Hello from a science classroom!

[awtank2017]

Hi everyone! I am new to reef2reef and new to saltwater tanks. I currently set up a tank in my classroom (high school science) in Lake County, IL. It's at 24g biocube with stock everything. I have added a Jager heater and a Tunze ato. The tank was set up with 25lbs of live rock and 25lbs of live sand. We currently have 3 red legged hermit crabs and 6 trochus snails. We also have some dragon's breath and an unidentified starfish that came in on the live rock.I will be getting a blue tuxedo urchin and 1 turbo snail this weekend. After that we will start adding our corals. The students are test the water parameters everyday and graphing the data. They also have created info card s for each species in the aquarium. We will later be using the tank to talk about symbiotic relationships in my Zoology class and coral bleaching due to climate change in my Earth Science class. I am so excited to have this addition to my classroom.
Due to the fact that this in a classroom, the school has given me a small budget to stock the tank. I am currently working with our lfs (Sho Tank Aquariums in Mundelein, IL) to stock the tank. However, we will very quickly reach our budget. So, is there anyone who would be willing to donate corals or other animals to stock our aquarium? My goal is to make this as maintenance free as possible so I am keeping the fish load down to only 1-3. I am able to pick up items if they are in Lake County and parts of Cook County, IL or in Kenosha County, WI.

Here are some of the corals on our list:
1. Birdsnest
2. Trumpet or Candy cane or Blastomussa
3. Pineapple
4. Duncan
5. Frogspawn
6. Torch
7. Hammer
8. Pocillopora

Fish or Other Inverts on our list:
1. Diamond Watchman Golby
2. Pistol Shrimp
3. Lettuce Sea Slug
4. Clown fish (with anemone but not sure which one)
Any feedback or other suggestions is greatly appreciated!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Great project and it is wonderful the school is helping with the costs a bit. This will be fun. Based on the size of the tank, I would be hesitant to add torch, hammer and frogspawn as I find they let out lots of toxins and reduce growth of each other. If they are small, you can add until larger, but you will need carbon filter with those three together in a small area (FME). Do not get the sea slug as it needs to eat a lot and it will starve.

When the tank is ready for a nem, I would just get a bubble tip. They are easiest and plentiful. Just make sure it is large enough to handle the fish. Try to get the smallest fish you can find.

If you go to Chicago Aquatic Experience in November, they have breeders with nice size for you. Great fish and people too.

Keep us posted and good luck!

 

[awtank2017]

DeniseAndy,
Thanks so much for the suggestions. I will keep torch, hammer and frogspawn on my list for my home tank when we get one. Do you think I could get one a put it on a rock in the corner away from others (an island for itself)? I already have a carbon and a phosphate filter. Also, for the sea slug I did't realize they would need that much space, but they sure are cool looking so I will keep it on my personal tank list.

Thanks for the heads up about the Chicago Aquatic Experience, I will add that to my calendar now to look out for a fish and bubble tip.

 

[kschweer]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Holy_makerel]

Welcome! What a cool project for your students!

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[DeniseAndy]

Definitely keep on list for large tank. One of those alone in the tank is fine. The combination is what will cause issues. FME

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Welcome! What a cool science teacher your students have [emoji41]

For symbiosis, a pistol shrimp/watchman goby combo would be a good idea. Also, cleaner shrimp are often well loved and are hermaphrodites so putting two in a tank will give you a spawning event, plus the symbiotic relationship with your fish.

The lettuce sea slugs live exclusively on the chloroplasts found in bryopsis, a nuisance algae... so even in a large tank, once that particular algae is gone they will perish. Also, in my experience many fish will make a quick snack of them. On the plus side...they do reproduce fairly quickly while they are alive (IME) and the egg patterns might be interesting to students. @PaulB shared his article on them with me, I'll try to hunt down the link.

 

[awtank2017]

Yeah I think I will skip out on the lettuce leaf for now since I don't have much of an algae problem let alone much bryopsis. However, the egg pattern would be neat. Maybe in a couple years I can get them to let me have a larger tank (wishful thinking ).

 

[ngoodermuth]

Oh, and as an FYI the diamond goby is a sand-sifting "sleeper" goby and not a true "watchman". I've never heard of one pairing up with a pistol shrimp. You might have better luck with a yellow watchman or orange spotted or any of the other prawn gobies (Cryptocentrus or Amblyeleotris) to observe that relationship.

 

[awtank2017]

I just thought I would post an update on our classroom aquarium. We recently got a blue tuxedo urchin which is doing well, along with a hammer coral, kenya tree coral, and dunan's coral. We will be looking to continue to add some more from our list since these are doing well. They love watching the urchin and the hammer coral!