# Mobile home dwellers -- your largest aquarium?



## Piscesgirl

I have clown loaches...(enough said?). I had the floor reinforced in my spare room but I'm still scared to death to fill up the 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tank in there that I was planning to put the clowns in. Plus, that room is about 12 feet off the ground. 

I just want to know if any of you are in mobile homes, what is your largest tank and have your reinforced the floors? I did this same question on reefcentral a year or more ago and had lots of big tank answers...but I'm still scared. 

Anyone?


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## MaryPa

Pisces you can put water and fish in the container and all will be fine. My nephew has a 100 and 150 gal in his living room. He braced the floor with cynde blocks stacked with 2x4`s on top and a couple shims. He has had these set ups for at least 5 years that I know of.  
it`ll be ok kiddo


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## Piscesgirl

Thanks for the info, Mary, is he in a single wide or double wide? I don't know why I'm so worried....


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## trenac

Make sure that you place the tank across the joist in the floor not between them and the tank should be fine. The joist are usually placed about 16" in apart.

I have 3 tanks in my living room the largest being a 30 gallon (did have a 55G tank) with no problems.

_Do you know what the dimension of the container are_?... If your floor can withstand six large adults standing in one spot, that would be the same as a 150 gallon tank being in that spot.


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## Piscesgirl

It's approx 57 inches long and 39 inches wide, oval shaped. 

Also, the room it is in doesn't get heat and air as well as the rest of the house -- it's the farthest room from the AC/heat.


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## MaryPa

His house is a 14' wide. You are going to have a submersible heater in the container ,aren`t you?
The dimentions are good because the weight is spread out on more surface. Stop worrying or you`ll get gray hair


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## trenac

Piscesgirl said:


> It's approx 57 inches long and 39 inches wide, oval shaped


According to my husbands _brilliant_ calculations:

57" x 39" = 2223 sq.in.

2223 ÷ 144 = appx 15.5 sq ft

Water weighs 8.33 lbs per gallon (not counting tank).

150 x 8.33 = 1249.5 lbs of water.

1249.5 ÷ 15.5 = appx 80 lbs per sq ft (assuming rectangular dimensions)

Allowing for the oval shape to reduce the actual sq footage, there still should not be more than 110-120 lbs per sq ft. Any well-built floor should easily handle that.


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## Piscesgirl

> Stop worrying or you`ll get gray hair


Well, I don't have gray hair yet, but sometimes I feel like GrannyPG! lol. I worry a lot...

Trena -- thank your husband for his brilliant calculations! 

Thank you both..the worry is getting a little better..I'm still debating whether I should put a real tank in there too, as opposed to the tub..but that's a bit of $$$ .


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## JanS

The largest I ever dared keep in our old mobile home was a 55 gallon. Maybe I tend to over worry too, though. 

Those are some pretty impressive calculations your hubby did Trena. 

I agree, if the tank is like our horse tank (which I'm sure it is) you have to go by the footprint area, so it is pretty concentrated to one spot, compared to a regular 6' long tank.

I don't mean to be Mrs. gloom and doom here, but the other thing is that when you have "x" number of people standing in one spot, they don't stay there for the amount of time a tank will, so it's not quite the same.

You can probably get by with it, if you really beef up the support underneath, but I'm just trying to err on the side of caution so you don't wind up with a big hole in your floor and the loss of your beloved fish. Many people won't even put a tank over 75 gallons in a regular house, unless it's in the basement. 
Another thing is that if you have a newer mobile home, it's bound to be much better built than the one we had, so that also makes it better. 

Maybe you could try to fill it up half way to see how that seems, then gradually add to it? That way you could also monitor your temps and stuff for a while to see how it would be for the fish.


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## Piscesgirl

I didn't think about the footprint area  I'll have to flip it over and measure that..I have a bunch of junk on top of it right now though (I purchased acrylic sheets as 'tank covers' and they are sitting on top right now, and junk on top of that!). 

I still have time for the loaches. They are in the 55 and are about 3 inches long now, I'd guess.


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## trenac

JanS said:


> I don't mean to be Mrs. gloom and doom here, but the other thing is that when you have "x" number of people standing in one spot, they don't stay there for the amount of time a tank will, so it's not quite the same


Well, Mrs. gloom/doom... We can have those people jump up & down for a while! [smilie=u: ... For real, thats a good point.


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## JanS

trenac said:


> Well, Mrs. gloom/doom... We can have those people jump up & down for a while! [smilie=u: ... For real, thats a good point.[/QUOTE]
> 
> LOL Trena! I actually did jump up and down on the stand for my 125 gallon as one of the final tests to be sure it was strong enough.


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