Conesus_Kid
Premium Member
I figured that it was about time to post the progress on the classroom reef aquarium project, so here’s a little teaser:
To recap:
I received the $10,000 Toyota Tapestry Grant for science teachers this last spring to install a reef aquarium in my classroom. My plan called for a large reef display as well as a small breeding setup.
I began collecting equipment this past spring. Although $10,000 sounds like a lot of scratch, it’s easy to burn through quickly, so a big part of my challenge has been to stretch the grant dollars as far as possible. I made dozens of telephone calls to vendors, and it would probably surprise you how few of them are willing to discount hardware and equipment, even for a school project. It turned out that the best values I found were on used equipment.
The space:
Fortunately, I was able to relocate my classroom to one that is more suitable for this project. I did not take any “before†pics, so I’ll describe the classroom and show some pics from today.
As you enter the room, there is a galley style prep room on the right. The dimensions are about 9’ wide by 12’ deep. There were originally wall and base cabinets around the entire perimeter of the prep room. The prep room will house the sump and most of the aquarium equipment, so I had to remove some of the cabinets as well as install a sink as there wasn’t one before.
Pic of the sink:
If you continue into the classroom, the back of the classroom is to the right, and is where the display and breeding setup will be located. I had to remove a countertop that ran the full width of the classroom. The custodial staff helped with drywall repair and painting. Here’s a view from today looking to the back of the room:
The tank:
As many of you know, I had quite the time finding an appropriately sized and priced tank for this project. The tank that I procured was listed as a 280 gallon aquarium on Craigslist and came with the stand and canopy.
Here’s some pics from the seller:
After I bought it (and drove the two hours home), I did a little research and discovered that the tank is actually a 200 gallon ‘Clear For Life’ brand “Uniquariumâ€Â. (http://www.advanceaquatanks.com/uniqrectangle.html). It’s designed with a wet/dry system in the back of the tank. This poses a couple of small problems, but nothing I can’t handle.
Here are some pics of the tank:
The dimensions of the tank are 96†wide x 24†deep (~20†usable) x 20†tall.
In all, I’m very pleased with the deal. It was a steal price-wise, and I only had to modify the existing stand and canopy, rather than build them from scratch.
To recap:
I received the $10,000 Toyota Tapestry Grant for science teachers this last spring to install a reef aquarium in my classroom. My plan called for a large reef display as well as a small breeding setup.
I began collecting equipment this past spring. Although $10,000 sounds like a lot of scratch, it’s easy to burn through quickly, so a big part of my challenge has been to stretch the grant dollars as far as possible. I made dozens of telephone calls to vendors, and it would probably surprise you how few of them are willing to discount hardware and equipment, even for a school project. It turned out that the best values I found were on used equipment.
The space:
Fortunately, I was able to relocate my classroom to one that is more suitable for this project. I did not take any “before†pics, so I’ll describe the classroom and show some pics from today.
As you enter the room, there is a galley style prep room on the right. The dimensions are about 9’ wide by 12’ deep. There were originally wall and base cabinets around the entire perimeter of the prep room. The prep room will house the sump and most of the aquarium equipment, so I had to remove some of the cabinets as well as install a sink as there wasn’t one before.
Pic of the sink:
If you continue into the classroom, the back of the classroom is to the right, and is where the display and breeding setup will be located. I had to remove a countertop that ran the full width of the classroom. The custodial staff helped with drywall repair and painting. Here’s a view from today looking to the back of the room:
The tank:
As many of you know, I had quite the time finding an appropriately sized and priced tank for this project. The tank that I procured was listed as a 280 gallon aquarium on Craigslist and came with the stand and canopy.
Here’s some pics from the seller:
After I bought it (and drove the two hours home), I did a little research and discovered that the tank is actually a 200 gallon ‘Clear For Life’ brand “Uniquariumâ€Â. (http://www.advanceaquatanks.com/uniqrectangle.html). It’s designed with a wet/dry system in the back of the tank. This poses a couple of small problems, but nothing I can’t handle.
Here are some pics of the tank:
The dimensions of the tank are 96†wide x 24†deep (~20†usable) x 20†tall.
In all, I’m very pleased with the deal. It was a steal price-wise, and I only had to modify the existing stand and canopy, rather than build them from scratch.
