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Marine Science Saltwater Tanks at Liberty High School


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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 50+ gallon tanks. This is the first semester, so my 3 small groups of students are setting up our first 3 tanks from scratch. The tanks will be passed on and maintained by the next class of students when the new semester starts. This is a student driven project, meaning most of the research, problem solving, and work falls on the students. I am supporting them and doing legwork where they cannot.

 

Funding: Around $200-300 from the school, all else out of pocket currently

 

Tanks: Two 48 x 13 tanks guessed to be 50-55 gallons

One 36 x 12.5 tank guessed to be 50-55 gallson

All were donated. One has a leak we hopefully managed to patch. Patch successful!

 

Current stage: Water testing and cycling

 

Needed Materials: Organisms

 

Incoming donations: Coral and snails from a fellow teacher

Lights and other equipment from Kyle Gustafson

 

Desired Organisms (things my students specifically want): **This section is relatively obsolete due to budget constraints, so as soon as my students revamp their plan this will be updated**

Peppermint shrimp 

Sand sifting starfish

Clownfish

Pajama Cardinals 

Yellow Tang  Tanks are not big enough

Gobies 

Sea horses*

Note: Not all organisms are going to be in the same tank.

*I am fully aware Sea horses are difficult. My students have done a lot of research and are determined to give it a try if I can get the funding. The plan would be to set up a separate tank as a refugium for copepods so that we could add in populations before weekends when we can't actively feed them. If you have other suggestions, I'm open to them.

 

I'll post pictures when I get the chance, though there isn't much to look at right now.

Edited by MaeganWink
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One of our sponsors here, Pacific East Aquaculture, has captive bred seahorses that happily eat frozen mysis

 

https://pacificeastaquaculture.com/collections/seahorses/products/hippocampus-erectus-seahorse-pair

 

They can give advice on their care and water quality.  They require good filtration because they'll take a lot of feeding.  A taller, rather than wider tank will be better for them.

 

Everything else can probably go in the same tank.  You might reconsider the tang, though, because none of your tanks sounds really big enough for one.  It might even be a good project to let them research the fish going in to determine for themselves which are appropriate and which are not and why.

 

Sand sifting stars and gobies and shrimp will be fun to watch.  A bunch of hermit crabs are fun for students to watch too.  Very busy.  

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Hello, I have a sand sifting starfish and possibly two yellow tail damsel for you guys. Just let me know. I'm in Glen Burnie.

 

FYI: the damsels can get quite aggressive but very hardy fish.

 

Also, I have a hand held refractometer if you need one.

Edited by littlelise1985
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I think it is awesome what you are doing for the kids! I wish one of my teachers would have done the same. I have a new Salifert Magnesium Test and a new Aquariclip (for the kids to take pics of their tanks) that I'll throw in also if you are able to come up and grab them.

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One of our sponsors here, Pacific East Aquaculture, has captive bred seahorses that happily eat frozen mysis

 

https://pacificeastaquaculture.com/collections/seahorses/products/hippocampus-erectus-seahorse-pair

 

They can give advice on their care and water quality.  They require good filtration because they'll take a lot of feeding.  A taller, rather than wider tank will be better for them.

 

Everything else can probably go in the same tank.  You might reconsider the tang, though, because none of your tanks sounds really big enough for one.  It might even be a good project to let them research the fish going in to determine for themselves which are appropriate and which are not and why.

 

Sand sifting stars and gobies and shrimp will be fun to watch.  A bunch of hermit crabs are fun for students to watch too.  Very busy.  

I'll check them out, though if they only eat frozen mysis that may be a problem...the issue is no one is here on the weekends to feed them, so that's why we were investigating the copepod option, hoping we could dump in a good population of those to last them the weekend each week. I know sea horses need to eat frequently and I definitely won't let me students get them if we can't make sure they are taken care of appropriately. 

 

Good to know about the tang. Again, I don't want to get anything we can't care for appropriately. 

 

And I agree about the invertebrates...I think they are super fun to watch and I think the students will love them.

 

Hello, I have a sand sifting starfish and possibly two yellow tail damsel for you guys. Just let me know. I'm in Glen Burnie.

