MaeganWink

While that's a super cool idea, I don't trust myself to make it on my own. So if someone wants to help me (again, for pay), I'd be willing, otherwise I'm looking at other options. The only other thing I've thought of trying is one of these background hangers for photography: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FY4TVKH/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A2IXKAD5ED4Q12&psc=1 It says it can hold up to 15 LBs, which means it should be able to hold the lights...I think. It's just a lot bulkier than I'd like and will likely get in the way, but it'd be better than nothing.

@Hubbard42 If you have any livestock you have trouble rehoming I may be able to take it for one of my many classroom tanks. Hopefully you can find some good buyers, though!

If any of you follow my Marine Science class thread you may know I've got two 55 gallon bowfronts back to back. Right now I just have a light laying horizontally across them, but it's a short term solution, as only 1-2 ballasts of the light works. I have two of these LED lights I want to setup instead, but I can't hang them from the ceiling because a) it's a fire hazard for the school and b) I wouldn't trust the ceiling to hold them tbh. I've tried everything I can on my own, but I'm NOT super DIY. I've tried building something with PVC pipes, I've even tried deck hangers, but nothing works because the placement is too far away from the actual tank or isn't strong enough to hold the weight of the lights. At this point I realize I'll probably need someone to build me something, so I thought I'd start here. Each light is about 5 Lbs. I figure I'd need either two separate stand or one that goes across the top to hang them. I don't care if it's wood or metal, as long as it will hold up to water (obviously). This is NOT a fast track project; I would probably want it done in the summer, because I will probably need to use some of next year's budget to get it done. So let me know what you'd charge. If you're not sure, give me a high-end estimate. I'll include pictures of the bowfronts, what the setup looks like behind the tanks (there is a sump and frag tank), as well as a picture of the LED lights I have.

Would love to know how this went, even just for the story of it.

@newbie2014 Thanks for the info! I had them get that type of filter for the tank. @davelin315 Thanks for the suggestion! I think an Amazon tank could be neat, plus we could make it educational in connecting to the region and conservation perhaps. @ImGoingCoastal Thanks for the tip, but I don't think they want a very big tank. I offered them something bigger and they were like nah xD

@Laurie Hey Laurie! That's very generous of you! It's good people like you that have made the tanks in my classroom possible. I know I personally would love the chiller at the very least. I've been stressing about how I'm going to keep many tanks cool enough in the summer months when the air isn't always on. There is also a specific thread for school donations if you wanted to post your information there. I'm not sure how often it's checked, but this one has had some activity so I know there are at least a handful of other schools that use it.

The library has asked me to help them set up a low-maintenance freshwater fish tank. They already have a 20 gallon tall with some basic lights and a heater. Since I haven't done freshwater myself, though, I wanted to recommendations on filtration and livestock. My guess is to keep it as low maintenance as possible we'd want a lot of plants for nutrient absorption and a pretty good filtration system. What would you guys recommend? The librarians have told me they do have money in the budget to spend a good couple hundred dollars to get the thing started.

My students noticed these worm-like organisms on one of their mushroom corals today. Any idea what they might be and if they're harmful?

I knew someone who worked for a Petco that managed a pet department, kept the fish pretty health, but openly admitted to not doing the exact care things Petco wanted them to do because it wasn't what was best for the fish. So yeah, probably largely depends on who is managing it. Also, I'm very unimpressed with Liveaquaria after my last order had all those engineer gobies bagged together so they could murder each other...and when I tried to tell the company about it I just got standard he's how to get your refund crap rather than anything addressing the issue.

Frag tank

Here are some of the bowfronts (tanks 1 and 3).

@lynn.reef.nerd That's amazing, thank you! I'm looking forward to it. Here are some pictures of tank 7: PS Conches are weird man.

Here are a bunch of pictures of our Mantis Shrimp from tank 6! He's a very active guy. Loves popping in and out of the caves in his rock like a wack-a-mole.

