75 Science Lab Reef - Page 4

tunicata · 09-30-2007, 05:14 PM

Oh, wow. That project is exactly what I wanted to be doing for my students!!!
I'm a new teacher, and my background is Marine Bio (academic i.e. not readily useful!!! lol...) and I'm in the process of writing proposals to get 4 mini ecosystems set up for my classes, and 1 class teaching tank.

Good luck on the new lab, and well...I'd love to talk to your mom about how she organized everything, i.e. aligned the project to state standards, delegated duties to students, etc.

ColdZero · 10-24-2007, 11:11 AM

Long time no update.

There was a delay with filling the tank, the plumber wanted to make the RO/DI install very neat which I'd say he did. I installed the solenoid and filter cartridges in the RO/DI last night and my mom will be filling the tank today after she lets the RO run into the sink for a few hours.

I'm going to be purchasing sand for the tank in the next few days. Anybody have any suggestions as to a type of sand they've had success with. I've always used the ESV fine sand, but it seems like it always gets kicked up for me. I see they have a new coarse sand, has anybody ever used that before?

ColdZero · 01-17-2008, 11:54 AM

Just an update to the tank.

Over the past few weeks rock and sand were added to the tank. This past weekend scarlet hermits and snails were added to the tank. This pic is from the day after they were added.

On the live rock so far I've found 1 red mushroom and what looks to be like some kind of little acropora. I can't tell if it survived, but its been over 2 weeks since the rock has been in the tank and it hasn't bleached yet and I see it extending its polyps. It would be cool if it survived.

The pic quality is pretty low since I took it with my camera phone, I'll see if I can remember to bring my SLR when I stop at the school this week sometime.

There's a webcam next to the tank but I haven't finished writing the code to embed a still image into a webpage yet. The camera is kinda crappy and only likes sending video. There's also a Aquacontroller I've got dumping stuff to a database, but again when I get some time I can have that update in realtime on a website as well. Should be pretty nifty.

http://science.stjosephschool.net is the address if anybody wants to check it out. The stuff on the page is static now so when it says its 50 degrees out when its 26, its a work in progress.

This weekend I think we're going to be adding a fish, maybe some mushrooms or zoos to the tank to get some activity in there.

On a side note we have an acrobatic snail in the tank. The returns are free floating from the pipe above so there's no direct contact with the tank for a snail to climb on them. Well one found its way on to one of the tunzies, went up the power cord and onto the return. It did a pretty good job of cleaning everything.

Till next time.

Tim · 01-17-2008, 12:27 PM

Very nice, I still have some frags I am willing to donate lmk when you are ready....

inkblue · 01-17-2008, 01:30 PM

Really nice

i envy aLL that countertop space... !!

ColdZero · 01-21-2008, 11:39 AM

This past weekend we added 3 female squampy anthias to the tank. They're doing well and eating already. They're gonna get it on a schedule of morning, mid morning, lunch and before my mom leaves around 4ish for feeding times.

I setup a small power compact light on a reverse schedule with the halides so that the anthias don't get spooked and jump when the lights suddenly go off at night. I'm going to try to setup some kind of moon phases eventually with leds on the shelf above the tank.

This upcoming week I'm gonna try to get some shrooms, zoos and star polyps into the tank to get a few corals in there. If anybody sees/has any for sale, let me know.

Till next time.

ColdZero · 01-28-2008, 03:07 PM

Here are some pics of the stuff that has been added to the tank over the past few weeks:

Some red shrooms added a few minutes before the pic was taken

Tracto added the same time as the shrooms

2/3 of the anthias that are now in the tank

One of the clams in the tank.

A pagoda from Devious

The tracto and the shrooms are new, everything else has been in the tank for a while. Things are doing well, the fish are fed a mix of mysis, formula 1 and a formula 2 thrown in now and then. We haven't started feeding the corals yet, but plan on starting on some phyto in a week or so.

The plastics in the tank are starting to grow some purple coralline and some of the old dry rock that we used for a base has started to show some purple dots as well.

Just this past weekend, I modded the Octopus skimmer we had with a larger hole for the air intake and bored out the elbow to the skimmer. It seems to have helped a lot, but I think I may try to bore out a little more. I plan on doing the mesh mod once I can find some of the mesh materia, Enkasomething.

The kids love it so far, they have a wall where they keep all the scientific names of the corals and fish in the tank. They went to the Hall of Science a few weeks ago for a field trip and one of the demonstrations was about protein skimming through waves in the ocean. They didn't call it protein skimming, but the kids made the connection with what was happening in the skimmer and the foam in the ocean. They were pretty excited to figure out that the same thing was happening in the filter of the tank.

prattreef · 01-28-2008, 03:46 PM

The tank looks great and the kids response is fantastic.

