rough decision...

[fireborn230]

Right now i have a 75g reef and i should be going off to a different school next year and the dorms will not let me have that size tank in my room. I am debating selling off my 75g and converting over to a nano because they will allow me to have a small tank. I would rather stay in the hobby with a small tank than sell my 75 and be done with it. I also dont know what i should be concerned with in switching from such a large tank to a small one. any thoughts? thanks in advance! -Russ

 

[iCam]

Hello, and:

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

Keeping up with the water (quality,salinity,temperature,et cetera) seems to be one of the more challenging aspects of a nano. Keep up with topoff so there aren't large swings in salinity due to evaporation. Water quality needs to always be kept in check,as less water, more concentration. If something dies in a large tank, it usually isn't as big of a problem with the larger water volume, but it a nano with small water volume, it can play hell on the water parameters. Also, consider equipment selection so that you don't use anything that puts off too much heat.

Do you have any plans for the nano as far as flow,lighting, et cetera? What do you want to keep in it?

Be sure to update if and when you get it set up

 

[Agu]

The biggest issue having a tank in a dorm is what happens during vacations ?

No one to top off, no one to feed, and often the college will lower/raise the dorm temp to save money when students aren't there.

These aren't insurmountable problems but you need a plan to deal with them.



[welcome]

 

[fireborn230]

i was planning on setting up something like a 20g or 25g and having the back corner drilled and putting an in corner over flow. I got the idea from my current 75 reef ready tank. I was also planning on having a small stand so i can hide a refugium, calcium reactor, skimmer etc. underneath. Im trying to stay away from hang on equipment i think i gets to look gaudy. Im still trying to figure out what lighting i would go with. (any suggestions?) i also have a chiller for my 75 and i know it would be a little overkill but it costs to much to not use and stow away in some closet. As far as vacations go in the dorms i do know a couple people up there and i hope i could convince them to help me with feeding, top offs....that kinda thing. I dont think i would have then do anything very technical. If anyone has suggestions on a good small setup for the dorm scene i would really appreciate it. Does anyone know where to get a 20 or 25g bowfront? Thanks! -Russ

 

[surfnvb7]

in my experience with dorms...you are gonna need to contact the individual school to find out the specifics...otherwise if you get an RA who is very anal, they will make up/interpret the rules as they see fit.

-find out exactly how many gallons they will allow.
-find out if your dorm is air conditioned or not

be aware, that even if you did use say, a 20g tank and they allowed something that big. be aware of the power consumption. if you are running a MH light and a chiller, even though there are no rules in the handbook about power consumption, they could still come down on you and say you are drawing too much power (without any proof) and tell you that you have to get rid of it. like i said, they make up the rules as they see fit.

also, during breaks....MOST dorms are on lock down. meaning you cant get in or out if school is not in session. the only exception that i know of is for RA's who come a couple days early, and leave a couple days after everyone is gone, and whichever dorm houses the athletes.

they also required everyone to unplug everything in your room over breaks. the RA's went around in each dorm after you were gone to make sure everything was unplugged.

its a BIG challenge to have a tank in the dorm thats for sure. looking back on my dorm life, i dont see how it would have been possible.

some schools are more anal than others...so i think you just need to find out more specific info.

PS..make sure you incorporate some kind of fully sealed lid, so your roomate/hallmates aren't tempted to pour a bottle of beer in the tank to see if the fish get drunk....seen it happen several times!

 

[surfnvb7]

heres a good example i remember reading about in our school newspaper a couple years ago...

couple kids caught some kind of catfish/bass at the local river. they set up a 55g tank in the common area of their suite. it didnt have any light on it, and just a HOB filter, heater, and another power head.

in the handbook, there is a rule that said you cant have anything over 15g in your DORM. said nothing about common areas in suites. they came down on the kids suddenly after it was already set up for 6months. totally out of the blue. said it was too much, and was at risk of causing a flood that would be costly to repair...

they accepted it, and drained the tank to a level of a couple inches, what would be around 15g, and made it into a terrerium with frogs/newts, weird stuff like that.

couple weeks later, the bosses of the RA's (not students), said they couldn't have it because fish tanks draw too much power, and are costly on utilities. so they cut the light off, and only had running the heater and a powerhead. but that still wasn't good enough. they eventually were threatened with judicial referrals and broke down the tank. even though there were no written rules anywhere about what they did...

basically, the lesson learned here was that you need to make your set up as low profile as possible, so that it wont attract attention.

i think your best option, would be to keep your 75g set up at home, hopefully train your parents to look after it for a year. in the mean time, set up a nanocube/aquapod or something in your dorm room. then, after a year of living in the dorms, most universities allow their students to move off campus. once you move off campus the next year, take your 75g to your apartment with all your fancy equipment and such.

this is what i've seen *most* people do, b/c they dont want to completely tear down their big tank at home, and they dont want to risk a medium tank crashing in a dorm room, or being forced to take it down.

but of course it really depends on the rules/regulations set forth by the university and the RA's.

 

[fireborn230]

Hey thanks for the warning...im gonna give the housing depatment on it and see how anal they are on the whole situation but in my opinion you should be able to keep a small reef no matter how much power i draws...they charge you enough to live there! lol

 

[surfnvb7]

yeah, i know what you are saying. but college kids do some crazy things in their dorm rooms. they have to make sure that they cant be held liable for flood/fire property damage, due to a persons stupidity.

for instance...keeping a pressurized cylinder of CO2 in your dorm room, would raise HUGE eyebrows. i honestly dont see how they would allow that. and if you were caught, it could be anything from a slap on the wrist, and telling you to remove it, or full blown disciplinary actions like suspending you...depending on the school.

in this day and age, they could even bring up the excuse that it was explosive material dangerous to those living around you. i can think of a million excuses they could come up with to screw you over for having that CO2 cylinder for your calcium reactor.

 

[aural]

man i never had to deal with housing nazis like that. we had a 75g and a 40g set up and noone ever said a word and the whole "you want to see my fishtank?" rutine got girls back to our rooms with a quickness.

 

[surfnvb7]

and the whole "you want to see my fishtank?" rutine got girls back to our rooms with a quickness.

:lol: thats awesome. just say you have nemo in your tank, and make sure your tank is right beside your bed, dont forget to have a moonlight to add to the mood

yeah...it totally depends on the school and the RA. if its a traditional style dorm room, i dont see how you could fit anything bigger than a 20g in a room with 2 people, 2 beds, 2 desks, 2 dressors etc.

 

[Spanky313]

i got a 3 gal in my tiny dorm it is freaking awsome, i love it, i think the max we are allowed to have is an 8 gallon, but i would wait till uve been in the dorm for a week or 2 before starting the new tank, find out as much info as u can about ur roomates and the RA and stuff like that

 

[fireborn230]

I talked to the maintainance person at school and he said they dont really have a restriction in size of the tank but moreso on energy. He was basically saying you have to watch how much power my room will draw total. In that case, if anyone has suggestions to what uses less power, mainly lighting and pumps t would be cool to find out so i can actually pull this off at school. I bought a 16 mini bow...im planning on a 5.5 gal refugium so i am looking for lighting, pumps and a skimmer. Thats the update so far! Thanks - Russ