My 180g Classroom Build
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- Thread starter Mr.Asbury
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NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
Starting off the aquascape! It’s definitely still a work in progress.
Looks good so far. Don’t feel you have to use all of the rock. Remember to mix up the heights and keep it interesting. I might take a couple of the rocks from the middle and create a separation, but that is just me.
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Mr.Asbury
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I do not have one currently; I was able to get all of the necessities worked into my original budget, and another teacher that works nearby was able to get me a really good discount when I placed my equipment order. That (hopefully) saved enough of the funds to be able to get everything set up and running, along with all of the fish and coral. The gentleman that placed the order was a huge help - we were originally going to be buying all of the livestock out of pocket for the tank.
After this picture, we did change up the flat area in the middle a good bit, and we took your advice on not trying to use all of the rock. I'll just throw some of the extras in the sump. We worked on it until about 10:30 last night, and I forgot to take another picture before calling it a night. We're headed back over here in a few minutes to look at it with fresh eyes and put some more water into it. Hopefully I'll be doing all of the plumbing underneath the tank today as well - I was able to get the overflows installed last night & leak test those seals to make sure they were good to go.
I really like the custom stand and canopy. Interested to see how this continues! Seems like a lot of work to build a reef in a classroom. I don't think most teachers enjoy the idea of returning to their classrooms during spring/winter/summer break to check on a tank!
marvelousone
Well-Known Member
This is awesome. It's nice to see kids that would never get to a chance to experience our hobby get to. Keep up the great work.
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Mr.Asbury
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It doesn't bother me. I coach wrestling in the winter, so I'm here every day over that break. We usually lose spring break to snow days, so there's no sacrifice there, and I already have a 75g freshwater tank in my room that I've come in to feed daily the last 2 summers, so I'm already used to it lol. Plus this will give me an excuse to come in and get a workout at the gym here during the summer.
Several of the kids were already asking questions about it. I'm going to leave some of the fish choices up to them (mainly just things like which clownfish and whatnot, so they don't try to suggest things not compatible with my setup) so hopefully that will give them some ownership & bring their interest in a little more. Then we'll be doing water testing labs and some background research on each of the organisms in the tank, all the way from the nitrifying bacteria to pods, corals, cleanup crew, and of course the fish. I'll be sure to share some pictures of the kids' work!
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Mr.Asbury
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Yeah. It's not too fun this time of year, but it's really nice when we're (supposed to be) done in May.
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Mr.Asbury
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Got the plumbing finished up today, but couldn't get a good picture of it. However, you can see the aquascape my wife and another science teacher helped me make while I was putting the skimmer and water changing station together. I'll be putting more water in it throughout the week as I'm able to make it, and will hopefully be able to start the cycle by Friday.
I'll be starting general intro to water on Earth notes this week, and will cover saltwater prior to freshwater. I plan to hit the nitrogen cycle during this and will have my students do water tests throughout the weeks of the cycle, log what we're seeing, and make a graph at the end to show what happened with the water parameters throughout this time. Hopefully it'll turn out nicely, and I'll have some stuff to share on here! Thanks to everyone who's followed along so far, and I hope you're as excited as I am about the year getting started!
I'll be starting general intro to water on Earth notes this week, and will cover saltwater prior to freshwater. I plan to hit the nitrogen cycle during this and will have my students do water tests throughout the weeks of the cycle, log what we're seeing, and make a graph at the end to show what happened with the water parameters throughout this time. Hopefully it'll turn out nicely, and I'll have some stuff to share on here! Thanks to everyone who's followed along so far, and I hope you're as excited as I am about the year getting started!
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Mr.Asbury
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I can't wait to get started with it!
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Mr.Asbury
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Things are getting started a little slower than I'd hoped for. When all the students returned, my water pressure took a nose dive, and it's taking about 2 days to get a trash can full of RODI water. Hopefully it'll improve again this weekend, because I've only been able to add about 30g more water to the tank since Sunday, and still have a ton to go. I had planned to start the cycle tomorrow and have the water testing start then, but at this rate I'm now hoping we'll get to it by the middle of next week.
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Mr.Asbury
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Finally took a picture of the plumbing from last weekend. It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but it passed the leak test so I'll take it. We just got the water level in the sump adjusted, and the overflows and return pump are tuned in to be silent. Finally got everything going! We added some bacteria in a bottle and some ammonium chloride to kick start the cycle last night, and are doing our first round of testing now.
Now on to setting up the Apex!
Now on to setting up the Apex!
This is exciting and a great idea for a classroom!
Tank and sump looks great. If I could just make one suggestion from experience, put some support hangers on some of the pipe work if you haven’t already. Especially around valves you will be using as this is where stress will occur. Hangers near your bulk heads will also save stress from water weight or if you accidentally grab or put weight on the pipe.
Awesome build you have going. I’m following along.
Tank and sump looks great. If I could just make one suggestion from experience, put some support hangers on some of the pipe work if you haven’t already. Especially around valves you will be using as this is where stress will occur. Hangers near your bulk heads will also save stress from water weight or if you accidentally grab or put weight on the pipe.
Awesome build you have going. I’m following along.
NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
Full tank shot showing aquascape & stand now that it's full, running, and we've begun the cycle!
Congratulations!
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