Ichabod Crane tank Project

[jallard]

Well..........Linda Volunteered her time and services to maintain one 90g saltwater FWLR and one 55g Fresh water tank. Linda approached the school because she has a daughter in that school and she wanted to help. If you know Linda....you wouldn't expect any less :lol: And if any of that info is incorrect I'm sure she will correct me

After speaking to her about it I thought it was a great opportunity for the club to get involved in something positive for the community. I too am willing ...and also planning to help her. I went to this school when I was a little terror.

Sooooo at this point the level of Club involvement is nill, it's just me and linda. However If we all think it's a good thing to get involved as a club, we would do a few things.

#1- Ask for volunteers to go and help maintain the tanks a few times a month or as often as necessary.

#2 We could solicit our sponsors for essential items to maintain and improve there current tanks.

I personally see nothing bad about this arrangement. They are excited that they will have some people to help there neglected tanks.

 

[Linda C.]

the tank as of 9/15/06

the tank as of 9/15/06

Here are 3 photos of the saltwater tank that were taken today. Words can't describe it. One good thing is it will make for some good "before" and "after" photos. If you look closely through the green gunk you can see 2 clowns and 1 Koran Angelfish. The Koran has been in the tank at least 3 years. The SG as of today is 1.012.

ok...ready for the pictures???

 

[WinkeyWoneye]

HOLY break out the scrapers! lol Its gonna take a while to get rid of all that grunge. poor fishies. I think its a cool idea to help them out as a club. Give the kiddies a nice clean tank to look at.
Actually wouldnt be all that bad to clean the glass anyways, have one person scraping with a good scraper and another siphoning the junk as it comes off. That way the water doesnt get too mucked up.

 

[jallard]

ya that's the plan........ wow I almost forgot how bad that tank was :lol: or is

 

[Dave ESPI]

It looks great !

I'd let it run as is.



1.012 ? holy shnikies ! ya may want to ramp that up slowly.....

Salinity shock to the system will be bad.
A razorblade will work wonders for that tank as will RODI water and some phosguard for sure

 

[scorp1on]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8147771#post8147771 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WinkeyWoneye
I think its a cool idea to help them out as a club. Give the kiddies a nice clean tank to look at.

Could not only get them into the hobby but with learning itself. Our kids love learning about the tanks and have carried that to other areas.

 

[Coral007]

Why not put a clean up crew in there and let the kids get an idea of natures way of before and after? I was surprised of the difference after only a couple of weeks!

 

[jallard]

good idea....but concidering it's current condition...a clean up crew would die. The salinity is low 1.012. It needs some initial tlc first then a clean up crew is a must.

 

[Coral007]

Is there any liability to us if everything dies? Will they make us set them up with a new, fresh start?

 

[jallard]

No......as it is now they have nobody to maintain the tanks. They have the janitors feeding them at night and that's it. The saltwater fish are give freshwater fish flakes

 

[plandy]

"Is there any liability to us if everything dies? Will they make us set them up with a new, fresh start?"

Exactly the reason I voted no

 

[Coral007]

So with that much algae it looks like they might be very overfed. Would that be correct?

 

[TA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8151379#post8151379 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jallard
They have the janitors feeding them at night and that's it. The saltwater fish are give freshwater fish flakes

Thats got to stop.
Once under control, why not instruct the "kids"/teachers how to feed "properly" and let them take over the job.

That is one nasty mess of a tank:sad2:

 

[Coral007]

It definately needs to be fixed. I feel sorry for those fish. Are there any corals or live rock or sand in there too?

 

[jallard]

no coral no live rock.......
Of course they will have to learn to feed the tanks, because we will not be going over to feed them everyday :lol:. Just check and clean them once ar twice a month.

Algae is probably due to bad water and possible very old bulbs

 

[Lakeside518]

Defin bad water. Due to distance i know my involvement will be quite limited. I keep 60 gals of RO/DI water on hand at all times in storage. 0 TDS. I'm sure i could somehow deliver a good portion of water to the cause.

Linda if you could organize a donation list of whats highest on the list of needed items that would be great. I always have lots of equipment laying around. Why not give it to those who need it most. "The FISH"

 

[jallard]

I contacted Tony at Swampbottom and he is willing to donate
2 Power heads, bucket of salt and some liver rock. At this point that tank will be fine. Got to get the tank Parameters right before we go to far.

 

[Linda C.]

I am very pleased and excited to say that Tony at SWAMPBOTTOM has volunteered to be the exclusive sponsor for the fish tanks at Ichabod Crane Middle School. He gave me salt to make 100 gallons of water and two brand new power heads tonight. As we get the tanks ready he will willing to donate other supplies that we will need to make this a healthy tank once again.
Tony is a very generous person with a true love of the hobby

k...a chime in from Linda now.

With my relationship with Ichabod Crane School I would have to say there is ZERO liability and 1000% gratitude. Staff today was GIDDY that the tank was being cleaned.

I had three kids go through this particular building. Some staff have known me for 15 years. Also, I have been a BIG time volunteer at all 5 buildings of this school district...from plays, video taping for public access tv, keyboarding.... I have been a paid substitute aide for many years at all buildings also.

Joe graduated from ICCS. It was funny to see teachers recognize him...one poor science teacher keeps shaking his head feeling very old seeing Joe.

The only thing that may happen is anyone working on the tank might be hugged for doing so.

Students were thrilled that they had fish in the tank. Sadly, the couldn't see that there WERE fish in the tank the whole time. I had a group of boys asking me tons of questions about the tank and fish. I wrote down the name of the Koran Angelfish and suggested they look it up on the internet to see what it will look like as an adult. There was a STRONG interest from many students with lots of very good questions today.

I see many "fish geeks" in the making there.

I look forward to anyone in the group who has any interest in helping and teaching the teachers and students on how to take care of the tanks. We are starting slowly and just getting the tanks cleaned up.

It was a great feeling working on the tanks today...I really enjoyed myself.

 

[Dave ESPI]

lugging buckets with a busted back.....

shame shame shame.... you are cruzin' for a bruzin' there linda

 

[plandy]

Linda, it would be a great idea to post some kind of bill board next to the tank describing the various biological interactions, species, reefs and so on with illustrations, pics....

On the other hand I can see how this project can stimulate kids in a very, positive, intellectual way.

I am going down to visit Tony's shop for the first time tomorrow. He will be getting some of my business from now on.