Setting tank up in school!

[Joshua Hurst]

Hello Everyone!!!

So like most of you reef keepers I fell in love with reef keeping the day I started (although having one clownfish in a 55 gallon tank was dreadful.) For my life I've decided I want to own a coral store. I want to go to business school and I may get a degree in marine biology. So lol basically my life is my fish tank.
Well 2 days ago I was walking my friend to her class, and I walked in and saw a 55 gallon 48' long 12' fat fish tank, and I decided from that second it was mine Ive talked to the teacher about it, and it sounds like he I supser excited to have someone who knows what their doing to take care of it! One thing though that came to a disappointment was its lack of potential. I mean truly this tank has almost everything it would ever need, but it has brown blue algae in it, and only 1 rose bubble anemone and a green mushroom. I believe I can get rid of the algae in just a few weeks, and can put some corals in right after that is taken care of.

Why am I doing this? I want kids my age to know that the ocean is far more complex than they could imagine, and that their planet should be respected. So with high hopes Im shooting high!

I would be honored if anyone would want to send corals to the school. I will be doing my best to post to this forum actively, and can answer any questions

Will post pictures very soon

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

lets see it and the equipment and see if we can help

 

[Joshua Hurst]

lets see it and the equipment and see if we can help

 

[Joshua Hurst]

Wow it sent those pictures a lot of times. Sorry guys! I dunno why it keeps sending it so many times

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Well you have your work cut out for you.
I I may. Id suggest looking at refugiums. Besides it's obvious usefulness it a visual representation of a biosphere and the relationship of the plans and animals in it.
Look to your teachers for help, also to the PTA and other school support groups first. Its an important enrichment IMO. Zoos and aquariums are very important and the illustration of husbandry and the close up interaction and observation of these animals is is something you can't put a price tag on. Ive built and taken fresh water aquarium displays to my daughters school several times over the years and there's been no better reward that I can think of but the excitement and interest of any of the kids who participated.

#reefsquad any other input?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Wow it sent those pictures a lot of times. Sorry guys! I dunno why it keeps sending it so many times

No worries. I got it cleaned up for ya.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Are there powerheads for flow inside the tank? I would suggest putting a background on there. It should be pretty cheap.

 

[Joshua Hurst]

Are there powerheads for flow inside the tank? I would suggest putting a background on there. It should be pretty cheap.

No actually! I thought they were too! The one on the right is a automatic feeder due to the fact that no one is there in the summer. On the right is just a regular box filter

 

[Joshua Hurst]

Well you have your work cut out for you.
I I may. Id suggest looking at refugiums. Besides it's obvious usefulness it a visual representation of a biosphere and the relationship of the plans and animals in it.
Look to your teachers for help, also to the PTA and other school support groups first. Its an important enrichment IMO. Zoos and aquariums are very important and the illustration of husbandry and the close up interaction and observation of these animals is is something you can't put a price tag on. Ive built and taken fresh water aquarium displays to my daughters school several times over the years and there's been no better reward that I can think of but the excitement and interest of any of the kids who participated.

#reefsquad any other input?

Sadly our PTA spends so much money on other stuff; I don't think they'd take me seriously :/

Thank you for the advice!

 

[Willz]

Sadly our PTA spends so much money on other stuff; I don't think they'd take me seriously :/

Thank you for the advice!

So, the ideal outcome of this thread is free coral, fish, and aquarium supplies with minimal effort on your part?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Sadly our PTA spends so much money on other stuff; I don't think they'd take me seriously :/

Thank you for the advice!

You may be surprised. We are a PTA house. My wife(the smart one) was Pta President for two years. Speak to the teacher, your parent, ant the President. Put together a list and budget. Also a discussion of what and why you want to do this. Also how you are going to accomplish this, plus what other the other benefits of this there are to the school.
You need very little for that tank. A reef tank does not need to be expensive to enjoy it.

 

[Joshua Hurst]

So, the ideal outcome of this thread is free coral, fish, and aquarium supplies with minimal effort on your part?

I expect to put in lots of effort, but since financial resources are low, I'm looking for potential sponsors, and/or advice on how to make this tank look like a low maitance reef tank. The reason for low maintance is because of school breaks, and summers of not having someone around regularly.

 

[Joshua Hurst]

You may be surprised. We are a PTA house. My wife(the smart one) was Pta President for two years. Speak to the teacher, your parent, ant the President. Put together a list and budget. Also a discussion of what and why you want to do this. Also how you are going to accomplish this, plus what other the other benefits of this there are to the school.
You need very little for that tank. A reef tank does not need to be expensive to enjoy it.

It never hurts to ask I guess! Thank you for the advice! Currently with that algae and the 2 corals it kinda makes me sad haha

 

[Baby Ray]

Hello @Joshua Hurst!!!
I am so glad you are doing this. I actually set up a tank at the middle school I go to over the summer. I set up a 20 gallon long with a 10 gallon sump. Go luck with this build. For raising money, I would suggest a GoFundMe account with your principals permission. I raised quite a lot of money on it. Also, go to any LFS and ask for donations. They will most likely be very generous. I will try to find the thread for the school tank I set up and post it here. If you have any questions, please let me know. I will be more then happy to answer them. By the way, you aren't allowed to ask for donations on Reef2Reef. You might want to take that down. Just thought I would give you a heads up

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Hello @Joshua Hurst!!!
I am so glad you are doing this. I actually set up a tank at the middle school I go to over the summer. I set up a 20 gallon long with a 10 gallon sump. Go luck with this build. For raising money, I would suggest a GoFundMe account with your principals permission. I raised quite a lot of money on it. Also, go to any LFS and ask for donations. They will most likely be very generous. I will try to find the thread for the school tank I set up and post it here. If you have any questions, please let me know. I will be more then happy to answer them. By the way, you aren't allowed to ask for donations on Reef2Reef. You might want to take that down. Just thought I would give you a heads up

Thanks Ray. Glad you joined us.

Currently with that algae and the 2 corals it kinda makes me sad haha

me too.

I expect to put in lots of effort, but since financial resources are low, I'm looking for potential sponsors, and/or advice on how to make this tank look like a low maitance reef tank. The reason for low maintance is because of school breaks, and summers of not having someone around regularly.

It takes a village.

 

[Mike_J]

The reason for low maintance is because of school breaks, and summers of not having someone around regularly.

Get the custodians to join your school reef squad since they are at school on breaks and summers and could be of huge assistance to your cause!

 

[Joshua Hurst]

Get the custodians to join your school reef squad since they are at school on breaks and summers and could be of huge assistance to your cause!

Heh I don't think that they would do that...

 

[Joshua Hurst]

Get the custodians to join your school reef squad since they are at school on breaks and summers and could be of huge assistance to your cause!

They do so much anyways

 

[Baby Ray]

I found the thread. I haven't updated it in FOREVER but you get the main idea. I might try to update it soon because everything is doing great. So far, all I have is a fire fish and yasha shrimp gobie pair but I am planning on added a red and white (school colors) pygmy wrasse and a clownfish in the future. I also only have 2 corals right now but I will defiantly add more in the future. Ill try to get some more pics soon.
http://reef2reef.com/threads/setting-up-a-tank-at-my-school.261878/page-9

 

[KcAQUARIUMS]

So, the ideal outcome of this thread is free coral, fish, and aquarium supplies with minimal effort on your part?

I'm guessing so