Appealing to Your Generosity !!
 

Hey everyone. For those who don't know, I work in a group home setting with youth, ages 13-17. The youth who live in the program all have PChIP status (Protection of Youth Involved in Prostitution). Some of them have expressed interest in setting up and maintaining a saltwater aquarium, but the social services sector isn't actually going to pony up any extra funds for this to happen! As these kids work past their issues on a day-to-day basis, I think it would be excellent to give them something to do. And I think we can all agree to the therapeutic benefits of an aquarium :smile:

SO. My question is....does anyone out there have an old, leftover skimmer or lights or tank or live rock or algae magnets or anything that they'd be willing to donate? I'm not in the business of asking for free stuff (well, not often :wink:), but this isn't for me.

Let me know. If not, no quibble. I'll just have to get creative in other ways!

Wish you were closer...I'm sure we all have extra stuff.

How fancy do you want to go? And how big? I have a single Beckett skimmer I bought from OA.I believe it was one of their skimmers for the tanks in the store.I think its good for about 200g,but not sure.I don't have a pump to run it,but some thing like a Mak4 would work well.I never used this one myself,so its been sitting around for about 3 or 4 years waiting for a good cause to be donated to.Maybe big for your needs,but its all yours if you want. It has a rectangle base measuring 12"x 7" and a 6" diameter reaction chamber with a 5" diameter neck and is 26" tall.So you would need an area 12x7x26 to set it up.

I've got a 48" Red Sea Phazer IV power compact hood that could use a good home. It takes 4 x 55w straight pin bulbs. The plastic bulb clips are broken but zip ties work fine. I might have some old bulbs and the legs for it packed away in the garage as well. There is a Hagen master test kit too if it's not to old (the one in the blue plastic case).

Wow guys! I'm pleased!! I'm not exactly sure how fancy I want to go....probably just a simple set-up for now (though I'm going to try to incorporate a sump if possible). I might even try to make my own rocks using directions from one of the DIY threads on RC. Might even attempt to construct my own stand/canopy, which is well beyond my realm of experience....hehe. We shall see!

I'll PM all of you who've made offers and arrange to get this stuff. Thanks so much!!!

~DREW

Unfortunately, wrong province. If you post updates of what you have collected, maybe some of us can help gather the rest.

Anthony

I've done a bunch of concrete rocks and they turned out great.

drew, i wish i was closer so i could donate something "concrete", but since im not, here's a recipe for aragocrete! this is basically concrete base rock, but a recipe that was made up by GARF... id trust it. Seems easy and i think ill try it one day. maybe a project to do with the kidies? could be messy though.

http://www.garf.org/MPegs/AragocreteArch.html

I have a 30 gal tall I'll donate with a top also a 20 gal for a sump. that is if you want to go that small, heater, prizm pro p skimmer more if I can dig it up. I will also help build a stand.
Kevin

Yes, too bad it is the wrong province as I would be more than happy to donate frags down the road of easy to keep corals....what a fantastic idea! I think it will help the kids to have something that they have to work at to make succeed and flourish!

If your travelling north to Edmonton let me know. I'll load you up with some stuff, sand, possibly some rock, cheato, etc. If not I'll get in touch the next time I'm travelling home to Calgary and I'll drop some stuff off for you.

Got a standard 75 gallon tanks and steel stand non-drilled. Crack on the upper left corner, been repaired and holds water.(or at least for the last three years it has). Bucket of sand. Maybe some others.

Yours for the pickup, if you want.

Paul

If someone (or ones) want to get together and donate the time and vehicles to come and get it I will donate a complete 230g system - tank, stand, lights, skimmer, live rock, fish, some coral etc. etc. - it is set up right now and running.

WOW
what an offer Ruth.
that is an incredible gesture.
I hope someone can make the time to make this happen.

Bump for a good cause.
I would offer to pick up Ruth's stuff.
However, being that it is grad season and I own a limo company(plus in the army fulltime and run my fish business), I am way too busy.
I will donate some corals and some inverts if someone is willing to bring them down to Calgary.
Again Ruth, I am awed at your generosity.
Lets make this happen.
Neal

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Ruth, do you think that you could get it to a docking facillity? I work for a 3PL and should be able to get a good rate of freight. No live stock though.

