The Coral Reef Project At Stratton Elementary School

[Brandon Rutherford]

Thanks for all of the kind words and offers of support. One of things I most appreciate about the aquarium community it's sense of comradery. The difficulty of our hobby and our shared interest creates lasting bonds of friendship. Many of the kids at my school are pretty marginalized and often feel powerless about their future or ability to control their environment. I spend a lot of time on the project and often get bogged down the enormity of it all. Having others understand our enthusiasm for ocean life means a great deal.

I've also been fortunate to have the help of many people and companies. About 50% of the funding comes from me personally but I've been fortunate to have the help of many people and companies. I will post pictures and thank you's to all donors and one of the best ways to support my project is to tell these people that you appreciate their contributions. Fortunately I've already funded most of the equipment and livestock I need (though I'd love a pair of MP40 pumps). But the project can't continue without an ongoing supply of consumable, particularly salt, gfo and food.

Many people have donated. But I'd like to list the ongoing sponsors that are critical to my success: Tropic Marin, Quality Marine, LRS Reef Frenzy and Tunze. Thanking these companies and buying their outstanding products would go a long way towards allowing them to continue their sponsorship. I've link to contact information for each. If you want to help, please take the time to email them.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

This is amazing! I'm inspired by all of you young aquarium hobbyists from Stratton elementary!

Now I have a question for you!

If you could have one thing in your reef tank right now that you don't have already what would it be?

 

[2xal]

Throw up a ship to address please, private message if you prefer.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

OK

We will completely appreciate any kind of gift and you'll get lots of letters and pictures in response. We use most types of reef supplies and equipment and have room for most any reef safe inverts or fish. All packages can be shipped to:

The Coral Reef Project
Stratton Elementary School
902 n. Randolph st.
Champaign IL 61820

I'm also planning a field trip to Shedd Aquarium next month. It's still in the works but some kids will need people to sponsor their transportation fee. I'll post more about this soon.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

One of the reasons I was able to create my project at Stratton is because it's a magnet school. Magnet schools are often chosen because they are targeted for improvement and received additional federal funding in exchange for adopting a specialized curriculum. Magnet schools chose from a variety of commercial curricular packages that have the goal of increasing academic achievement and making the school a more desirable choice for affluent students who can 'school shop'.

Stratton chose the Micro Society curriculum that seeks to transform the school into a model community with businesses, public services, social institutions etc. Each teacher has a 'venture' that provides a service to the school and hires student managers to run the venture like a business complete with student workers. The curriculum includes formal instruction in entrepreneurship, creating resumes and applying for jobs, managing other and work ethic. How this curriculum is enacted varies widely and there's a lot of crafty or video game based ventures. My venture is the coral reef project and we create and support aquariums in the classroom and provide science instruction to students in the school.

One of the biggest upsides to magnet programs is that they allows teachers to budget time for more extracurricular instruction rather than focusing exclusively on math and reading instruction.

My student managers commit to a lot of extra work including staying after school hours each week and additional responsibilities during the day.

Here's the poster for our venture that we use during hiring days.

My managers Jake, Gene, Nipun and Elyes are interviewing a prospective applicant for our venture. Applicants have resumes prepared in advance and some very rudimentary interviewing skills.

Don't wanna brag but my venture had the longest lines of applicants, even longer than the Minecraft venture which is considered the other most popular venture. (though what service they provide I don't know)

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

I try to setup my managers and other students who show continued interest and responsibility with tanks at home. Nipun is already a dedicated reefer and for his birthday last month I setup a 10 gallon marine tank at his house. He's still cycling his tank with fish food and trying to pick what goes in it. I'm sure he would be happy to take suggestions.

Special thanks to Robin Knapp for donating the tank, rocks and filter.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

I also wanted to share the odyssey of catching a some of the fish in my 90 gallon tank. I have a special surprise gift coming next week and need all of the aggressive fish moved to different tanks.

Our main targets are a yellow tang and fat blue velvet damselfish. Though its been in for 5 days, yellow tang does not like the trap at all and the photo below is the closest I've seen it come to it. The damselfish swims right around it and I swear it creates currents to push the food out. I have fed the tank for 3 days and still the fish won't go into the trap for food.

My kids have kept day long vigils by the fish trap with no success.



I'm pretty frustrated and will resort to moving rock and coral to get them if they're not out by tomorrow but my kids swear they can catch them. Their commitment is pretty remarkable. Featured in the video is Dominic, one of my most chill students.

 

[mcmc1717]

My favorite fish are clown fish, I love their behaviors.

 

[Lowstorm]

So awesome! I said that already, but this is really really great.

