Donate to school tank: East Side H.S. Newark, NJ 07105

[Patriot76]

Wow, I just wrote this huge post, went to post it and was asked to log in again...and now it's gone...wow.

that's happened to me a few times as well!

i am familiar with the location of this school as I am telecom field tech in newark

unfortunatley I really dont have any to donate at this time, but i think it is great what you are doing! my wife is a teacher in sayreville and i am considering setting up a tank in her school as well, but the whole ordeal of breaking down and moving it home every summer is holding me back!

good luck!

 

[tunicata]

Updates!

There is an RBTA hiding amongst the zoa/paly colonies and another clown in a cave. Neither of them pay any attn to the RBTA.
There are some other critters in there as well.
There is a black sun coral piece in there, and a leather coral piece in there.

So far only 1 casualty: Large snail. I let them acclimate that one, thinking it would be okay...nope, it wasn't! He was going to be named Gary. He was eaten by the bristle worms!

We feed the tank brine shrimp that the students hatch out themselves. They use a syringe to get them into the tank. The anemone gets half piece of moistened krill 2x per week and I do that one since I don't want the kids hands in the tank.

 

[RichT]

this may sound silly but if you tape a picture of other clowns in an anemone on the side of the tank it supposedly encourages yours to host. I've read it several times on RC.



Told you it sounds silly.

 

[malulu]

this may sound silly but if you tape a picture of other clowns in an anemone on the side of the tank it supposedly encourages yours to host. I've read it several times on RC.
--
Told you it sounds silly.

Rich,
I tried that for 3 months, it did not work for me... i end up with add in some wild caught clown fish, and they shows the way...
;D

tunicata,
your kids can hatch live brine shirmp? wow! that is great, i tried two time, all failed, gave up...
can you post your tricks?
thx

 

[tunicata]

Lol, I saw someone doing that on one of their tanks here in Jersey, I can't remember his handle but he said it worked for him!
I will try it though, the kids will get a kick out of it.

Yup, we take about a cup of water out of the tank, pour in maybe 3-5mm worth of eggs, and let it sit until next class day. Most of them would have hatched by then and we get 2 syringes full everyday for 3 days.
After that we just start over. We have a whole tube of the stuff, and it would last us a year at least!

If we wanted to have them reproduce for us, start a real culture, we would give them a tank of their own add airstone, and food. I thought about us doing that too, but it's more than enough just to have the cup 3 day culture. Each class gets a turn feeding, so they are happy enough with that task.

 

[malulu]

... about a cup of water out of the tank, pour in maybe 3-5mm worth of eggs, and let it sit until next class day. Most of them would have hatched by then and we get 2 syringes full everyday for 3 days...

no need for air stone?
let it sit in the dark? or light?

...If we wanted to have them reproduce for us, start a real culture, we would give them a tank of their own add airstone, and food...

you can start a real business on the side, to show kids how to run a business, and eventually a MBA degree...etc.
;D

 

[tunicata]

Lol! I spoke to them about how much this hobby costs, but that since we can propagate the corals we could eventually just sell them off and have a pizza party at the end of the semester.
They liked that.
But I'm trying to ...well...not kill capitalism...but...I don't want them to associate every good thing with the possibility of making money.

Nope, no airstone, and they are good for a few days at least. We just let it sit right out near the tank itself. You can see that they eventually hover in one general location even in broad day light (at least 1 day after full hatch), we just pinpoint their location and suck them up with the syringe. Takes like 1 min to make them and less than 1 to get them out.

 

[malulu]

I don't want them to associate every good thing with the possibility of making money.

yeah, agree, money making is a double sword... could be a good and bad thing if not approach it wisely...

to recap:
- it just need the tank water
- with egg,
- then put on the side for 3 days
- air stone not required, may not hurt to have one
- light not really matter (as long as not too bright?)
- what about heater?

i think i can take a container, flow them in my sump (to keep the temperature constant as the tank, and with less light), would it work?
thx for all these great advise.

 

[tunicata]

That sounds like it's a good bet.