Even if I can't make that happen, I'll donate some frags and time to setup.

That is going to be a hard one - it is a glass tank so very heavy - and then there is all that live rock (probably 400 plus pounds) and livestock that I would have no where to house. I think it is going to have to be moved in a few trucks in rubbermaid containers.
Not even sure they actually want a system this big as I haven't heard back from anyone.

OH my goodness, Ruth! Somehow I totally missed your offer! My internet's been wonky, so I haven't checked back as often as I normally would have!!

I'm a little blown away. I don't think we could manage a 230G set-up, though it PAINS me to say it. Wow. My mum would say you earned another jewel on your crown in heaven...heh!

And everyone....thank you so much. I'm just trying to figure out exactly what will work. I don't want to accept something from someone if I don't end up using it. I will look at everything this week and shoot everyone a PM.

Again...thank you thank you thank you!! I knew y'all would pull through.

~Drew

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Hmm, ok well....

Drew I'll talk to you about this tonight when I bring your sea hair back. I hope your keeping tabs on all of these wonderful offers.

And Ruth, you just let me know if you want to donate that tank to me :wink: and I'll find a way to get it down here.:mrgreen:

Well the offer stands Drew, if you change your mind or if your group thinks they want to try and make it work. I could probably even be persuaded to assist with the transport using my truck and horse trailer as long as it was on a weekend that I was not already busy with a cutting. Would definately need more volunteers for tear down/packing etc. etc. etc.
The offer comes from my heart as I feel these kids deserve so much more than the lot they have ended up with.

Ruth,

If gas wasn't so expensive, I'd love to come give you a hand if needed. But at current prices, I'd be looking at $370 just in gas for the trip. Ouch!!!

Good luck with this project.

Anthony

Well,even if you decide not to take me up on the skimmer offer.I'm in for labor if you need a strong back.

So, I just sent out a SLOUGH of PMs to everyone regarding donations for the aquarium I'm hoping to set up at my group home! I'm really thankful for everyone who offered to help with equipment or time or frags or anything.

Still on the list of stuff to get is:

1) Any spare plumbing parts (PVC, elbows, etc.)
2) Any old powerheads you might have lying around :mrgreen:
3) Salt (I'll probably ending up buying this...but can't hurt to ask!)
4) Rock (I'll probably end up trying my hand at some DIY stuff. Eek)

Again, thank you so much. I'll keep you all posted on the progress.

~Drew

Drew; et all

I am going to drill the tank (24"x12.5x24h) on Sunday and thought I would run everything by you and all. I have a 1.5" glass hole saw and 2 spears 1/2" bulkheads. Do you want the holes at the end (12.5" pane) which would skim the whole surface; or the back (which I'm not sure I have glass to make the overflow) or on a back corner (top or bottom). Suggestions appreciated before Sunday (no critz after LOL).

Kevin

ps Drew in a week I will have a nice canopy and metal stand for this.

Kevin:

Awesome!! I'm totally inexperienced when it comes to drilling and plumbing, so hopefully some others can give you advice. That's very cool, though....then I can start picking up the other donations and putting it all together!

Reading a thread like this makes my heart warm!

Ruth - you are a SAINT - the sincere offer you made just made my jaw drop!

Everyone else - good on you! At a time when the world doesn't always seem like such a nice place - you people have all stepped forward in community to consciously try and make a small part of it better for those less fortunate. I for one, am affected in a positive way already.

With humility - thank you all!

Jim.

I have 3 powerheads - 2 seio 620s and a smaller hagen 402 to donate to the cause.

Drew,

I have a garbage bin full of rock. It is yours if you want it. I can look around for some powerheads, I think I may have a spare Aquaclear 807 for you as well.

Update: I've been slowly but surely working on this aquarium! Thanks to the generosity of many of you, it's getting there! My goal was to have it up, running, full of cured rock by Christmas, but I think it'll have to be around New Year's!

I'll post pics when all is said and done.

Merry Christmas!

P.S. The kids are so excited.

Good for you Drew! It's so nice to know you (with the help of others donations of course) have made this a reality for those kids :biggrin: Let me know if you're going to be in Edmonton after the tank is up running, and I'll frag some corals for you.

Wish the kids a Merry Christmas from all of us here. :mrgreen: