high school classroom tank
 

I'm going to put a saltwater tank into my classroom. I have a couple of equipment options, going anywhere from a 4ft (72g) up to a 6ft tank of some time if I wish to purchase. I also have some smaller tanks.

I'd like some ideas on what you think would be the best type of tank for a high school classroom. Interest for the students, ease of maintenance (relative ease, mind you....I'm no idiot :)), educational, etc. Hopefully this poll will generate some neat ideas.

Simply think back to your high school times (or current, maybe for our younger members) and let me know what you'd like to see in a classroom tank. Feel free to elaborate profusely below.

Thanks.

What I think would be incredibly interesting and fun is to do a shallow touch tank, something like a 48" x 48" x 12" (~120G). It would be big enough for several people to stand around at once, you can pick livestock that could be handled (ie. softies, some LPS, sea cuc's, etc) so the students can get more hands on (touching your first coral is really bizarre and cool) and you can get away with less expensive, lower power lights.

Understandably the logistic would be more difficult and you'd have to custom build a tank but I think the education and fun factors would be higher.

I've actually be debating building one of these for myself for a long time!

I would stick with a 4 footer. Plenty of room for fish, and simple corals. And yet still functional for lessons.

Nitrogen cycle (few test kits)
Ph - Calc - Mag relations (hated math with the elements of + that, means - that etc)
Coral reproduction (Biology tie in)
Refraction of light (a nice Brackish water with spitting fish!)

I say 4' reef.

As you wont be there to monitor 24/7 (weekends).... go easy softies (zoas, Leathers, Kenyas and so on) as they obviously need less attention and grow quickly. The movement they have will also be eye catching to your students.

Go easy peaceful community fish as well. Some that can handle overfeeding if a student accidentally dumps the food in (ha ha).

Should be exciting.

What ever you do.... PLEASE start a build thread. I'll follow it!

a 20g nano. Any bigger would be just too much work and good chance for a tank crash when it comes to taking it down and moving it at the end of the school year.

Well I have a grade 11 daughter, I had my own ideas about what she enjoys about my tank so I threw them by her to see if she agreed with what I thought. Basically fish are fish to kids, sw or fw. Anytime she goes with me to lfs it's always the bizarre and out of the usual. Urchins, star fish (hitchiker as well as the usual), bristle worms, sea cucumbers and anything else that fits into the unusual category. If the fish are unusual this works too, puffers, lion fish, basically characteristics that most other fish do not have, or fish that will reproduce in captivity, clowns or cardinals, as well as symbiotic relationships. For corals, she finds most boring, until I want to start and do some fragging then she is in there like a dirty shirt with the cutters. For tank size she says a tank in the classroom might prove distracting during times when they really don't care what the teacher is saying, so placement of the tank should be considered. But should be as large as can be reasonably accomodated. Last year she was so taken with the unusuals that she had a fascination in biology class, and kept bringing things like bristle worms, bristle stars, asterinas, and amphipods out of my tank to study them under the microscope. Just our 2 cents, hope you find it useful.:biggrin:

Gee that's a tough one. I'll presume you have the ongoing budget to cover any of the options you laid out so, if Ignore cost..

-The best educational experience would be the one that best duplicates the ocean so I'd say reef. If we say reef then I would say 4' simply because it's more manageable.

-From a practical perspective, a reef tank is hard enough to care for when you're around regularly but when you're not near the tank for days on end (long weekends, summer holidays) so I'd wonder if ANY tank is really practical but I suppose a FOWLR would be a compromise of sorts. Still risky IMO.

A six footer comes to mind.
I don't know why!

Tank for high school I say predator tank, things that kill and eat other things would be fun... just like school.

I hate to say it, but I would think a classroom tank would be a major distraction for the students. I know I wouldn't be paying a whole lot of attention in class if there was a fish tank in the room, fresh or salt water.

+1

+1, I probably would daydream even more if it was me.... Also, I hate saying this, but can you trust kids nowadays? I would hate something stupid being done to the tank to vandalize it.

+1 on the below, I don't know how many times I heard from my 17 year old "dad why don't you get some cool fish". Shock value, and the unusual is what you need to grab their attention and to get them asking questions. My feather dusters always get a gasp when the plume disappears in a blink of an eye.

Would say go big but what's the plan for the longer school breaks and summer holidays? (easier to pack up a nano for the summer and bring home than a 6' reef)

I can provide a perspective that others cannot. I am a high school Biology and Chemistry teacher. I have set up a number of freshwater, saltwater, terrariums and vivariums over the years. The past few years I have set up a little Biocube 8 and would not go with anything larger. It is stocked with softies, LPS and a couple of clownfish.

The main consideration for going small is maintenence. During the week there are always enough kids around that want to help out with water changes and feeding but what do you do during holidays?

The Biocube is just running PC's (non stock lighting) and has a lid so there isn't a lot of evaporation. It can make it through winter break with no maintenence and a couple of little fish can live off any fauna living in the rocks. What are you going to do with a big tank over Christmas break? In the summer, I knock the whole thing down and send it home with a kid or a teacher and set it back up in September.