Marine Science Saltwater Tanks Liberty High School 11/15/19 Update Introduction: I teach Marine Science (among other things) at Liberty High School in Fauquier County. As a semester-long project I have students manage saltwater aquariums. This is meant to be a student driven project, meaning most of the research, problem solving, and work should fall on the students. I am supporting them and doing legwork where they cannot. Funding: Some equipment/supplies were worked into my science budget this year, but otherwise nothing additional from the school. +$500 WAMAS grant for livestock Tanks: Two 55 gallon bowfronts A ~20 gallon frag tank 55 gallon sump connected to the three previously mentioned One standard 55 gallon tank One 30 gallon biocube One 18 gallon biocube One 65 gallon all in one red sea system All were donated. Current stage: Maintenance Needed Materials: Additional clean up crews Incoming donations: None Tank 1: 55 gallon bowfront -Mushrooms -Clowns x 2 (one semi-naked) -Coral Beauty -Molly Miller Blenny -Engineer Gobies x 2 (bonded pair) -Green Chromis x 2 -Peppermint Shrimp x 6 Tank 2: 55 gallon -Sailfin Tang (Note: I realize as he grows he'll have to be rehomed to a bigger tank) -Chorus Wrasse -Watchman Goby -Talbots Damsel -Sharpnose Puffer -Pygmy Dwarf Angel -Tiger Pistol Shrimp -Chocolate Chip Sea Star Tank 3: 55 gallon bowfront -Mushrooms -Xenia -Spotted Hawkfish -Clowns x 2 (one mocha) -Bubble tip -Royal Gramma (unseen for a while though) -Cleaner Wrasse -Purple Firefish -Sailfin Blenny Tank 4: ~20 gallon frag tank -Pom Pom Xenia -Misc. Xenia -Leathers -Birdsnest -Frogspawn (?) -Green Trumpets -Palys -Green star polyps -Skunk cleaner shrimp -Six-line Wrasse Tank 5: 65 gallon all in one red sea system -PJ Cardinals x 4 -Longnose Hawkfish -Filefish -Clowns x 2 -Hawaiian spotted puffer Tank 6: 18 gallon acrylic biocube -Mantis Shrimp (Gonolactylus smithii) Tank 7: 30 gallon acrylic biocube -Tiger Sand Conch -Spotted Porcelain crab -Yellow Sea Cucumber -Fork-Tail Blenny -Neon/Allen's Damsel

Happy accidents! Kind of like the "pest" sea stars from the liverock my students love. xD

@davelin315 I never would have guessed. My pencil urchin has been very peaceful. My stupid chocolate chip star, however, has eaten an urchin and tried to eat a conch before I finally moved him to an invert-free tank with the sharpnose puffer and other fish. xD They are easily handled, I will say. I just don't trust them with anything slower than a shrimp/crab. Even then I wonder if they could catch them off guard...they are very aggressive opportunistic hunters from what I gather.

In my experience adding in the unusual inverts really gets the kids going. Some of my most popular organisms in my Marine Science tanks are all inverts. I highly recommend getting a few pencil urchins. Not only are they helpful for algae control, but you can let kids touch them without any worries. I constantly have students amazed that they are truly "alive", especially when they have their tube feet out and are really cruising. Shrimp are also another favorite. Peppermint shrimp are fun in little groups, especially if they learn to come out when people around around because food is incoming! Skunk cleaner shrimp can also be really fun. Shrimp, however, would not go well if you did want to get a hawkfish, as hawkfish can get shrimpies. Some soft corals might also be a good one to pick up, like pulsing xenia. It's a fun conversation to have with students explaining that they aren't flowers or plants, but instead animals. Sea stars are...tricky. The easy ones, like chocolate chips, will eat anything slow enough for them to catch, including urchins, snails, hermits, coral, and other stuff. The invert-safe ones tend to be finicky and die easily from what I understand, though I'm not expert. I honestly prefer urchins, because you can explain they are related to seastars. Plus if you're lucky, your liverock might have some of the mini "pest" seastars, which the kids like. I could always collect some from my tanks if you wanted those guys, they don't do any harm and still check that box, though they aren't always visible. In terms of fish, I LOVE hawkfish. They have big personalities and are fun to watch. However, like I said previously, they will much shrimp and mine has bullied snails and hermits too. If you plan to avoid inverts you could always try species of sharpnose puffer. They are very peaceful, but still charismatic as all puffers are. They do need more than pellet food though to stay healthy, even though many will still eat pellets. In terms of invert-safe fish, you could pick up a reef-safe wrasse like a blue headed fairy wrasse. They are very colorful. Firefish are also fun. Some of my fish called it the "pokemon fish". I also like the Aiptasia Eating Filefish because they can change color to blend in with their background, so they're a great talking point about camouflage. If you want an anemone, I would make sure you get one your species of clowns will host. I think Clarkii clowns will host bubble tips, which are mild manners for anemones. You don't want to get a nem that's going to eat all your other fish... I would ask someone more experienced about triggers. My understanding is they can be pretty aggressive, but I've never had a big enough tank to have one myself to know for sure. Also be careful with the damsels. They can get territorial to new fish sometimes...so keep a sharp eye on how any new fish is doing after its introduced. Hope this helps some. Also, other reefers, please correct me if I've told her anything off the deep end. I've only been managing my school tanks for 1.5 years at this point so.

