Is it possible

[drewcrew22]

So my husband and I have decided to sell our home and buy an an RV. I would like to continue reefing once we do. I wanted to ask advice on what everyone’s thoughts would be. I will be of course adding some braces to the floor underneath the RV as we’re going to be stationed long term 1yr+ wherever we go. Thinking my max would be 50g if that but looking at a peninsula style or something similar. Thoughts?

 

[Fish Fan]

Interesting! I assume you'll have solid hookups for electricity and water where ever you're headed?

 

[drewcrew22]

Interesting! I assume you'll have solid hookups for electricity and water where ever you're headed?

Oh absolutely.

 

[Uncle99]

So at 50g your looking at say 400lbs which would be approx two large men on a couch.

I think that would work stationary, but I might have some concerns on travelling rough surfaces or quick stops.

Maybe 30 cube would be safer….

Great idea, “Reef on Wheels”

 

[Reefing102]

Now that the fun’s out of the way…that actually sounds like an interesting idea.

Couple things to keep in mind…

Will it remain set up when moving from place to place?

If so, I’d go bare bottom (not stirring up sand with bumps and what not).
I’d also go acrylic as the bumps and jolts may accelerate potential seam failure/glass cracking (I could be making this up, I honestly don’t know). @Joe Glass Cages may be able to chime in here)
I’d also make sure it has a eurobrace style lip for splashing purposes.
Also make sure your rock work is stable. Perhaps consider placing acrylic rods secured to the tank to zip tie your rock work to or feed your rock work onto to keep it from shifting.
Will you have a plan if the RV breaks down and needs to towed?

I’d also consider the smaller the tank the better in this case.

How do you plan to secure the tank within the RV it’s self so it’s “shelf/stand stable” per se?

Just some things to think about.

 

[StartingATank]

Something I could see happening, is if Yall are driving, the water will slosh around and get your floors soaking wet.

 

[strich]

Having recently bought a 2nd hand 450L tank and traveled with it and most of its water and fish in esky's and containers over 3hrs I'll say this: It is completely and totally impossible to move a body of water in a vehicle without the water applying significant pressure to the lid of the containers. Even the most safe of stops from any speed will cause a significant amount of water to spill out of an open container no problems. It's just physics.

All this to say that if you proceed with this, you'll need to have a tank that you can put a completely solid and sealed lid on and probably strap down. And because of that, you'll need to setup a airstone through a sealed gasket and another water limiting exit valve of some kind to keep the water oxygenated unless your drives are very short.

I also agree with making the tank out of acrylic as rocks and other things bumping the walls is likely. Also mildly easier to make the custom mods above to make all this possible IMO.

It's a cool project though. I think it's possible, but it'll need serious thought at every step and I imagine that'll come with a decent amount of expense in making possible.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I honestly think it could be possible. Although it would require a ton of planning for it to work out

 

[BryanM]

Ambitious indeed.

I suppose you'd need a tight fitting lid while traveling.

I'd probably only keep corals, no fish, and bare bottom.

 

[Evil1]

It would most definitely have to be an acrylic tank to start and an AIO

 

[drewcrew22]

So we’re planning on staying in Florida for at minimum a year so it wouldn’t be moved or have a concern of traveling back and forth. It would be staying completely stationary for a minimum of a year. I was thinking bracing the flooring under the RV once parked with a couple hydraulic lifts and maybe a steel beam or plate just to help bare the weight increase

 

[BryanM]

So we’re planning on staying in Florida for at minimum a year so it wouldn’t be moved or have a concern of traveling back and forth. It would be staying completely stationary for a minimum of a year. I was thinking bracing the flooring under the RV once parked with a couple hydraulic lifts and maybe a steel beam or plate just to help bare the weight increase

But what is the plan for when you do get on the road again?

 

[Danjoethepirate]

I have thought of how to drive with a full tank before. I think the biggest help in this would be to get a custom tank with 6+ inches of height beyond the overflow and a gasketed clasping lid. Then any sloshing would be limited to what can get past these safeguards.

 

[drewcrew22]

So we’re planning on staying in Florida for at minimum a year so it wouldn’t be moved or have a concern of traveling back and forth. It would be staying completely stationary for a minimum of a year. I was thinking bracing the flooring under the RV once parked with a couple hydraulic lifts and maybe a steel beam or plate just to help bare the weight increase

But what is the plan for when you do get on the road again?

It’s still undecided if we’re just going to full time live on FL if so then won’t be an issue