Guest Siders September 14, 2006 Share September 14, 2006 Hey all, I just wanted to get some ideas of the do's and don't's of school based tanks. I'll be frank and tell you I want to do this on the cheap. That leads to this Fish Only / Fish Only With Live Rock tank parameters. The plan is to get most of the stuff for cheap/donated. Now is time for the history lesson. Senior Oceanography Class at West Springfield High School. My teacher is Ms. Jewell who came back this year after a research project with other teachers around the country with NOAA. She has an article in this month's Ocean magazine I believe. Its some scientific literature magazine thing. Basically this tank will allow us to study a very very very small sector of the biology side of oceanography. Plus its good for bragging rights over other classes. Anyways we would appreciate all the advice any of you who have set up tanks in classrooms before and any donations given. Updates on tank size/everything else will be soon. Trying to remove one of those room divider things to measure max tank size. Hoping for around 90 gallons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefthomasr September 14, 2006 Share September 14, 2006 ygpm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeltwayBandit September 15, 2006 Share September 15, 2006 Talk to Davelin (member name) on these boards. He has set up several tanks in his school. He has also shamelessly hit up many of us for donations (which we were more than happy to provide!) BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 September 17, 2006 Share September 17, 2006 Talk to Davelin (member name) on these boards. He has set up several tanks in his school. He has also shamelessly hit up many of us for donations (which we were more than happy to provide!) BB HEY! I resemble that accusation! Yes, this society has been incredible for helping out with the tanks. Here's the low down on the down low for a school tank. If you don't have very reliable hosts, which most people are not going to be in a school, make it easy. Go with a sumpless design and make sure that you have reliable equipment. Also, make sure that you make friends with the custodians. On weekends and vacations, they might be the only people who can get in to maintain your tank. Also, make sure that you are up to code on everything or it will need to be rebuilt when the fire marshals come through. I maintain mostly tanks with HOB filters as the water level is not as difficult to maintain. It would be much easier if an RO would run correctly at school, but unfortunately the PSI is very low. I have a booster pump donated by someone in WAMAS but need to replace the filters before I use it at school. Otherwise, I spend a lot of time carting in jugs of water each day for top offs of the various tanks. The more you can leave at school the better. Since this is a high school class room, you might have an easier time of it, but I have them in elementary classes and some of the teachers, no matter how much I reassure them, are afraid to let the kids take care of them as much as they should. Anyway, feel free to PM me with questions. Also, the oceanography teacher over at Chantilly High School and I have traded things back and forth and she has said they have extra tanks, so you can probably get one interofficed from them along with equipment (probably not lights or specialized equipment). Her name is Susan Tompkins if I remember correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Siders September 17, 2006 Share September 17, 2006 Wow, awesome. Thanks for the advice. I will definately talk to my teacher about contacting her. Sumpless was what I was going for. I will definately stop by Wally's this week if possible. It will probably a few weeks for us to get the gears moving on this as everyone is still getting into the routine of school. Thank you both of you. I hope to have an equipment list to bring to the October meeting to hit up people for old equipment. I have some old lights. Not enough to light the entire tank but could make a good combo with some others. I'll keep everyone updated. Have a good week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefthomasr September 17, 2006 Share September 17, 2006 I have recently come into some equipment and depending on what you are looking for, I can probably help you out quite a bit. Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 September 18, 2006 Share September 18, 2006 Let me know what you are in need of. I can pony some equipment over if I have spare stuff. Come to think of it, forward me some information on demographics for your school. I might have something good for you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco September 19, 2006 Share September 19, 2006 sent pm, you get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Siders September 20, 2006 Share September 20, 2006 i did, big ap physics test tomorrow. will respond tomorrow afternoon, sorry. Thanks for all the help so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Siders September 21, 2006 Share September 21, 2006 Alright, thank you Doug. I will be seeing Ms. Jewell tomorrow morning and will be going over all the WAMAS stuff then. I hope to get to Wally's on Saturday or Sunday to talk over the plan. Looks like we will be able to use the library as the librarian really likes fish and is up for a big tank. I will be talking with the librarian tomorrow morning. The tank will still be used for educational purposes. I will let everyone know how it goes. Thanks for the help. Zach Siders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefthomasr September 21, 2006 Share September 21, 2006 I will not be there on Saturday, however we are open 11-530 on Sunday and I will be there from 1030-at least 7. I look forward to meeting you. Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 September 25, 2006 Share September 25, 2006 Hi Zach, if you can give me information on your school I can probably get you a free tank with everything included in it. It all depends on the type of school you are in. If it's a high needs school I can most likely hook you up, but if it's kind of like my school, not as high needs, then it probably won't work out. Let me know if you are interested or not. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Siders September 26, 2006 Share September 26, 2006 First of sorry i didn't make it out this weekend to Wally's. Probably this week. West Springfield High School, Fairfax County Schools, West Springfield, VA, 22152 Thanks Dave. Looks like this might end as two tanks. We will see. I will talk to my teacher tomorrow morning and let you know tomorrow night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Siders December 9, 2006 Share December 9, 2006 Sorry everyone! I kinda fell of the planet as first quarter grades and college applications consumed my life. The 10 gallon tank is finally setup, has saltwater, a small pump. Would anyone or multiple people be willing to donate a small portion of sand and/ or live rock to help get this tank going? Also does anyone have a small heater that they would be willing to donate? For LFS or anyone in particular, I have a letter that is signed by my teacher that I can bring if you would be willing to donate anything. Thank you it's much appreciated. Zach Siders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 December 9, 2006 Share December 9, 2006 Hey Zach, I'm sorry I never came through, but if you tell me where to Pony something I can send something your way. It may only be live rock rubble and some small frags, but if it's only a 10 gallon, then it would be fairly easy to fill. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Siders December 10, 2006 Share December 10, 2006 Oh no problem, I've been on a hiatus for awhile. I assumed you wanted to know where to send some stuff. I can meet or pick up too if you would like that. West Springfield High School 6100 Rolling Rd. Springfield, VA 22152 Room 69, Beth Jewell Rock rubble would be great for now. I'll let you know about frags down the road. I want to make sure its completely stable before we go that route. Thanks! Zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 December 19, 2006 Share December 19, 2006 Hi Zach, I've got a couple of pieces of rock I can pony over to you for your 10 gallon. It should be enough to fill it up more or less. One is an old piece of tufa rock that has some growth on it but it's got a nice shape and works nicely in a tank. The rest is normal liverock (not sure of the kind). It got pulled out of a tank at school that we just moved back in and there's probably around 15-20 lbs. I'll e-mail your teacher and let her know that I'm going to pony it. I will most likely wait until after break, though, unless you'd like it before then. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Siders December 19, 2006 Share December 19, 2006 Hey Dave we should only need maybe 5 pounds because John from BRK donated some rock. Thank you so much though. After the break would be awesome. I'll talk with Jewell tomorrow. Thanks again! Zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 December 19, 2006 Share December 19, 2006 Hi Zach, I e-mailed your teacher today. If you let me know how much you need as far as rock I can send it your way. I'm not sure how much exactly you want, though, if you already have some. If it's a 10 gallon, let me know how full it is and I'll approximate in a 10 we have at school how much you will need (I have some that is very heavy and some that is lighter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco January 4, 2007 Share January 4, 2007 I'm sorry NEA never go back with you guys. I was told "We'll handle it from here..." Well, I emailed your teacher a few weeks ago and she told me they never got back in touch with her. Urrggghhh! If you are coming to the meeting I will be glad to donate a bunch of frags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 January 9, 2007 Share January 9, 2007 Hi Doug, we do have one of the tanks but the other two were taken by the teacher from Michigan (she said she was holding one for me and then when I told her where to send it she said "Oops! It ended up in a classroom here at my school!"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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