fish room carpet

[rastamon34]

Trying to lay carpet in wisconsin basement fishroom, try to insulate the floor a bit from the cold, I know cory carpets the store, I am curious if anyone know what kind of carpet that can get a bit wet or whatever and not mold. Anyone have any advice, what have you used in your fishroom

[Guppysnail]

I have not used it for fishroom but I have used indoor outdoor carpet from lowes in various reptile tanks that got wet and held well. 

[lefty o]

agree, indoor/outdoor, or find some of the junk they put in bar's that stuff drinks a lot, and is durable.

[modified lung]

On 4/15/2022 at 9:39 AM, rastamon34 said:

Trying to lay carpet in wisconsin basement fishroom, try to insulate the floor a bit from the cold, I know cory carpets the store, I am curious if anyone know what kind of carpet that can get a bit wet or whatever and not mold. Anyone have any advice, what have you used in your fishroom

I used to live in WI so I know how much of a problem mold can be there. A vapor/moisture barrier under the carpet helps a lot. I'm not sure but I thinks they might be a WI building code requirement for carpet over cement. Make sure there's lots of ventilation or air movement all the time and that there's at least a few inch gap between anything and the wall. I would always put a fan on big water spills right away and I'm sure you know about dehumidifiers. I'd probably cap all your tanks to prevent evaporation too. That's what I did anyways. All that might be overkill under normal circumstances but I had to be extra careful because my son had bad asthma.

[nabokovfan87]

I use bath mats, the memory foam types, that you would use in the shower. It's a lot easier than having a towel on the floor all the time.  The main thing from what Cory has advised is to get something a big cheaper. You don't want long strands, just something that is absorbent (moreso than concrete).

[rastamon34]

On 4/15/2022 at 12:42 PM, modified lung said:

I used to live in WI so I know how much of a problem mold can be there. A vapor/moisture barrier under the carpet helps a lot. I'm not sure but I thinks they might be a WI building code requirement for carpet over cement. Make sure there's lots of ventilation or air movement all the time and that there's at least a few inch gap between anything and the wall. I would always put a fan on big water spills right away and I'm sure you know about dehumidifiers. I'd probably cap all your tanks to prevent evaporation too. That's what I did anyways. All that might be overkill under normal circumstances but I had to be extra careful because my son had bad asthma.

I was thinking of just throwing the stick on tiles onto the cement, the carpet tiles are real thin and I will dry off any drips, but honestly putting backing under will hold more water. I will run a dehumidifier in the summer. Mold is my worst fear, I am going to have lids on everything thats for sure, not trying to destroy my first house with mold. Part of me wants to leave the concrete as it is, but I think that's the coldest source in the fishroom come winter, I want something to insulate a bit, it gets down to 59 60 down there in the worst of winter.

Edited April 15, 2022 by rastamon34

[Dkshadowwolf]

I know you are asking about carpet, but I’m redoing flooring in my house that was built in the early to mid 70’s and the carpet was really bad. I started the upgrades when I flooded my office carpeting, when I failed to seal my canister filter correctly after a rushed maintenance job. (Costly hard lesson learned). I decided to redo most of the house with hardwood flooring (yes including my office with my 125 gallon Aquarium), I left three areas as they currently were (the aforementioned carpet in the master bedroom and one of our extra bedrooms, and the 70’s vinyl flooring in or kitchen. I am just now finishing the project by putting new carpet in the master bedroom and new vinyl tiles in the kitchen and the extra bedroom that serves as my fish room. This fish room has 6 or 7 random Aquariums and various live food cultures scattered about all sitting on old 70’s carpet that has had numerous oops moments of water spills. When I was looking for options for kitchen flooring the vinyl flooring had numerous upsides in cost and better water resistance. Just a thought.

[freemoney]

If hardwood flooring is too expensive, there are a lot of good cheap laminate alternatives. As a bonus laminate is an easy install

[Tihshho]

Carpet in a store is more so aesthetic. I can't tell you how many times I've been in great stores that have had more function over form when it comes to layout and I hear customers in the background bad mouthing it to whomever they are with because they don't like the aesthetic. As for insulation, you might want to consider heating the room and taking advantage of the concrete floor you have. 

[Flumpweesel]

I'd consider carpet tiles I believe it's what they use in the store because they are non slip when wet and if a section gets nasty it's just the affected area that needs to be replaced rather than the whole carpet.

[Widgets]

I do not have any experience with these. But check out the waterhog runners and mats. They have commercial and residential grades. They claim the mat can contain 1.5 gallons per square yard. Set one down in front of the tank(s) and it should catch the minor spills. You could pull it out to clean it. Maybe just set it down before tank maintenance and put it away.

Bungalow Flooring Waterhog Runner Door Mat, 2' x 5' Made in USA, Durable and Decorative Floor Covering, Skid Resistant, Indoor/Outdoor, Water-Trapping, Ellipse Collection, Medium Grey

[Bev C]

i have carpet and my tank is on it in the living room i went to lowes/ home depot and got a industrial floor rubber mat i have a medium to large size one to fit tank are better where i do not need to move it when i do different areas  it has saved my carpet many times