Salt water vs polished and stained concrete

[Djplus1]

Just curious if anyone here has decorative polished and/or stained concrete floors with a tank? Is there any problems with concrete finish damage? 

[Djplus1]

Thinking about setting up the RSM in the basement. Still curious about any real world experience anyone has with saltwater and stained concrete. I know that salt water swimming pool decks are usually sealed with a special sealer to prevent damage, but they are under constant splashing,etc. I don't want my floors breaking apart after a few months of water change splash over.

[davelin315]

A polished floor will absorb everything that is spilled on it and certain things may remove the finish itself.  We have polished concrete floors at the museum I run and you can see every last thing that was spilled on the floor as it leaves a residue behind.  We also have a marking left from a vinyl sign that was placed on the floor where all of the polish was essentially ripped off and left behind what looks like a watermark.  If it's sealed that might help a bit, but I believe ours were polished and then sealed and they still absorb pretty much everything.  I would pour water on your floor and then let it sit for a few minutes before wiping it up.  If you can see where the water was, you can bet that you'll experience staining on the floor when saltwater spills on it.

[Djplus1]

A polished floor will absorb everything that is spilled on it and certain things may remove the finish itself.  We have polished concrete floors at the museum I run and you can see every last thing that was spilled on the floor as it leaves a residue behind.  We also have a marking left from a vinyl sign that was placed on the floor where all of the polish was essentially ripped off and left behind what looks like a watermark.  If it's sealed that might help a bit, but I believe ours were polished and then sealed and they still absorb pretty much everything.  I would pour water on your floor and then let it sit for a few minutes before wiping it up.  If you can see where the water was, you can bet that you'll experience staining on the floor when saltwater spills on it.

http://i1310.photobucket.com/albums/s650/djplus11/IMAG0078_zpspwf0xoij.jpg

 

As you can see in the pic, there already is a "stain" on the stained concrete, lol from the previous owners.

 

Now that I moved in, it doesn't appear to be "polished", just stained and sealed. My concern is less with the discoloration, but the crumbling of the concrete itself, when assaulted by saltwater from leaks, spills, etc. Talk to most about using salt on their concrete sidewalks and you'll generally hear that the concrete started crumbling into a huge mess. Definitely DONT want that in the house.

[davelin315]

Salt will eventually damage it, you should have seen the result of saltwater on 80 year old concrete tanks at NADC! You could crumble it with your fingers.

[davelin315]

That said, I have spilled tons of saltwater in my basement, just a polished concrete floor, and no damage

[Djplus1]

That said, I have spilled tons of saltwater in my basement, just a polished concrete floor, and no damage

So are you suggesting that provided it's not sitting on the ground for a long time and is pretty much immediately wiped up, I shouldn't see crumbling floors.  My main concern is splashing behind the tank that I may not see and/ or reach and that turning into a problem eventually.