Ideas to prevent furniture warping?

[jdellman]

Does anyone have a suggestion for something I can place in-between a wood dresser and a 10 gallon tank to prevent ruining the furniture? Since water is always spilling, my thought was to put some kind of plasitc tray that is bigger than the tank to catch any water that spills, but that does not sound very attractive. I know this must be a common concern, so any ideas?

Thanks,

Jim

[Kasakato]

To prevent this, I only use tank stands. Some dressers aren’t built to hold the extreme weight from a tank. Water is 8lbs per gallon. So a 10g is 80lbs not including the gravel, and decor.
But to prevent it, how about a acrylic sheet under the tank? This will prevent water from getting under the tank and rotting the wood. You can also try to keep a towel or something on standby, so if anything spills you can clean it up really fast.

[TKOS]

I have a tank on my parents coffee table and that has a sheet of glass cut to fit the top of the table. It works well at keeping out spills but once there was a big leak and it got between the sheet of glass and the table top so that meant removing everything to clean it up. Something with a bit of a lip would be ideal to keep the water from getting under it.

And actually water is closer to 8.3 lbs per gallon. For a 10 gallon tank not too much to worry about but when you start getting to 30 and above tank weight can get impressive.

[mvigor]

That's a good question because almost anything you put under the tank runs the risk of trapping water and doing even more damage to the furniture. I say just keep a towel on hand and wipe up the spills before they get a chance to try to get under the tank.

In the past I have put 10 gallon tanks on a folded towel and that worked out ok.

[mogurnda]

I find that the padded plastic sheets that are used under tablecloths work quite well.

Remember to close your drawers when doing water changes.

[jdellman]

Thank you all for the suggestions.

[JinxXx0085]

Remember to close your drawers when doing water changes.
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :thm: :thm:

[CajunCC]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :thm: :thm:

Not funny! I had a bit of a mishap during a water change which resulted in tols of soaked clothes. I was so mad at myself. :laugh:

[maaltan]

what about that shelf paper stuff Its in the home/kitchen sections and comes in little rolls about like wallpaper. it has a slightly tacky back and it pretty tough. its not supposed to ruin any finish (but has the obligitory warning about testing first)

I have also used a simple sheet of cardboard under a tank to wick out water spills. plus it changes colors dramatically when its wet so you can (theoretically) detect small leaks before they get big.

and about the weight. yes most furnature isnt made for it. i was forced to move my 10g when i had it on an old computer desk. I figured since i had a 24" monitor on it, the tank couldn't weigh much more. after about 3 months it was so bowed i could fit a small pencil under the center of the tank.