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College students

1K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  hulu 
#1 ·
Those of you who live in dorms, how do you guys clean out your fish tanks? I just bought a 5 gallon and I have no idea how I am going to clean it.
 
#2 ·
My dorm is apartment style so I just fill a bucket up in the tub and carry it back to the fish tank. If you have traditional style dorms you would pretty much do the same thing.

I suggest you cycle your tank so you only have to do a small weekly water change.. that way you have less water to lug back and forth.
 
#7 ·
What's your setup? Where are you studying? I just bought a 5 gallon for my Betta fish who will be just over a year old come this May.

Post some photos.
Here are some pictures. Its not the best quality because I used my phone.

Desk Desktop computer Furniture Personal computer Computer desk


Aquarium Gerbil Filter Freshwater aquarium Fish


Sky Calm Atmosphere Sunlight





The tank is empty but I just ordered some plants, ornaments, and a new heater online. Hopefully they will come this week so that i can start cycling my tank and maybe my betta will stop fighting with its own reflection.
 
#9 ·
Offtopic: I swear, I have a laptop nearly exactly the same as yours.

Cleaning out a 5 gallon is really simple. Get a bucket ready, get your siphon, get the water through the siphon, and let it empty into the bucket. It takes about 20 or so seconds to drain out about half, i think. Maybe not even.

Dump the bucket somewhere. If you want to fill it up with the bucket, go ahead. Fill up the water (too much is okay, it's just you're wasting water haha) but try to match temperature as well as you can. Take your thermometer if needed, but you get used to it REALLY fast. Treat with water conditioner with appropriate amount. slowly poor back the water in. That should cover the very basics of it.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Offtopic: I swear, I have a laptop nearly exactly the same as yours.
Yeah...its an HP that i bought like 2 years ago.

Cleaning out a 5 gallon is really simple. Get a bucket ready, get your siphon, get the water through the siphon, and let it empty into the bucket. It takes about 20 or so seconds to drain out about half, i think. Maybe not even.

Dump the bucket somewhere. If you want to fill it up with the bucket, go ahead. Fill up the water (too much is okay, it's just you're wasting water haha) but try to match temperature as well as you can. Take your thermometer if needed, but you get used to it REALLY fast. Treat with water conditioner with appropriate amount. slowly poor back the water in. That should cover the very basics of it.
If the tank is not cycled...do i need to scrub and rinse things like ornaments, plants etc. before putting the water back in the tank? and what is the best way to put the betta back into the tank so that it won't be stressed out?
 
#11 ·
some of us keep the betta's in the tank's when we do the water change's, some betta's (my Jasper mostly) got really mad (he got really pale and was attacking the sides of the cup) at me when I cupped him to do his water change's, he prefer's to stay in his tank..during.

so u can leave ur little guy in his tank (it's less stressfull on them and u *lol* what wiht the chassing with the net and all).

although I do partial water changes, so if u do 100% water changes someone else might want to give u advice.

goodluck with ur little guy!!
 
#12 ·
some of us keep the betta's in the tank's when we do the water change's, some betta's (my Jasper mostly) got really mad (he got really pale and was attacking the sides of the cup) at me when I cupped him to do his water change's, he prefer's to stay in his tank..during.

so u can leave ur little guy in his tank (it's less stressfull on them and u *lol* what wiht the chassing with the net and all).

although I do partial water changes, so if u do 100% water changes someone else might want to give u advice.

goodluck with ur little guy!!
Is your tank cycled?
 
#13 ·
If your tank isn't cycled your going to have to take your fish out. IMO fish should be trained to be used to the cup/bowl in case you have to move them (i.e. home for the summer/ winter... new dorm/apt.. etc).

BTW.. I would fill your tank almost to the top.. leave about 1/2-1inch of air at the top.. filling the water higher will help lessen the flow of the filter.
 
#14 ·
I just siphon my water out into a garbage can thing and dump it in the washing room sink (I live in a community style dorm, not an apartment style) then I use a little 1g kritter keeper to refill it. I have a 10g though so you won't have to make as many trips as I do..lol. It's not bad at all to me, in fact I enjoy the job. But then again, I only have 2 tanks so it's not too much for me to handle. I leave my fish in the tank while I do it. Of course, Chance is in a 2.5g so I taught him to swim into the cup while I change out the water so I don't stress him out by chasing him around.
 
#15 ·
I have a 10g and I bought two 5g buckets for water changes-- one for dirty water and one for clean water that I'd add back into the tank.
Before I start siphoning water out of the tank, I first fill up the clean water bucket in the shower (thankfully the bathroom is right next door to me) and add conditioner. As that settles, I siphon out the crap from the gravel into the other bucket... I poor out the dirty water into a toilet... and slowly add clean water back into the tank.
 
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