Tank Journal Archive

[marineclass]

Introduction:
This tank is an upgrade from the original 40L nano I had set up in my classroom. I found the experience was so rewarding for the students and myself that we should upgrade! A huge thank you to everyone who has helped out and donated time/ advice or product. In particular 'Bren' who kindly donated the tank, stand, hood, chiller, lights, and a lot, lot more. Also a big thanks to Aaron (sir_reefalot) for his time and for organising a sump and to the guys at Nielsens Marine Mates (loganholme) for providing a heap of equipment also.


System Objectives: To have a healthy, low-maintanence reef that can be used within the classroom.
System Type: Mixed reef with lots of colour and easy to keep fish/coral.

Strike up Date:6/7/2011

Display Tank:4x18x18

Display Lighting: 4 foot t5. Currently only 2 globes but will hopefully be upgraded shortly.

Sump: soon :D Will hold skimmer and other equipment.
Refugium: soon. possibley have DSB with mangroves- open to suggestions

Support systems:

System Water: NSW collected from Broadwater (Gold Coast) i love having perfect water only a couple of minutes away.:)

Display Water circulation: Hydor 3000 and 5000

Skimmer: Aqua One pro skim

Evaporation Top Up: Manuel - soon to set up auto top up


Any help/feedback please let me know. Also - any coral frags you want to send my way, dont be shy ;)
Images:

 

[marineclass]

The set up!

With the old background - still trying to decide between a black or blue for the new one :confused:

 

[MTG]

i say black background. you can just use black cardboard cut to size and stuck on the back with a bit of tape. makes it easy to change latter? i see the corals you got off me are growing. great!!

 

[marineclass]

yea im thinking black will do - yea the corals are going well. I lost one torch in the move however this one is thriving now in the bigger tank with better light. Also the zoos have doubled in size in the past 3 weeks so im looking forward to them spreading. Does it usually take long for them to spread?

 

[MTG]

depends what type some grow quick some grow slow. also can depend on light and water quality.
what lights are you planning on?

 

[marineclass]

Im planning on keeping the current 2 globe T5 and adding another 3 or 4 globe unit. That way ill have 6 globes to play with some colour ;)

 

[slin1977]

I used to spend classtime focussed on what was going on outside the window whilst sitting in the back of class, those were some of my teachers comments on my report card. I would have VIP seats in front of this tank for sure.

 

[marineclass]

haha, yea i do notice students staring at it a lot... i find it actually helps though - the slight trickle noise and peaceful lighting and movement of the water has a very calming effect on the class. It is also a great tool for so many lessons , eg today we were learning how to calculate volume. ...perfect, " work out how many litres of water is in the tank class!"

 

[MTG]

what yr do you have again mate?

 

[marineclass]

Grade 4. Nine and ten year olds ;) fun age!

 

[MTG]

do you make them clean the tank when they get in trouble? haha

 

[marineclass]

haha, i should! only problem is, the students want to do anything they can for the tank so they will muck up on purpose so they can clean it. They love testing the water which is good for me because i find it a bit tedious

 

[MTG]

now you just need to stock it out with some nice softys and get it looking great!

 

[marineclass]

yea thats my aim...lots of colour and easy to keep corals!

 

[marineclass]

Quick little update -

just completed weekly water change and changed the background to black which looks a lot nicer. The kids are loving the tank and watching the daily changes it produces.

Also found the anemone decided to go for a wonder last night and is now resting up against the glass. I was thankful because i was trying to describe the underside of the anemone to the students and now they can see it very clearly throught the glass.

FTS

Left Side

Right Side

Anemone

 

[marineclass]

oh wow - is it obvious i used my phone for those pics :unsure I promise to use a good camera next time ;)

 

[MTG]

I HIGHLY recomend that you move that wavemaker ASAP. trust me it can fit in it and it will make a nice mess!!

 

[marineclass]

Thanks to a quick reply from matt the wave maker is now higher and safely away from the anemone - ahh the things you dont think of when new to the hobby! (even though that seems common sense):unsure

 

[marineclass]

Do you think he is moving in search of more light/ food/ other?

 

[MTG]

where was is before? usualy its either more or less light, or more or less flow. by the look of its position im thinking less flow? as there isnt very much flow under one of those pumps