Educationally, A reef tank is definitely worth it but there are some practical problems you have to consider.

Thanks for all the comments. Personally, I'm not planning on any large trip for the next couple of years, and I am sure I could have someone check in briefly if I need to go somewhere for a few days.

However, thinking about that, there is less room for error with a smaller tank than there is for a larger tank.

Pinhead - much appreciated to have some comments from a fellow colleague. If you have any ideas on lesson plans to go along with a saltwater setup, that would be most appreciated as well.

I've had a 20g reef for two years. I just kept live rock,softies, lps and a couple of clowns and a goby in it. It had a HOB skimmer, Aquaclear filter, heater, 4-bulb T5 lights with a bare bottom and glass top to slow evaporation. The only thing I ever tested for was salinity and did weekly 2.5g water changes. Everything grew like weeds, the fish are all still alive and fat and I only put in less than 1/2 a week of maintenance. It was easy enough to keep care of that when I took 2 week vacations all I had to do was get a friend to top off the water and feed pre-measured portions of food and all was well when I got home. I honestly don't understand the mind set that small tanks are harder to keep, make it simple with easy to keep livestock and there will be no problem.

I have a classroom system set up in my classroom that is 2 display tanks and a fuge all connected. All are 30 gallon tanks so I have the benefit from larger volume and can have different tank types. So far I have a peacock mantis in one and a pair of clowns and 1 tiny foxface in the other( I know it will outgrow this tank but then it will come home to my display here). I will not be going with anything other than easy softies and Lps and the mantis will be moving into the sump in time, it is viewable as well.

So far the kids love them and the mantis is a complete hit ....keep it simple and as easy as you can to maintain..this setup I have left for 5 days and it is fine...I am making tops for all tanks and all fish I choose will be on pellets prior to summer (mantis will come home) so the tanks will be able to be left for longer periods of time.

Have fun

Please don't take my comments the wrong way. I don't believe they are harder to keep. I do however, believe that if something goes wrong, that having a larger tank with more water will allow it to spread out the emergency over more time instead of killing the tank very quickly.

Funny you mention a mantis...I was thinking of one as well. I've had a few, and they are pretty neat...figured it'd be a hit.

I voted mixed community. A tank that is easier to care for and works with your schedule. I'm sure younger students would be more interested in the fish than corals.

Aquaria in the classroom
 

I've read the comments here with interest and thought I would contribute my thoughts. I teach Biology 11 and Junior science and am currently running a 29 gallon biocube, and 2 - 14's in the classroom. I have had them running since last year and the kids find them fascinating. I actually gave quite alot of thought to what I wanted to do before I started stocking the tanks and this is what I wanted to accomplish.
1. I've had freshwater tanks in the classroom in the past and have found erasers, pencils etc in them so a) the tanks are located at the front of the class and b) the tops are covered. This also reduces evaporation.
2. Smaller multiple tanks are easier to breakdown and transport as well as for setting up different themes. The downside is I need alot of outlets for electrical and have had a 14 gallon get wiped out when the breaker tripped over a weekend and I lost filtration and heat.

The 29 is my display tank with heavy emphasis on the inverts to correspond to the Biology 11 curriculum. I've got a pair of Bangaiis (mouth brooding would be fascintating for the students if they get to that point), a mandarin (the body shape with large pectoral fins for hovering and small mouth shows adaptations), an anemone crab to show symbiosis as well as filter feeding, a tiger tail cucumber that deposits sand pellets as it feeds, and a variety of softies like pulsing xenias and LPS that I can feed to show that they are animals. The softies are also great for talking about things like palytoxin and how tropical cnidarians pack more punch than our local stuff. I take my student to the intertidal invertebrate program at the Vancouver Aquarium for the touch tank experience so they don't miss out on the touching inverts part.

The theme for one of the 14's is symbiosis between a pistol shrimp and goby (plus the action of the pistol "cracking" is a lesson in physics). I started out with what I thought was a pair of high fin black ray gobies and a Randall's pistol but the gobies had a squabble and one ended up in compartment 3 in the back and I haven't been able to get it out. I lost sight of the Randall's pistol recently so now have moved the lone goby to the 29 since the biggest complaint of students is the lack of "fish" action. Fish are more immediately noticeable than inverts, especially colourful fish and sometimes that's the hook before the students become more fascinated with the inverts. On that note, the cardinals are great since they don't hide in the rockwork as much as some other fish. Students always want "nemos" but I've had a few too many clowns that didn't get along with each other so I am now staying away from them unless I go with just a single individual. In the other 14, I had purchased a tiger pistol and will be getting a partner goby for it soon.
Haven't decided what to do with the vacant 14 at this point and may sell it to finance other acquisitions (the school does not chip in any funds). Some options may be a small angler. I've had a couple before and the fin adaptations and spiracles instead of gill flaps amaze students as well as, of course, the carnivorous predator action.
I also have a nice acrylic 29 gallon sitting empty that I 'm saving for a peacock mantis when one becomes available. I've had one before and the destructive power of its smashing apendages is awe inspiring! (Did I mention, I'm running out of outlets. :mrgreen: The students still need some for microscope work!
Anyways, that's my 2 cents.:smile: If I get a chance, I'll post some pics.

