updates from my school's coral reef project

[MrZorbs]

Hey Brandon. I think this is awesome! Great job! You have yourself a future Marine Biologist there. Good luck with the new addition!

 

[rexster]

That's impressive, nice work

 

[brandoniscool]

For better or worse I'm stuck around kids most times. Took my 2 1/2 year old daughter Cora to My friends Justin's lab.

A lot of the graduates keep their personal tanks in the lab to take advantage of the free equipment and salt. RO/DI come out of the tap there.

They have a ton of rose anemones to promote spawning in the clownfish.

 

[brandoniscool]

Not really on topic but I wanted to give a shout out to my student Grace for winning an award in the MLK Creative Writing Contest sponsored by the University of Illinois. She was competing with high school students and worked hard after school for months to research and write her essay.

 

[brandoniscool]

Drove in to school for my nightly feeding routine. Good news is that our new mantis shrimp is hiding and sneaking around and grabbed a prawn. Bad news is that our 90 tank has a crack in its acrylic sump. Some kid must have cracked it and not told me. It dumped about 15 gallons of water on the floor, pump blowing air, almost run dry. Mop time. Mighty post later for some DIY acrylic repair.

 

[brandoniscool]

And done

 

[Learn It]

awesome project

 

[brandoniscool]

The peacock mantis shrimp just laid egg! No wonder it was acting strange yesterday. Anyone have any idea if they'll survive with care?

 

[brandoniscool]

The kids are really interested in our new mantis shrimp. Not many have seen it but word is spreading around the school, generating lots of rumors of a monster beast. Someone painted this during an art lesson. (it's supposed to be a mantis shrimp)

 

[brandoniscool]

Also got an thoughtful gift from a friend at Tunze. He saw the jenky light on one of our hospital tanks and sent this:

Tunze is my go to source for autotop offs, pumps and skimmers. Never seen their LED's until now and I'm very impressed. I'll try to post some more pictures tomorrow.

 

[drakedeming]

The Mantis Shrimp art is awesome! Good for Tunze also.

 

[brandoniscool]

The Mantis Shrimp art is awesome! Good for Tunze also.

PM me your address and I'll send you some art work. Part of our project involves making art for donors and those who follow our project.

 

[Fogvalley]

Dude that is sweet that they sent you a light. Did they see the picture in this thread?

 

[brandoniscool]

Yes they did. I'm a major fan of Tunze and not just because they have donated. I have osmolators on all of my tanks, 5 tunze skimmers and many Tunze pumps. I have had two problems with my tunze equipment and both times their sales rep immediately sent replacements after i called them. I'm a particular fan of their internal DOC skimmer:

It's very small but rated to 65 gallons. I have 3 of them in different 30 gallon tanks around the school, it doesn't have much of a footprint but pulls a ton out. Some of the kids chronically over feed and water quality is an issue. This tank gets used and abused but was tested by Elyes with 0 nitrates today.

 

[brandoniscool]

Partnering with the University of Illinois

Partnering with the University of Illinois

Another exciting bit of news is that I'm partnering with the College of Education at the University of Illinois. My classroom will be the practicum portion of a graduate class on inquiry based teaching and learning. The focus of the class is how complex and open ended projects can impart specific content skills and how this type of learning compares to traditional methods.

Certified teachers who are earning their graduate degrees will observe my students in action on the reef project and then develop new, but similar projects. Several teachers from my district will be involved and I'm hope that at least one will get the reefing bug and set up a tank of their own. I talk with this group for 2 hours after school today.

 

[fishresponse]

Very cool

 

[mbemount]

I really hope it catches on with the teachers in the area as in a few years my daughter will be attending schools in the area. I'd love to have her do this stuff first hand! Also props to Tunze for the light, they make great equipment.

 

[JohnniG]

For the children! But really, its awesome.

 

[drakedeming]

Yes they did. I'm a major fan of Tunze and not just because they have donated. I have osmolators on all of my tanks, 5 tunze skimmers and many Tunze pumps. I have had two problems with my tunze equipment and both times their sales rep immediately sent replacements after i called them. I'm a particular fan of their internal DOC skimmer:



It's very small but rated to 65 gallons. I have 3 of them in different 30 gallon tanks around the school, it doesn't have much of a footprint but pulls a ton out. Some of the kids chronically over feed and water quality is an issue. This tank gets used and abused but was tested by Elyes with 0 nitrates today.

Have you though of having the kids weigh the food and only using the pre-determined amount?

 

[brandoniscool]

Have you though of having the kids weigh the food and only using the pre-determined amount?

Thanks for following our thread and your constructive comments. The kids have begun noticing posts from the 'red fish person'.

That is an excellent idea. I have also thought of using measuring spoons but a digital scale would better teach lab skills. My only question would be how to account for the different frozen foods we use. We try to only use LRS Reef Frenzy but it's so valuable that we have to ration it. When we use other brands we rinse and squeeze dry the food, sometimes adding garlic, selco or other boosters. I'd have to work out some kind of system but already looking for digital scales on ebay.