Floor refinishing

[JTM4UG]

Having my floors refinished while im on vacation. Tank will be covered during the sanding but would rather leave it open during the urethaning with all the windows open. Anyone have any insight into this. Have heard conflicting info about oil or water based poly being better for the tank. Oil chemicals should be water insoluble so it seems like it would be the obvious choice.

 

[DylanCameron]

Not sure I would leave the tank open during urethaning, even with the windows open. I have no first hand experience with this, but I found a thread with a few second-hand anecdotes and some direct responses:

Refinishing Hardwood Floors how will it effect tank?

I need to refinish my hardwood floors. With 6 dogs in the house durability is key so I need to use an oil based polyurethane. Does anyone have any experience as to how this may effect a tank? I have a 125 gal mixed reef display with a 40 gal sump in the same room that I will be refinishing...

www.reef2reef.com

An old thread from this forum, someone said they had no problem with a water-based poly:

https://bostonreefers.org/forums/index.php?threads/hardwood-floor-refinishing-with-a-reef-tank.161571/

 

[Chris A.]

Definitely the worst time to be away from your tank. Even the dust from sanding can contaminate the water. I would probably encapsulate the tank and use some plastic flex tubing for dryers to connect to the outside through a window to get fresh air in but with temps being so cold it could also be a issue.

 

[Beto]

I had white slime, it covered and killed all my corals. The contractor didn't wait for me to cover the tank. It was a huge nightmare. I would run activated carbon and cover all open spaces. That was my experience.

 

[kgstei]

I don't know if there are any dangers with polyurethane. But the water based polyurethane will have lower vocs than oil-based polyurethane. For that reason I would think that water based poly would be the better choice as far as the tank is concerned. Definitely cover the tank during sanding. Even with the sanding bags on there's still a lot of dust in the air. Personally I would like to be around just in case something goes south in the tank. Best of luck.

 

[JTM4UG]

I decided to use zip wall to make a plastic enclosure around the tank. The mini split is also in the enclosure. Going to add an extra heater and leave it on fan.

 

[CrypticLifeStyle]

I just had all my wood floors done a month ago, had to move my mudroom tank. Took 3 or 4 days of water based coating ontop of the day or 2 sanding. I had to live for a week on the other side of the house cause of the fumes, which are toxic btw whether water or oil. Good luck.

 

[Skmaiden]

I’d run plenty of carbon during the whole process
with fans in the room and by windows to force cross circulate air incase there isn’t much wind for cross ventilation.