The Coral Reef Project At Stratton Elementary School

[Brandon Rutherford]

One more crazy story. My order from Quality Marine include a tiny orange tube anemone. It was super bright and the kids love feeding tube anemones. I intended to place it in the sand bed in the 90 gallon tank right next to some rocks. I made a hole with my finger, put the end of the worm in the hole and was going to scoop sand around the sides when the anemone was snatched out of my hand and disappeared under the lip of rock. I stuck fingers deeper only to receive a huge pinch. Apparently a rogue crab has made a huge burrow under the rock and grabbed my anemone! The rock is deeply buried and too big to remove without disturbing coral. I had just put the sensitive cardinal fish in the tank and the last thing I wanted to do was stir up a bunch of sediment so I had to let the crab have the tube anemone.

 

[chris124]

No better way to get kids interested in marine biology than this. Very cool.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

All of the fish seemed happy to get a new goby friend though the pistol shrimp is still hiding. I really like this saddleback pufferfish. It's non aggressive and I'd like to get more but I heard they nip at coral.

When I came to check on the Banggai Cardinal fish this morning in my 90 gallon I could only find 5 of the ten.

I worried about them all day and came back to school again in the evening and only found 4. After searching I found a dead one the size of an M&M in my sump filter. I think this hole in my overflow is to blame and something must have eaten the other five.

I moved the rest to my 60 tank at home for safe keeping. It only took me 5 minutes to catch them in my large reef system. Little guys are really not the best swimmers. No wonder they're getting killed by the inverts in my tank.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

I have this pretty acan mounted on a rock in a frag rack and I've been careful to keep it away from other frags. I think its been sending out tentacles grabbing other corals and then literally pulling the entire rock its on over so it can eat them.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Here's the great looking chromis that ingot from quality marine in the kindergarten tank. All were eating and healthy. They'll be really pretty when they color up.

And some peppermint shrimp. My favorite clean up crew member.

Also wanted to share that we keep a daily brine shrimp hatchery going for our jellyfish tanks.

 

[NBcoralreef]

We have this fish in our downstairs tank at school that is lazy. It just sits on its pretty host anemone most of the time. Can someone help identify this fish? Is it a blenny?

 

[120reefkeeper]

Looks like a bi-color Blenny to me.

 

[NBcoralreef]

Looks like a bi-color Blenny to me.

Thank you !

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Up late plumbing my refugium. Going good so far. I will be so grumpy if this used tank leaks after spending $120 on plumbing fixtures. Fingers crossed

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Almost done. Braced the plumbing with styrofoam to keep kids from banging against it and breaking the bulkheads.

 

[chickofthesea]

Here are the clownfish I got! BTW my tank is fully cycled!

Have you decidedwhat kind of coral you want to try? I may have some you like. I'll bring it to school for you to take home. Soft coral, lps, zoas, plays? You name it. I'm so proud of you. Keep up the good work. I love those cute little clowns.

 

[chickofthesea]

Here's a picture of my 3 year old daughter Coraline. She often accompanies me on the weekends when I work on my project and is already an expert fish feeder.

I noticed that the two 25 fluval tanks with small LED light strips have started growing small dots of coralline algae. Does this mean that they could support low light corals? If so any recommendations?

I also thought I'd share what looks like bristle worm eggs. Hard to see in the photo but very small, individual worm larva can be seen. The white plate is from the underside of a 5 gallon Jellyfish Art kreisel tank. They can support a surprising amount of biomass.

And finally I wanted to brag about the bubble tip anemone growth on my 90 gallon tank. We feed them small bits of LRS Reef Frenzy food daily and they love it. It's not just for fish.

A few months ago:

Now:

I'm envious of that anemone. Mine is doing better now but yours is huge.

 

[chickofthesea]

Here's a rather esoteric question from Cornelius. We were talking about the cyano bloom in his tank (we just set it up) and was wondering about how corals might help filter water. I haven't had time to explain it to him yet and was hoping someone from R2R might also want to chime in.

[/QUOTE
I am interested in this too Cornelius. We can learn together! Is there anyone out there that can help Cornelius and I?

 

[chickofthesea]

Thanks so much for providing this interesting video. With some additional instruction in sub concepts, we had a great discussion.
Here's some of their thoughts:


Wow you guys! I don't thnk I learned the physics of light filtering until I was MUCH older. Impressive white board presentations. Thank you all for sharing.

 

[chickofthesea]

I do love following this thread. It's so good to see our future in this hobby learning.

Also, when drilling a tank, I make a dam around the area to be drilled with plumbers putty. Fill the dam with water for lubrication (and to get particulate matter from floating into the air. The drilling will go much faster this way.

I so need to just do it. My corals are outgrowing my 75 gallon. My husband emptied his 120. I would so go bigger if I drilled it and it works.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

I so need to just do it. My corals are outgrowing my 75 gallon. My husband emptied his 120. I would so go bigger if I drilled it and it works.

I'll drill it for you!

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

It works. Overflow is completely silent. Now to make sure that it doesn't overflow my sump.

 

[chickofthesea]

I'll drill it for you!

I'll drill it for you!

Seriously? ummm yes please. I have been dreaming of using that H2Overflow from custom aquatics that I saw at the Aquatic Experience Show. What do you think? I'm not sure if they sponsor the reef program or reeftoreef but I liked it. I would rather use a sponsors overflow if it comes right down to it though. Could you find out if Nipun wants me to bring him a piece of coral? I do have some mushrooms. I think he could try them with his lighting? Thanks.

 

[NBcoralreef]

Have you decidedwhat kind of coral you want to try? I may have some you like. I'll bring it to school for you to take home. Soft coral, lps, zoas, plays? You name it. I'm so proud of you. Keep up the good work. I love those cute little clowns.

Thank you! I really like the soft corals but I don't know if it would fit in my 10g as it grows. I also am unsure if the light in my tank is good for Corals. I've added a shrimp,2 snails and a little crab to my tank.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

The refugium is done. Checked flow for last 24 hours and the rate is enough to not overflow sump. Hope the cheap T5 lamp I stole from the 5th grade is enough light. Will do a 24 hour cycle.