If I was setting up another 10 gallon tank, I would focus on one type of coral myself, and not worry so much about fish. Like an all-hammers tank, Euphyllia sp. There's enough different colors and varieties to keep it interesting, and its pretty fun to watch the sweeper tentacles. Bonus-they're fairly low-light and easy-ish to care for. If he wanted to go with things that can be left for a few days, there's all sorts of leather corals, mushrooms, and other easy nearly bullet-proof softies.

 

[revhtree]

Great work! My sons are doing the same at their school, Silverdale Baptist Academy. Email me: [email protected]. I would like to share information that I have found regarding grants available.

Hey I am from the Chattanooga Area! Ringgold Ga. to be exact! Very cool!

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Great work! My sons are doing the same at their school, Silverdale Baptist Academy. Email me: [email protected]. I would like to share information that I have found regarding grants available.

Hey Dr. White,

Thanks for the email and your advice on funding opportunities. I showed my class some pictures of the school tank and they had some questions.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

We finally caught the fish in my 90 gallon. Kids stood sentinel by the trap all day with no luck.

After school Gene, Nipun, Swapnil and Oren were skyping with Lan, owner of Algae Barn and donor to our project. We were lamenting taking out our coral and rock. Much of it is covered with polyps and every time I make quick, major changes to my tanks I later regret it. We came up with the idea of using plastic cups of different sizes to fill all of the holes in the rock and slowly block the fish out of their holes and into the open tank. Nipun stayed until almost 6, four hours after school to help me catch the fish.

I originally got the tang from a donor last year and it was in pretty bad shape

Here is the picture I took today about 1 year later

I think that the health of this fish is testament to the quality of the Tropic Marin salt I used for frequent water changes and the LRS Reef frenzy food I feed every day.

The tang temporarily moved to the new 40 long tank. It seems to get along with the recovering angle fish, hope they stay friends. Please pardon the dirty glass, the third grade kids in that class have their hand in and out of the tank all of the time and the glass stays salty.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

I have a team of students researching marine conservation. Minha created several paper maps yesterday.

Can anyone guess what species we're studying from the map?

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

I also wanted to give a shout out to my personal friend, reef mentor and sponsor Lou Eckus from Tropic Marin

Lou and Tropic Marin have gone out of their way for years to support our project. In addition to providing all of the salt and GFO that we use, he provides invaluable water chemistry advice to me and my students. He's our favorite vendor at the Aquatic Experience Expo and he is an on call expert that has helped us solve numerous problems that have occurred when kids over feed, mis-measure supplements or just plain forget to do something. He's a patient dude and can both explain it to me like I'm 7 and explain it to 7 year olds and have them get it.

 

[Kay_333]

I absolutely love this! Just started my 20g freshwater in my classroom this year! We've studied chemistry safety, learned why orange juice tastes funny after brushing your teeth (ph neutralization), why quarantine is important, all about different tetras and their needs and how to tell the boys from the girls... And so much more! If you know of a class that would like a grade 5/6 class as a pen pal / skype buddy pm me!

 

[NBcoralreef]

I try to setup my managers and other students who show continued interest and responsibility with tanks at home. Nipun is already a dedicated reefer and for his birthday last month I setup a 10 gallon marine tank at his house. He's still cycling his tank with fish food and trying to pick what goes in it. I'm sure he would be happy to take suggestions.

Special thanks to Robin Knapp for donating the tank, rocks and filter.

Mr. Rutherford, my teacher is the one who introduced this project to our school. He made my birthday special.In addition to his guidance,I intend to expand my knowledge about this hobby with help of the experienced members here at reef2reef.Learning about coral reef is awesome.

 

[NBcoralreef]

Hey Brandon, Here's some answers to your questions from Gene, Jake and Swapnil.

 

[ddwatson]

This is outstanding! Driving education, environmental awareness, and creating the next generation of saltwater hobbyist! This would be amazing as a kid.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Mr. Rutherford, my teacher is the one who introduced this project to our school. He made my birthday special.In addition to his guidance,I intend to expand my knowledge about this hobby with help of the experienced members here at reef2reef.Learning about coral reef is awesome.

Hello Nipun,

Wow, great to see you posting on R2R. I wonder if you're the youngest independent reef keeper on the site. Please don't be shy about asking questions, know that many of the members here are proud of you and are ready to help. Why don't you post the story about you loosing all of the copepods and bristle worms when your tank overheated and then ask for advice.

See you tomorrow morning,

Mr. Rutherford

 

[joshkirkland83]

Mr. Rutherford, my teacher is the one who introduced this project to our school. He made my birthday special.In addition to his guidance,I intend to expand my knowledge about this hobby with help of the experienced members here at reef2reef.Learning about coral reef is awesome.

Looking good Nipun. Keep up the awesome work. I think its pretty cool what you and your class are doing. Dont hesitate to ask questions. The only stupid question is the one that isnt asked.