Dry Wall Construction with Reef in House

kbomb · Mar 12, 2023

First post on the forum, and I need advice on how to protect my tank following a flood situation.

Long story short, the main drain to my house that is built into the concrete foundation on the first floor has backed up and caused dirt/water to flood the house.

Luckily my reef tank is completely unharmed, but the insurance company will likely want to tear out and replace the floors/drywall to remedy the damage.

Would my tank be ok with the construction around it or will it need to be moved to protect the livestock from paint/debris?

Does anyone have experience explaining these issues to their homeowners insurance?

Any advice/experiences are much appreciated.

mike550 · Mar 12, 2023

@kbomb wow sorry to see this. Personally, moving the tank would be the last thing I’d want to do. But if your floor is damaged and they need to get under the tank to repair it I don’t think you have a choice. Same that if water is in the drywall you’ll want that removed.

FreshSaltH2o · Mar 17, 2023

When I had construction in the house back in 2015 I plastic wrapped the entire tank and pumped in filtered air. Did I go to the extreme yes but did I lose anything no. Fed through a little cut in the top and wiped down collected dust every day.

Bucs20fan · Mar 17, 2023

Once the tank is moved, which is the hard part, at a minimum, an air stone and cover the tank with something, Can be a simple as a towel, blanket, plastic wrap you get the picture.

Matty Ice · Mar 17, 2023

Depending on how crazy you want to get… You could place a make shift ICRA walk up. It’s what we do in hospitals to minimize construction dust entering a sterile environment.