Presentation for Girl Scouts

[cdness]

So my daughter is in the West Fargo girl scout troop. They are doing a focus on water studies for this year's badges. Part of this is on saltwater aquariums and reef life. I have been volunteered (no idea why :tongue: ) to give a presentation on the saltwater and reef life part of their badges...

So what do you think are some good things to talk about? These girls will be ages 7 - 9 so I need to try keep it at their level. Here are some ideas I thought about:

Equipment:

Display Tank
Sump and its purpose​

Pumps​

Skimmer
​

Mention the foam on the beach and in hot tubs to gross them out a bit​

Lights

​

Bacteria cycle for filtering

Show the lack of filters on the back of the tank and canisters

​

Reef Life

Corals
​

Animals not plants
Skeleton like you and I
Light to survive​

Fish​

Point out the tangs and clowns as well as other fish in the tank
Explain the compatibility of fish and what to look for when buying a fish for a certain tank size​

Inverts​

Behavior of the clowns and their host nem
Shrimp - Molting and cleaning behaviors
Snails / Crabs and their purpose in the tank
Pods and the little crawly creatures in the tank
​

On top of all this, I plan on taking one of my dead corals and cutting it up into pieces for the girls to take home as a souvenir so they can have a piece of coral. More than likely they will use it in a future craft project with the troop.

I am not the best at developing talks about things but they are kids so it is a little easier. If there is anything else you feel would be interesting, please let me know and I will add it to my list to talk about.

 

[cdness]

So does no response mean it looks perfect? Someone has to have some more ideas for me. Help out the girl scouts!

 

[JMSKI333]

Hmm...

I'd maybe explain how a freshwater aquarium requires a hang on back filter and weekly water changes while a saltwater aquarium can get by with little or no water changes and no hang on back filter because the microscopic marine life perform the filtration. (maybe show them some photos of pods)

Explain reef safe fish vs. fish only fish and the pro's and con's of each.

Fish care and the importance of Salinity. A good interaction with the scouts would be to bring in a hygrometer or refractometer with some salt water and show them how it measures the salinity. A hygrometer might be more interactive.

If you need any donations of dead coral I have plenty :roll:

Good luck!