01-17-2008, 11:54 AM	#33
ColdZero Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Westchester Posts: 25 Reefer Ratings: (1) Friends: (0)	Just an update to the tank. Over the past few weeks rock and sand were added to the tank. This past weekend scarlet hermits and snails were added to the tank. This pic is from the day after they were added. On the live rock so far I've found 1 red mushroom and what looks to be like some kind of little acropora. I can't tell if it survived, but its been over 2 weeks since the rock has been in the tank and it hasn't bleached yet and I see it extending its polyps. It would be cool if it survived. The pic quality is pretty low since I took it with my camera phone, I'll see if I can remember to bring my SLR when I stop at the school this week sometime. There's a webcam next to the tank but I haven't finished writing the code to embed a still image into a webpage yet. The camera is kinda crappy and only likes sending video. There's also a Aquacontroller I've got dumping stuff to a database, but again when I get some time I can have that update in realtime on a website as well. Should be pretty nifty. http://science.stjosephschool.net is the address if anybody wants to check it out. The stuff on the page is static now so when it says its 50 degrees out when its 26, its a work in progress. This weekend I think we're going to be adding a fish, maybe some mushrooms or zoos to the tank to get some activity in there. On a side note we have an acrobatic snail in the tank. The returns are free floating from the pipe above so there's no direct contact with the tank for a snail to climb on them. Well one found its way on to one of the tunzies, went up the power cord and onto the return. It did a pretty good job of cleaning everything. Till next time. Last edited by ColdZero; 01-17-2008 at 11:59 AM.

01-17-2008, 01:30 PM	#35
inkblue Muro Ami Captain Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Williamsburgh, Brooklyn Posts: 7,800 Reefer Ratings: (86) Friends: (22)	Really nice i envy aLL that countertop space... !! __________________

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09-30-2007, 05:14 PM	#31
tunicata Tunicate Tamer Join Date: May 2007 Location: Newark, NJ Posts: 455 Reefer Ratings: (16) Friends: (2)	Oh, wow. That project is exactly what I wanted to be doing for my students!!! I'm a new teacher, and my background is Marine Bio (academic i.e. not readily useful!!! lol...) and I'm in the process of writing proposals to get 4 mini ecosystems set up for my classes, and 1 class teaching tank. Good luck on the new lab, and well...I'd love to talk to your mom about how she organized everything, i.e. aligned the project to state standards, delegated duties to students, etc.

10-24-2007, 11:11 AM	#32
ColdZero Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Westchester Posts: 25 Reefer Ratings: (1) Friends: (0)	Long time no update. There was a delay with filling the tank, the plumber wanted to make the RO/DI install very neat which I'd say he did. I installed the solenoid and filter cartridges in the RO/DI last night and my mom will be filling the tank today after she lets the RO run into the sink for a few hours. I'm going to be purchasing sand for the tank in the next few days. Anybody have any suggestions as to a type of sand they've had success with. I've always used the ESV fine sand, but it seems like it always gets kicked up for me. I see they have a new coarse sand, has anybody ever used that before?

01-17-2008, 12:27 PM	#34
Tim Tim`s Aquatics Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Rockland County Posts: 1,048 Reefer Ratings: (15) Friends: (0)	Very nice, I still have some frags I am willing to donate lmk when you are ready....

01-21-2008, 11:39 AM	#36
ColdZero Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Westchester Posts: 25 Reefer Ratings: (1) Friends: (0)	This past weekend we added 3 female squampy anthias to the tank. They're doing well and eating already. They're gonna get it on a schedule of morning, mid morning, lunch and before my mom leaves around 4ish for feeding times. I setup a small power compact light on a reverse schedule with the halides so that the anthias don't get spooked and jump when the lights suddenly go off at night. I'm going to try to setup some kind of moon phases eventually with leds on the shelf above the tank. This upcoming week I'm gonna try to get some shrooms, zoos and star polyps into the tank to get a few corals in there. If anybody sees/has any for sale, let me know. Till next time.

01-28-2008, 03:07 PM	#37
ColdZero Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Westchester Posts: 25 Reefer Ratings: (1) Friends: (0)	Here are some pics of the stuff that has been added to the tank over the past few weeks: Some red shrooms added a few minutes before the pic was taken Tracto added the same time as the shrooms 2/3 of the anthias that are now in the tank One of the clams in the tank. A pagoda from Devious The tracto and the shrooms are new, everything else has been in the tank for a while. Things are doing well, the fish are fed a mix of mysis, formula 1 and a formula 2 thrown in now and then. We haven't started feeding the corals yet, but plan on starting on some phyto in a week or so. The plastics in the tank are starting to grow some purple coralline and some of the old dry rock that we used for a base has started to show some purple dots as well. Just this past weekend, I modded the Octopus skimmer we had with a larger hole for the air intake and bored out the elbow to the skimmer. It seems to have helped a lot, but I think I may try to bore out a little more. I plan on doing the mesh mod once I can find some of the mesh materia, Enkasomething. The kids love it so far, they have a wall where they keep all the scientific names of the corals and fish in the tank. They went to the Hall of Science a few weeks ago for a field trip and one of the demonstrations was about protein skimming through waves in the ocean. They didn't call it protein skimming, but the kids made the connection with what was happening in the skimmer and the foam in the ocean. They were pretty excited to figure out that the same thing was happening in the filter of the tank.

01-28-2008, 03:46 PM	#38
prattreef Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 2,955 Reefer Ratings: (17) Friends: (15)	The tank looks great and the kids response is fantastic.