 

FYI: the damsels can get quite aggressive but very hardy fish.

 

Also, I have a hand held refractometer if you need one.

 

I'm definitely interested in the sand sifting starfish once our water is set up appropriately. My students are excited for that one. I don't know about the yellow tail damsels - we're trying to keep most of the organisms relatively peaceful. Also I heard they are best in groups of 3 or more, is that true?

 

I have a donated refractometer already, but thanks so much for the offer! If you're trying to get rid of it I can take it, so that more than one group of my students can water test at once, but I don't need it if you were just offering to make sure I had that aspect covered.

 

To both of you, thanks for the support. I've only been on the forum a short time and everyone has been very friendly and helpful, it's a great resource for me!

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Culturing copepods will be a cool project for students to do.  It would involve making lots of procedures but there are lots of resources online done by marine breeders for how to do it.  

 

You'll probably need a phytoplankton culture and a rotifer culture and a copepod culture (phyto one is optional, probably, but does look cool with glowing green and brown bottles on a lighted shelf).  Once those get going you can even breed clownfish in addition to doing seahorses and mandarin gobies.

 

Another sponsor of ours is Reef Nutrition, and they have a really cool system for running cultures in 5 gallon buckets:

 

https://reefnutrition.com/product_compact_culture_system.php

 

https://reefnutrition.com/promo/zoo-intro-hobbiest-ccs/

 

They're really nice to talk to and can give you lots of advice on setting up a system that would be interesting for the students to run and learn from.

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I thought I could edit my topic post, but I've having trouble finding the option...so as soon as I figure that out I'll edit with updates but...

 

Update: First I want to thank Kyle Gustafson for being willing to donate a good amount of equipment. Honestly he's a lifesaver in that regard.

 

In other news, I got my funding finalized and it's...not idea. The school has given me $150 and is not allowing me to fundraise since all of this is considered "classroom material". That means everything beyond my budge will be out of pocket (and that's not including what I've already spent out of pocket. SO that means our gameplan has to drastically change.

 

So if anyone has any suggestions on affordable, but interesting organisms, please let me know.

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Maegan, I moved your topic from Education to the Tank Build forum. This should enable editing of the first post. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I think my ability to edit is gone again, so for now I'll update this way.

 

Tanks are set up and have had fish for a week and a half now.

 

We have a invert-friendly tank, a fish only tank that will eventually have a small puffer in it, and a clown + other friendly fish tank that will eventually have clowns.

 

For now, what's in each tank is as follows.

 

Invert-Friendly tank:

Pajama Cardinals (3)(temporary, will eventually go to clown tank)

Firefish 

Longspine Urchin

Peppermint Shrimp (3)

Nassarius Snail (3)

Turbo Snail 

Scarlet Red Hermit Crab 

 

Clown and Friends tank:

Spotted Hawkfish

Molly Miller Blenny

Peppermint Shrimp (3)

Nassarius Snail (2)

Turbo Snail (2)

Scarlet Red Hermit Crab

 

Puffer tank:

Striped Fanged Blenny

Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel

Tiger Pistol Shrimp

Watchman Goby

 

The clown tank will be getting a light and coral donation today I think as well, but I'll update about that after I see how things fair.

ClownFriendsTank.jpg

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PuffTank.jpg

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48 minutes ago, MaeganWink said:

I think my ability to edit is gone again, so for now I'll update this way.

Yes. Sorry. It's global with the forum software update. The way we had things was a custom solution (where we went in and modified the software to suit our needs). In coloring within the lines, we have not re-implemented the customizations which ultimately serve as a hindrance to software maintenance and can therefore become a security problem. This includes the "first post remains open for edits in certain forums" modification. The current software does not allow for us to do that. It's all at the global level (across all forums): On all posts, we can disallow edits; allow edits for a specified time after posting; or we can leave all posts available to edit without restriction. Historically, at one time we allowed the last of these options. But that became a problem when some members of the community engaged in bomb-throwing, hit-and-run behavior that created problems for others and that they subsequently edited away before the moderation team could take notice. That's when the privilege of editing without restriction was lost, and when we looked for a solution that was more restricted, but still workable.

