

should be sufficient

 

[taylorodw]

Did you install the flooring yourself? I've put down laminate flooring and the foam underneath it, it is very thin and doesn't have much compression with pressure applied. It's made to give the floors a little bit of flex, like real wood, rather than the hard concrete feeling. Real wood doesn't deform underneath a fish tank, I am pretty sure the foam/laminate wouldn't either as its qualities are the same.

 

[yetee]

how big are your legs on your stand? I am betting you will be fine with out having to put a piece of plywood down. it depends on what kind of surface area you have on your legs. Also you have to remember that the laminate is going to spread your weight out over the surface area of almost the entire board, depending on how much flex is in each piece. Just some food for thought, but, refrigerators can weigh close to if not more than your 28 gallon tank, when full, and they sit on laminate floors all the time and most just use 4 little 1" circular legs.

 

[billydreamer]

Did you install the flooring yourself? I've put down laminate flooring and the foam underneath it, it is very thin and doesn't have much compression with pressure applied. It's made to give the floors a little bit of flex, like real wood, rather than the hard concrete feeling. Real wood doesn't deform underneath a fish tank, I am pretty sure the foam/laminate wouldn't either as its qualities are the same.

What makes me nervous is that it has quite a bit of flex when I'm walking around on it. And I don't know what the resiliency is like over time...