Any one keep nano's in college?

[Salty Brother]

Im a freshman in highschool and obviosly I wont be able to keep my 29gal with 15gal sump in a dorm.
This was my idea, some how sell most of the things in my tank or give them to my brother. Buy a JBJ 6gal Nano. But about 10 lbs of live rock in there, I fish and maybe a little skimmer. A few corals like shrooms and ricordia. I would bring about 12gals of RO/DI water from home and constantly keep 10gals of it mixing and do 2gal water changes every week. Then have the other 2gals for top off. I would bring it home every time I had a major vacation, and leave it there if I go home for the weekend. To bring it home I would leave about 3gals in it, and carry it. then put fresh water when I get home.
Does this sound okay, anyone else do it?
Thanks,
Patrick

 

[iCam]

One thing to keep in mind is that many universities cut the power off in the dorms during part of the breaks.

 

[Gundo5000]

Sounds like a pain in the a$$ to transport back and forth, but its always worth a try. Will you be in the dorms all fourz/five years? If not wait till you get an apartment. Thats what I did.

 

[mr pink floyd]

patrick, i plan on havign a 5 or 10 AGA in my dorm, i might put on a small PC fixture, or some NO t5s, maybe even a viper, skimmer and modded fuge, ill probably end up stayign in CT, goign to Uconn, and the water here form the tap is good, my 29 has been TO from tap and WC from tap for almost 2 years, no problems.

id make it simple too, few rics, some frogspawn, leather, mayeb some nice GSP, easily maintained tank

or ill just do a gobey nad shrimp combo, with a zoo garden or something,

to transport home, id jus tgrab a 5 gal bucket and there will be some stress, but oh well, it will only be a few times a year

 

[Salty Brother]

hey mike,
ya I really want to do one in college, I hopefully wont be in dorm all four years, but the first 2 for sure. mike, im looking at getting a ccs 125, you know any good places to get one, my loest price is from Drs F & S at $127

 

[Poorcollegereef]

hey, I have a 20 gal with a 20 gal sump and it does nicely. I used to have a 55 gal until the school restricted tank size. A 6 gal nano would be easy. Since i have torn the tank down several times I can do it in less than an hour. Just have a couple of coolers ready. My school only turns off the power over winter break and thats if NO-ONE is staying. Since I also run the residence hall, I also know that there is there is normally one person that stays but leaving a tank over break is a bad idea for an nano mostly for evaporation reasons. But as long as you dont have to fly/take the train home, it is easy to keep a tank in the res-halls. Ask me any other questions that you may have. ~ Poorcollegereef

 

[AnotherReefGuy]

I kept a Nano in college, along with 2 FW tanks. The hardest part was really taking time to do work on the tank. If you have the time, a place to put it, and some knowledge, you can have one. My GF at the time had one too and then she moved in a 30 Reef and had it for about 2 years.

If you have the resources, and it doesn't break university rules and safety, go for it.

 

[mr pink floyd]

thats the best ive seen patrick!

 

[Pillz]

most colleges allow up to 20 gall tanks.. just go with a aga 10 with a 10 gall sump or something.

 

[kaserpick]

I started out with a 10 gal. FOWLR my sophmore year. It was easy to take home and bring back with the right containers. Here's the tank I keep now:

It's gonna take a little bit more time to pack for home at the end of the semester, but it's pretty easy to maintain. The sucker takes up my entire desk though! Oh, the sacrifices I make for reefin'

Thumbs up!
Kaserpick

 

[gfk]

i have mine but i got it my junior year in my house, not in the dorms.

id just wait and do it after you move out of the dorms.

when i go home on break i just have my ex gf come take care of it and feed my fish for me lol

 

[leeweber85]

I'm not sure how long you will go before coming home, but 2 gallons for top off will only last you about 2 weeks. You could of course buy distilled water from the grocery store if you run out.

 

[scottyb]

i started off with a 2 1/2 gallon eclipse during my freshman and soph. years in college. it wasn't much to look at because i was broke and a total noob to reefing, but it was a great little size and was good for a fish and some live rock rubble. i used to drain half the water, put it in a trash bag for the ride home (in case there was some spillage) and jammed it in my passenger footwell with other luggage. it was pretty ridiculous but it worked.

my junior year i moved into my new apt. with a roomie who had an old 10 gallon in his basement. he gave it to me and i couldn't resist. so, transferred everything over to the 10, and set up a very ghetto plexiglas top to lay some flourescents on. he also gave me a beat up old HOB and i used that as well. served me for another 3 years til i graduated, and my reef expanded. taking it home was a huge PITA (half empty it was still like 60 pounds) and it barely fit in my front seat but i didn't care, i loved my saltwater tank and it made the 110 mile trip from school to home and back about a dozen times with that tank. those fish were troopers!

don't get discouraged. if you keep a small tank that you know you can carry or transport, then just make sure you have extra containers to pack individual animals/rocks, and you're set. i wouldn't leave it there if you can help it, like others have said they mess with the power sometimes, and dorms can hit temperature extremes when that happens. plus you never know if stupid people might mess with it when you're away.

 

[jobob]

You better check with the college because my sisters college wont let them have saltwater tanks at all. only fresh and only up to 10gals. sucks.

 

[Nathan4Wvu]

Yea don't have one in the dorms im finishing my freshmen year right now and im moving into my house next week. I will be living here all the time now, so im moving my tank about 175 miles from my home to here. In the dorm there is to many people around and its a pain because they lock you out during christman and any major breaks. Do like i did and just get a gold fish and name it gold member the girls love um lol also they are all but impossible to kill mine made it a week on a weekend feeder