 

So, for now, there's an 1-hour time window for edits after the post is made. I'll bring this matter up at the next Board meeting to see if we want to stick with this or do something different.

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Very nice. Just remember, holidays, weekends, long breaks... 

 

What are you doing about water, and mixing salt? Do you have an Auto Top Off? 

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I'm aware. The head of our Science Department is trying to get us special permission to get into the school over breaks, not just for the fish, but because other critters are here too.

 

I've been getting my water from a local saltwater store. I've been getting it as fresh, though, because it's my students' jobs to monitor water quality. I don't have an autotopoff. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has them.

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This is probably already been addressed, Maegan, since you have other critters that are in the school: But make sure that you understand what the Building Engineer does with climate control during long breaks (such as summer). Do they shut parts of the school down? If so, will the temperature remain within tolerable limits for your livestock? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Will do! I know for short breaks things are running as normal, but I haven't checked for summer yet. I'll be sure to find out.

 

Also, something I'd love help with if anyone is interested: Suggestions on equipment. All my tanks have very basic heaters and filters, but that's it. I plan to apply for grants from different sources so I can hopefully get additional equipment or even upgrade to better equipment. Right now I know I want to apply to get funds for a RO system, since with so many tanks buying water isn't economic and using the deionized filter tends to go through the canister obscenely fast and that's supposed to be for the chemistry department not me...so suggestions on equipment I should aim for would be appreciated!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 12/10/2018 at 1:50 AM, darkseeker said:

Hi Maegan,

I have an ocellaris clown currently in my QT. If you need him, just let me know :)

 

That's very sweet, thank you! We have two ocellaris in one of the tanks now, so I think for the moment we're good.

 

Here's a big update, including pictures~

 

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 50+ gallon tanks. This is the first semester, so my 3 small groups of students are setting up our first 3 tanks from scratch. The tanks will be passed on and maintained by the next class of students when the new semester starts. This is a student driven project, meaning most of the research, problem solving, and work falls on the students. I am supporting them and doing legwork where they cannot.

 

Funding: $250 from the school, all else out of pocket

 

Tanks: Two 48 x 13 tanks guessed to be 50-55 gallons

One 36 x 12.5 tank guessed to be 50-55 gallson

All were donated. One has a leak we hopefully managed to patch. Patch successful!

 

Off to the side in storage I have another 50-55 gallon 

A 40 gallon breeder tank with holes for plumping someone used to top off freshwater

A refugium (seems about the same size or larger than the 40 gallon, different dimensions) 

 

Current stage: 3 complete tanks

Need 1 additional due to increase in students in January, in planning stages for that tank

 

Needed Materials: Sump, piping, heater, coral light

 

Incoming donations: None

 

Previous Donations from:  Kyle Gustafson Ms. Merrek (coworker), Overklok, and Waterworld

 

Special thank you too Megan Hill at Capital Aquarium for all her help throughout the process!

 

Invertebrate Friendly Tank Organisms:

Peppermint Shrimp x 6

Longspine Urchin

Chromis x 2

Firefish

Banggai Cardinal

Emerald Crab

Fighting Conch

Scarlet Red Hermit

Nassarius Snail x 3

Turbo Snail

 

Puffer Tank Organisms:

Valentini Pufferfish

Tiger Pistol Shrimp

Watchman Goby

Fanged Striped Blenny

Rainford Goby

Coral Beauty

 

Clown n' Friends Tank Organisms:

Ocallarius Clowns x 2

Pajama Cardinals x 3

Spotted Hawkfish

Molly Miller Blenny

Scarlet Red Hermit

Nassarius Snail x 2

Turbo Snail x 2

Peppermint Shrimp x 3

Xyenia

Green Star Polyp

Some other coral that was donated that I haven't identified...

 

I've only had 2 casualties since I first set up. The first was a turbo snail that was munched on by multiple nassarius just a day or so after I got him. The other was the original Coral Beauty lasted about a week and a half before she mysteriously died. Water quality was all fine, but she her body was stuck to a rock when my students tried to remove it. They had to yank pretty hard to get her free. Don't know if she died before or after.