Awww, no, poor engineer goby. I'm sorry you lost him!

@YHSublime I'm pretty sure that's how my bonded filefish also came, two separate bags. So I have no idea What the person was thinking to packaged these guys up. I feel so bad for them...

So I made a livestock order through Liveaquaria for some things I couldn't get as quickly locally. Everything was pretty standard except one thing...I ordered 5 engineer goby juveniles and guess how they were packaged? 5 gobies, two bags. Yeah, that turned out about as well as you'd expect. There was a dead one in each bag from fighting. I've reported the loss, but I'm more angry at the idiotic packaging. I got a bonded pair through the process, which is what my students wanted, but I didn't want to kill fish to do it. Thanks, Liveaquaria. Probably won't be using them again. They also seemed a bit big for "juveniles" though I'm not experienced enough to judge that one truthfully. Am I out of line for being kind of pissed off?

@Jsack Just let me know when you're ready to rehome some and I'm happy to take a few for one of my classroom tanks.

Marine Science Saltwater Tanks Liberty High School Introduction: I teach Marine Science (among other things) at Liberty High School in Fauquier County. As a semester-long project I have students manage saltwater aquariums. This is meant to be a student driven project, meaning most of the research, problem solving, and work should fall on the students. I am supporting them and doing legwork where they cannot. Funding: Some equipment/supplies were worked into my science budget this year, but otherwise nothing additional from the school. +$500 WAMAS grant for livestock Tanks: Two 55 gallon bowfronts A ~20 gallon frag tank 55 gallon sump connected to the three previously mentioned One standard 55 gallon tank One 30 gallon biocube One 18 gallon biocube One 65 gallon all in one red sea system All were donated. Current stage: Stocking tanks Needed Materials: Organisms, additional clean-up crew, and pod culture Incoming donations: None Desired Organisms (things my students specifically want): Tuxedo Urchin Neon/Allen's Damsel Chalk Bass. OR Forktail Blenny Engineer Goby Bi-Color Dwarf Angel Jawfish Purple Firefish Redfin Fairy Wrasse Yellow Clown Goby Six-line Wrasse Captive-bred Manderain Pulsing Xenia Tiger Pistol Shrimp Tank 1: 55 gallon bowfront -Mushrooms -Clowns x 2 (one semi-naked) -Coral Beauty -Molly Miller Blenny -Green Chromis x 2 -Benggai Cardinal -Peppermint Shrimp x 6 Tank 2: 55 gallon -Sailfin Tang (Note: I realize as he grows he'll have to be rehomed to a bigger tank) -Chorus Wrasse -Watchman Goby -Talbots Damsel -Sharpnose Puffer (incoming) Tank 3: 55 gallon bowfront -Mushrooms -Xenia -Spotted Hawkfish -Clowns x 2 (one mocha) -Bubble tip -Royal Gramma (incoming) Tank 4: ~20 gallon frag tank -Pom Pom Xenia -Misc. Xenia -Leathers -Birdsnest -Frogspawn (?) -Green Trumpets -Palys -Green star polyps -Skunk cleaner shrimp (Incoming) Tank 5: 65 gallon all in one red sea system -PJ Cardinals x 4 -Longnose Hawkfish -Filefish (bonded pair) -Striped Fang blenny -Orange Luzon Seastar -Hawaiian spotted puffer Tank 6: 18 gallon acrylic biocube -Mantis Shrimp (Gonolactylus smithii) Tank 7: 30 gallon acrylic biocube -Tiger Sand Conch -Spotted Porcelain crab -Chocolate Chip Star (incoming)

Just a heads up, I'm making a huge update post (or two if all the pictures don't fit) soon. Went from having 3 tanks to 7, plus other developments, so incoming!

If you have some to spare, I'd love to get two from you for my class tanks. I don't know what you're selling them for.

Why so many all of a sudden? xD