The room is always at least 70 deg, now that summer has really kicked in PLUS the heaters in the room are still on...we don't use the heater anymore (custodians are nice, they let me keep the windows open).

the only light that reaches it is the schools ceiling fluoresent bulbs which I guess are standard and it's on from like..7:15am-4pm M-F.

The eggs will hatch in 12-24hrs, so you can use them after that. We just use that 1 batch for a duration of 3 days before starting a new batch.

The container we use is a 1/2 pint plastic container. It's best to use a syringe or something to get them up because you'll have to deal with the eggs that didn't hatch and the shells of the ones that did. The hatched babies are easily distinguishable from the stuff you don't want.

no prob

 

[malulu]

i did some research long time back, can use a flash light or something shine on one corner, they will swim toward there, then you can siphon them out easily.
thx

 

[tunicata]

Hey there!

Mini update:
Everything in the tank is doing fine! Even the RBTA! Some folks were worried about the lighting but the PC's are doing great, and the nem is fine.

The clowns pay no attn. to the nem...

We've had parents donate 2 more fish to the tank: yellow tailed damsel and black and white damsel. I was out for an accident (car accident one weekend) and while I was gone, the students learned first hand what happens to a freshwater fish in a salt water tank...The student isn't 100% sure if her father asked for a saltwater fish specifically, but they were sold something that looks like a large goldfish and was silver...doesn't seem like a fish any petstore would sell and hope to make a profit (from the SW section).

Now that we have more critters, we feed brine, and ORA pellets (crushed up because it's too large for the small fish!), and of course the nem gets krill (which he usually doesn't eat... but he looks well and is out and about (he only moves when we've directed too much flow to his area)).

More good news: I have a friend that teaches at Weequahic H.S. that would like to try this out. I'm giving her mini tutorials so that she can be ready and will update you all here and in the committee thread about that. Her school situation is a bit different from mine where...most teachers who have 'class pets' find the need to relocate the pets if they are ever out for a day or such.
That's pretty bad. So, we'll see. First thing is the safety of the animals.

Ok, have to go block 1!

 

[RichT]

Damsels are very territorial and aggressive. Not to mention, near impossible to catch. I've just acquired 4 PJ's which were badly beaten by a domino damsel. If your clowns and or other inhabitants start to look bad, i.e. missing fins, the first suspect should be the damsels.

 

[danthemanj]

I just stumbled on this thread. Is there anything you guys need? I have an 8 gallon auto top off container you could use for storing RO water in and if somebody could donate a float switch, small pump, relay and DC adapter, you could start up an electronics project and build a DIY auto top off.

 

[tunicata]

That would be a great project for next years courses.

Right now I'm hoping I have my own classroom next year! If I have to switch around to 2-3 classrooms per day I don't know where/if I'd have the tank. It's weird but there are a lot of teachers that have been here for years that do not have their own classroom and this stuff changes every year. At least I'm sure to be teaching science (the only thinig I can count on)...now I just need to be told what topic I'm teaching next semester....

Lol, anyway, I've been thinking from some of the comments I get from teachers and students. I do not plan on getting a BIGGER tank but...maybe I could set up two 20g tanks side by side.

One a very simple set up like we have going on right now.
The other with the typical SW set up, with overflow, sump, fuge, top off system, skimmer, phosban reactor, doser etc. BUT all of it has to be DIY.

So both tanks would have a guide to go with it to include: the general how to, the costs of each (both if you DIY or purchase) and supply vendors that support forums like this as references to prices and customer service, as well as provide the people with websites/contacts of people on the boards!

Also, The teacher at the other school will be 'hopefully' teaching forensics next year. It's not set in stone (since that school has never had that course), but she should have 'mature seniors' as it would be an elective course. So, she feels maybe if that really happens she can join the forums and then we'll have 2 schools in NJ with a set up.

 

[tunicata]

Whew,
I had a great summer (I guess). And now it's a new school year.
Some ups and downs but inspite of having 3 different class rooms this year I have found a way to have a tank in the school again!