 

Now pictures! I don't have pictures of everything, just snapshots of things I thought my students would fine interesting. The rainford goby, for example, was literally missing for about a week. We upturned everything and couldn't find him. Then he just started showing up on a whim. 

 

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I just wanted to chime in on your project with a side note... I think what you're doing is AAAAAAAAAMAZING!!! Virtually the only reason I got into marine interest was from a teacher I had in high school..and if not for him, there's a strong chance I wouldn't have finished school due to a lack of interest in anything in high school BUT his class. So I hope you can keep this up and it that it probably means a lot more than you could imagine to some of these kids...especially the ones that don't necessarily demonstrate it. Good luck!!

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

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Love the update! Glad that rainford's came out of his shell. If you have any mystery corals I'm sure the folks here can ID. I know the two that I brought back originally were some variety of clove + the GSP, and if I remember right I also brought some frogspawn and mushrooms, and maybe some Kenya Tree?

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  • 4 months later...

First I want to say I appreciate all the encouragement. It's certainly been a crazy process and probably not something I would do if it weren't for my class.

 

Updates:

The Clown n' Friends tank sprung a leak a few months ago. I tried to fix it (as I originally had when it first leaked), but the leak was too great to accomplish with organisms inside. SO instead I had a back up 55 gallon that I swapped out with it. This meant I had to move all the fish to other tanks temporarily (I couldn't get the new tank in that same day but the old tank wouldn't hold enough water overnight) so that was chaotic. Got the new tank set up and moved most of the fish back, though a few decided they were going to live in new homes and refused to be caught.

 

Also have lost a few fish, all new additions that didn't pan out. One Talbot's damsel got into a fight and died of his injuries, and two different species of file fish passed due to not eating well (at least that's my best guess). Also one out of my Benggai trio disappeared over spring break. I'm assuming maybe the other two paired up and then beat him into the grave, but not sure, never found him or a body.

 

New balance of organisms is as follows...

 

Clown n' Friends Tank

Ocallarius Clowns x 2

Pajama Cardinals x 3

Spotted Hawkfish

Royal Gramma

Fanged Striped Blenny (snuck over in a rock from puff tank)

Scarlet Red Hermit

Nassarius Snail x a lot

Turbo Snail x a lot

Green Sea Urchins x 13 (will be finding new homes for some of these)

Xyenia

Green Star Polyp

Fighting Conch

Some other unidentified coral

 

Invertebrate Friendly Tank

Peppermint Shrimp x ??? (haven't seen them all since the chaos of the leaking tank)

Longspine Urchin

Chromis x 2

Firefish 

Benggai Cardinal x 2?

Aptasia Eating Filefish x 2 (bonded pair, captive bred)

Engineer Goby

Molly Miller Blenny (refused to be moved back to clown tank)

Emerald Crab

Fighting Conch

Scarlet Red Hermit

Nassarius Snail x 3

Turbo Snail

 

Puffer Fish Tank

Valentini Pufferfish

Tiger Pistol Shrimp

Watchman Goby

Talbot's Damsel

Yellow Chorus Wrase

Rainford Goby

Coral Beauty

 

The new urchins are all from a Urchin Embryology Lab I just did with my students. Very fun, plus we get to keep them.

 

I also have a smaller acrylic tank (I forget the exact size) that houses a Mantis Shrimp! He's super awesome and the students love him. He's a quirky little guy.

 

Still working on my getting the 55 gallon bowfronts set up in a whole system. My uncle plans on helping me with the plumbing since he used to build tanks for a living. 

 

I am still looking for a light that I can use over the two bowfronts to grow hard corals, but that's a lower level priority.

 

Here are some pictures. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Super sad, found my mantis shrimp dead this morning. Water parameters fine, snail and hermits that were in there as food were fine. He had already completed a molt recently, so I don't think it was that (unless they molt like once a month). He was eating silversides fine, even if he wasn't actively hunting the things I offered him. I'm assuming it was just some sort of invert disease or condition...but if anyone has ideas, let me know.

 

RIP Mike Tyson. 

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