Going off to College soon, what should I do with my tank?

[Tnops]

Hey guys, I got into the reef hobby 2 years ago (kept freshwater for 5 years before that) and its been a blast. However, the growth in my tank with SPS has not been expected and maintenance has been rough given school. I will also be moving pretty soon and am wondering if it is worth keeping the tank since I will only get to keep it for one more year before college. If I do keep it, what should I do with it before I go off to college? I know this is ultimately up to me but anybody with similar experiences or suggestions will be appreciated!

 

[snorklr]

you know, this is what i keep asking high school kids to consider before getting involved in this hobby...the most logical thing is to simply break it down, store the equipment and start over later as time, life and money allows...other than that, trying to train your possibly clueless and uninterested parents to keep everything going in your absence probably will not end well for either your livestock or your relationship with your parents...downsizing into something you can bring along with you may be a possibility but then there are dorm rules, days the school forces you to vacate between semesters, idiot roommates that may think corals like beer,moving it to off campus housing or dragging it back to your parents house and again just one more thing to take your attention away from your schoolwork...i have a paper due tomorrow but the tank is crashing and i have to do a water change etc etc....my son was a A student , got an academic scholarship and it still took him 6 years to get an engineering degree....grad school? masters? this will take all longer than you've had the tank so far and isn't fair to try to get someone else to do your hobby for you in your absence

 

[College_Reefer]

Well I feel particularly qualified to talk about this one… I had 3 saltwater tanks in my dorm room. Make friends with the RAs, don’t make it overly obvious you have them and I don’t think you’d have much problem. Whenever the room would get checked, it would always be met with “cool tank” or “what’s in it?” Don’t make problems in other ways and you probably won’t be hassled about it. If you decide to give it a shot, automation is an absolute must. At the bare minimum, auto topoff. I had an apex jr hooked up to the coral tank and the others were mainly just tanks with stuff I couldn’t have in my mixed reef. I moved those tanks every year, dorm to dorm and had a system down and it was like clockwork for me. The most important thing is to figure out if it’s worth it to you because if it is, you should absolutely do it. Let me just say, next to dogs they’re big chick magnets lol

 

[Tnops]

you know, this is what i keep asking high school kids to consider before getting involved in this hobby...the most logical thing is to simply break it down, store the equipment and start over later as time, life and money allows...other than that, trying to train your possibly clueless and uninterested parents to keep everything going in your absence probably will not end well for either your livestock or your relationship with your parents...downsizing into something you can bring along with you may be a possibility but then there are dorm rules, days the school forces you to vacate between semesters, idiot roommates that may think corals like beer,moving it to off campus housing or dragging it back to your parents house and again just one more thing to take your attention away from your schoolwork...i have a paper due tomorrow but the tank is crashing and i have to do a water change etc etc....my son was a A student , got an academic scholarship and it still took him 6 years to get an engineering degree....grad school? masters? this will take all longer than you've had the tank so far and isn't fair to try to get someone else to do your hobby for you in your absence

yea I have always thought about that, I started saltwater during my freshman year and did not think time would pass this fast. But I have loved marine biology my entire life and it was not something I was willing to give up. My tank is 75 gallons and full of life stock with a few high-end corals. My dad is willing to attempt to keep it while I am gone as he also has an interest in this kind of stuff, at least saving the valuable lifestock. If I am struggling now with balancing high school and this hobby I am not sure how I will do with keeping a tank in college haha

 

[Tnops]

Well I feel particularly qualified to talk about this one… I had 3 saltwater tanks in my dorm room. Make friends with the RAs, don’t make it overly obvious you have them and I don’t think you’d have much problem. Whenever the room would get checked, it would always be met with “cool tank” or “what’s in it?” Don’t make problems in other ways and you probably won’t be hassled about it. If you decide to give it a shot, automation is an absolute must. At the bare minimum, auto topoff. I had an apex jr hooked up to the coral tank and the others were mainly just tanks with stuff I couldn’t have in my mixed reef. I moved those tanks every year, dorm to dorm and had a system down and it was like clockwork for me. The most important thing is to figure out if it’s worth it to you because if it is, you should absolutely do it. Let me just say, next to dogs they’re big chick magnets lol

that's cool, being a chick magnet is always a plus lol. Did you ever find yourself struggling to balance academic and social life with your tanks?

 

[College_Reefer]

that's cool, being a chick magnet is always a plus lol. Did you ever find yourself struggling to balance academic and social life with your tanks?

Honestly? Not really. College more than anything else is budgeting time. Reefing has been a huge part of my life and it wasn’t something I was willing to give up in school so I made sure I budgeted time to take care of the tank too. My friends always understood that and loved going to fish stores with me and checking out the tank. They all had their favorite fish and whatnot so honestly I’d say it helped the social aspect. It also helps to be “the guy with all the cool fish”. Academically it didn’t really mess with things too badly as I always made sure to manage things in a way that I could get work done. If anything, it helped me complete stuff more efficiently because I had responsibilities to the tank I needed to do after completing assignments. by far the biggest benefit I found over it all was the stress relief. Being able to do something I loved, take a breath and just watch my coral and fish move around was really therapeutic to me

 

[Tnops]

Honestly? Not really. College more than anything else is budgeting time. Reefing has been a huge part of my life and it wasn’t something I was willing to give up in school so I made sure I budgeted time to take care of the tank too. My friends always understood that and loved going to fish stores with me and checking out the tank. They all had their favorite fish and whatnot so honestly I’d say it helped the social aspect. It also helps to be “the guy with all the cool fish”. Academically it didn’t really mess with things too badly as I always made sure to manage things in a way that I could get work done. If anything, it helped me complete stuff more efficiently because I had responsibilities to the tank I needed to do after completing assignments. by far the biggest benefit I found over it all was the stress relief. Being able to do something I loved, take a breath and just watch my coral and fish move around was really therapeutic to me

Yea thanks I haven't actually considered keeping an aquarium in my dorm but now I might actually look into it!

 

[littlefoxx]

Yea thanks I haven't actually considered keeping an aquarium in my dorm but now I might actually look into it!

You might want to downsize the tank, most dorms are not big enough for a 75 gallon. The guy above was really lucky with the RA! Mine got angry with me about a 10 gallon tank with a single bug eyed goldfish in it! Maybe live off campus the second year and then re locate it? Just a thought. I had 3 RAs over the years I was in school and each one of them had a beef with the tank and goldfish! But if you can do it that would be super cool