This time...it's in an even better location!
I've worked out with the lobby security guard that we can put the tank in the main lobby of the school!
Since I got permission for that I figured well...why do a 20g tank?
If it's gonna be in the LOBBY for all to see...well, it should be bigger right?

Soooo, I found us a standard 55g tank with metal stand.
I have about a total of 45lbs of rock from my personal and NJR club member donations.
25lbs of sand from NJR and my tank
I have my new RO/DI unit
1/2 bucket of Ocean Science Salt
A MJ 600, MJ1200 from personal and NJR donations
2 Heaters from NJR
Frag disks/rubble rock from NJR
1 timer NJR
Various additives/nets/phosban/nitrate removers from NJR
AqOb test kit
Jugs from NJR
and some other odds and ends that will be used in the set up.

Only thing MAJOR we do not have is a lighting fixture. We wont keep anything that NEEDS uber lighting. I am going to have a meeting with some folks and see if we can get any money out of the school. I wasn't granted a marine biology club (I don't think any one even looked at my proposal...and anyway I'm doing grad school and teaching this year, so I'm ok with doing the tank only for classes) so there is no 'automatic' funding.
We will let the tank go through it's normal cycling. I will try and speed it up by using some gallons of my own water. The tank should be up for at least a 3wks- a month just cycling, so we can do fundraisers if approved by the administration.


Definite livestock: Mushroom coral, clownfish, frogspawn, brown palys, sea urchin (stuff donated from NJR/ReefersCafe last semester).

If I decide to break down my personal tank, then all of my softies/easy stuff and all of my fish will go to the school tank (at least until Summer) ( I have pink leather, toadstool, white leather, 1-2 gorgs, green nepthea, 3 green chromis, 1 polyp of yuma, clove polyp, galaxea, and other random things). If I break down, I'll also have about...50lbs of rock, and 20lbs more of sand to put in.


(ps...anemone, sun coral, giant turbo, xenia died during the last 3wks of school. Temps were over 100degrees in classroom late June. Someone closed the windows during a weekend...)

Anyway, remember this is East Side H.S. in Newark. I know 1 person so far from NJR came to the school and visit my class when we were just starting. I've posted a lot of pictures, and this year I have a Biology class and 2 environmental science classes. I pretty much have class ALL DAY, from 8:20-11:09 and then 12:30-2:40pm.
So, if you know you may have at least 1-2 flexible hours within that starting October, definitely let me know and we'll make arrangements for you to speak about your experiences.

We have internet/.ppt capabilities, we use dry erase boards and I have kids that are pysched.
Perhaps this year, with it being in the lobby and thus even more 'community' oriented, it could be a thing for local news interest? I remember someone mentioned that last semester.
But now I'm in my second year here and feel more established and comfortable with the school in general.

East Side Red Raiders!!!

 

[malulu]

congratulation on the great success! sure want to see a lots more pics from your new setup.
you probably can get a cheap T5 for the lighting fixture...

 

[tunicata]

Definitely!
I'm hoping we will at least bring the tank to the location on Monday/Tuesday. Then finish up during the week when we have a chance. I'll bring in the rock, but we'll need much more than the sand we have left over from last semesters tank and some sand from one of my mini tanks.

To reduce any change of flooding/confusion with the people who may take care of the tank, everything will be hangon/no sump. I bought a RedSea HOB skimmer last semester which...didn't work out of the box!
I run my personal tank sumpless, and we'll probably run this tank sumpless (like we did the 20g tank last semester).

So, I have 1 HOB whisper filter up to 60g in my fish room, and I'll see if I can get another one from the science dept. I remember seeing one kicking around somewheres.
The pads will be filled with the phos/nitrate removers a NJR member gave us last semester.

If we can't find an official HOB fuge/have one made then we'll just float some mangroves/ make a chaeto cave/ make that chaeto/eggcrate wall with the eggcrate someone from NJR gave.

We'll probably get our clean up crew from John Maloney, reefcleaners.org, his site has discounts for educational stuff and he sent us the urchin last semester.


Does anyone know someone breaking down there tanks like RIGHT NOW that may be willing to part with the sand?