I wqould go with a 6 foot FOWLR for one reason. Teenagers can be destructive people... So with a six foot tank, you have the water volume to handle most minor vandalism (dumping stuff in tank) and FOWLR because that way if a teenager gets angery over something and decides to dump 30% HCl into tank your not killing off an entire reef but just fish, still a loss if just fish die but at least its only half of a loss.

I have to agree, moving a tank over 3' at the end of the year is alot of work

what class do you teach btw and at which level

The best idea I have had so far was putting up this poll. This is awesome - keep the ideas coming!!!


I'm teaching mainly Science levels 10 and 20. As for vandalism, destructive behaviour, etc. all I can say is this. Yes, there is the possibility of it happening. However, the students here are extremely respectful of things that do not belong to them. I strongly believe that if you talk to the students and explain to them how you are bringing in something for THEIR enjoyment, in order to IMPROVE their day and make it more interesting FOR THEM, they will respond favourably. Plus, there is the fact that the atmosphere of the students at this school towards respect would rat out the individuals within a couple of minutes would probably keep that in check.

I suppose I could look at taking the tank down over the summer, but that wasn't what I had planned. I'm here quite often in the summer (I work in a different city from home), but it's very close (15 minutes or so). Nothing to drop in and check on things. I'd like to set up a tank at home as well, so I might be able to transfer some things over the summer in order to make things easier for maintenance.

yea, 4ft reef would do. Maybe a 55. Can't imagine much more room in classroom.

Get a bunch easy corals and damsels just in case one of the students drops a hit of ecstasy in there:) Smaller financial hit.

I think that's big enough to add some interesting creatures. You wouldn't have to go too crazy with cost.

just be careful of the janitors when they clean the glass. They have spray bottles that might get cleaner in there.

In my experience, the general rule is the smaller the tank, the more work they are to maintain...?

I put maybe an hour to an hour and a half into my 95 a week but my 3 tanks from 12 to 20 gallons take much more time and things are so much harder to maintain at stable levels....

If it were me, I would go with a 40 or 60 gallon breeder tank, sumpless (cuz it's a lot quieter) with zoas and lps and a softie or two and an oversized skimmer.

I work at a high school and had donated my 4ft reef ready tank. Unfortunately someone pushed it up against the back wall and it caught the ledge where the dry eraser markers go. Cracked the back pane right in the corner. Kind of put our Reef plans on hold.

There was a coldwater tank in the back of my grade 10 bio class and I was always looking into it so yes def a distraction. Far as I could tell (at the time) there wasn't even anything living in it but I was curious!

Of course it will be a distraction of some kind. There's always distractions.

But it's the interest and student engagement that these things bring that outweighs the distraction.

Oh I love distractions. I didn't mean for my post to make the whole idea sound bad. Imagine how cool a tank with LIFE in it would be?

I think a biocube or similar in a classroom would be ideal.
I also propose a smaller sized tank for a couple of reasons. I agree that it is easier to move/disassemble in the event it is required. Also, it is true that something foreign may unwantedly end up in the tank, for this reason I believe a smaller tank is easier than a larger tank. True a larger tank is more stable, but in the event you need to do a significant water change, it's much easier and economical to change 20 gallons than 90.

If something foreign ends up in the tank, it's gone. Simple as that.

No worries. :D I like distractions like these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufjxW2KWmko

They tend to get their attention. :D

high school science class = plenty of chemicals that dont belong in the tank. If the students now are anything like i was in high school those fish will have a very limited life span.

As mentioned before, the tank is going in regardless, and any mucking around will simply involve the removal of the tank.

I was one of those kids that used to think that way although I have self-control....so I know lots of their tricks. lol

BTW...I have been given permission to include some venemous stuff like lionfish, as long as the tank is locked down. Now, before you jump on the bandwagon telling me that I shouldn't be doing that, please remove all the zoas and palys from your tanks. :)

I've got a bunch of bloody palys you can have, lol. They are almost as invasive as aiptasia.

Sure thing....let me know if you're coming down this way anytime, and I'll do the same if I am heading your way. :)

Classroom tank pics
 

Thought this thread had died down but have managed to get a few pics of the tanks in my classroom ....and yes, there are palys in there :biggrin: (Note the blue gloves in the first pic!)


Front corner of the classroom. Empty acrylic will be for a peacock mantis once I find one. The exoterra currently has an orchid and a tropical pitcher plant in it (a work in progress).
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...n/PB100698.jpg


BC 29: My display tank showing the different phyla
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...n/PB100695.jpg


BC14: My tiger pistol shrimp/orange spot goby symbiosis tank
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...n/PB100696.jpg

+1 think of the ADD students..... they got it hard enough as it is let alone with a distraction like that. if you do it, put it behind the students to help divert their gaze when it should be to the front of the class
fyi im an ADD student or was anyway now im just ADD....what was i talking about?