Esox
Community Member
Hello everyone.
I set up my first saltwater aquarium back in '86. Without the Internet or easy access to aquarium books, I relied on old fishkeeping gazettes my father had--possibly precursors to Tropical Fish Hobbyist--to get me started. I kept fish successfully until '92, when I left home to serve in the Marine Corps. Didn't get back into the hobby until 2016. This forum has been a wealth of info since then (WAY better than those old gazettes), and I am thankful it's here.
I am joining now because I need your suggestions.
I teach at a high school in a rough neighborhood that has been on remote learning for the last week, not because of COVID, but because two students were shot outside of another school in town. We'll be on remote learning this week as well while the district revises its security measures. Many of my students come from impoverished and broken homes. Adding to their stress is the fact that this year, the district combined four high schools into two, effectively dumping half our kids into strange buildings in neighborhoods they used to avoid.
So I've been trying to think of ways to make my classroom a more relaxing and inviting place to be. One idea is to set up a saltwater tank. Over the years, the kids have expressed interest in pictures of my home aquarium, and a handful from this year have said they would like to set one up and maintain it. I have a spare 20 gallon long, some unused HOB filters, and a variety of odds and ends that I no longer need at home, so I'll bring those in and pick up what I don't have in a week or two.
I know I want the aquarium to be the students' tank. I want them to--within my budget and under my supervision--decide what goes in it and what they do with it. And I want there to be a goal that is obtainable by the end of the school year in early June. I'm just drawing blank on what some possible goals might be. I'm hoping the R2R community can give me some ideas that I can pass on to the students as options.
I'll be restricted on some things: there will be no RO/DI (I'll be bringing in 5 gallon bottles of distilled water), it will have to be a budget build, no poisonous or toxic livestock, and the tank will need to be relatively easy to break down so I can bring it home during the summer.
Thanks for your help.
I set up my first saltwater aquarium back in '86. Without the Internet or easy access to aquarium books, I relied on old fishkeeping gazettes my father had--possibly precursors to Tropical Fish Hobbyist--to get me started. I kept fish successfully until '92, when I left home to serve in the Marine Corps. Didn't get back into the hobby until 2016. This forum has been a wealth of info since then (WAY better than those old gazettes), and I am thankful it's here.
I am joining now because I need your suggestions.
I teach at a high school in a rough neighborhood that has been on remote learning for the last week, not because of COVID, but because two students were shot outside of another school in town. We'll be on remote learning this week as well while the district revises its security measures. Many of my students come from impoverished and broken homes. Adding to their stress is the fact that this year, the district combined four high schools into two, effectively dumping half our kids into strange buildings in neighborhoods they used to avoid.
So I've been trying to think of ways to make my classroom a more relaxing and inviting place to be. One idea is to set up a saltwater tank. Over the years, the kids have expressed interest in pictures of my home aquarium, and a handful from this year have said they would like to set one up and maintain it. I have a spare 20 gallon long, some unused HOB filters, and a variety of odds and ends that I no longer need at home, so I'll bring those in and pick up what I don't have in a week or two.
I know I want the aquarium to be the students' tank. I want them to--within my budget and under my supervision--decide what goes in it and what they do with it. And I want there to be a goal that is obtainable by the end of the school year in early June. I'm just drawing blank on what some possible goals might be. I'm hoping the R2R community can give me some ideas that I can pass on to the students as options.
I'll be restricted on some things: there will be no RO/DI (I'll be bringing in 5 gallon bottles of distilled water), it will have to be a budget build, no poisonous or toxic livestock, and the tank will need to be relatively easy to break down so I can bring it home during the summer.
Thanks for your help.
