The Coral Reef Project At Stratton Elementary School

[fishtal9]

I'm happy to help in any way I can.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Just helped my student Aly set up a 29 gallon marine tank at home. It's a pretty simple setup with just a heater, live rock and two sponge filters but with a T5 light I had in my basement I think he'll be able to start with some basic coral and fish. Water is super cloudy after adding sand. I'll be back for a visit tomorrow and hope to post updates.

Also he's apparently a blackbelt in taekwondo. Pretty cool.

 

[Gomery12]

I'm thinking a Zoa garden!

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

An unknown student was trying to clean the glass in Mrs Wilsons class and totally smashed this purple reef anemone.

I left it in the tank, hope it survives

 

[Gomery12]

An unknown student was trying to clean the glass in Mrs Wilsons class and totally smashed this purple reef anemone.

I left it in the tank, hope it survives

Well, it still has some color so hopefully it will come out ok!

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Well, it still has some color so hopefully it will come out ok!

Ugh, it's insides were even more on the outside so I flushed it.

 

[Gomery12]

Ugh, it's insides were even more on the outside so I flushed it.

Sad to hear!

 

[chickofthesea]

Just helped my student Aly set up a 29 gallon marine tank at home. It's a pretty simple setup with just a heater, live rock and two sponge filters but with a T5 light I had in my basement I think he'll be able to start with some basic coral and fish. Water is super cloudy after adding sand. I'll be back for a visit tomorrow and hope to post updates.

Also he's apparently a blackbelt in taekwondo. Pretty cool.

This is great news. It looks like another mother son duo is born. I'm so excited for them. I was impressed with Aly when he was helping replenish the salt in the classroom. That boy is STRONG. I could tell he was gonna be a reefer Let him know when he's ready I will give him some coral. I may come after school today if I can get some sleep first. Between work and a new puppy that needs to go outside every hour i'm pretty tired.

 

[chickofthesea]

Ugh, it's insides were even more on the outside so I flushed it.

oh man, sad day.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Last November a person who was getting out of the hobby donated several fish including a kole tang that I didn't have space for. I put it in the 120 gallon sump in my room but rarely saw it. I fed it with an automatic feeder and gave it nori every other day but after not seeing it for over two months I decided to finally catch it and move it to a new home.

There's so much stuff in the sump it took four buckets just to clear out enough rock and chaeto to find the fish.

And I finally got it.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Swapnil and Nipun got together and wrote down what they've learned so far about hatching out and rearing the eggs our saddle back clownfish keep spawning. We'd appreciate it if anyone who knows more about the process than we do to chime in with corrections or recommendations.



Swapnil's dad called my cell phone and interrupted the video, please stick around for part two.

 

[NBcoralreef]

A few days ago I saw my cleaner shrimp shed its outer covering. So when I read more about it, I learned that as the shrimp grows, it undergoes molting. This is when the shrimp has already grown it's new shell and is ready to shed the old covering known as exoskeleton.

My observations : The cleaner shrimp sheds it's exoskeleton approximately every 12 days. Today for the first time,I took out the exoskeleton in my palm.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Three more juvenile clownfish dead. Now down to 10

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Ammonias not horrible. Wonder what else could be the issue? Not feeding enough?

 

[NBcoralreef]

Ammonias not horrible. Wonder what else could be the issue? Not feeding enough?

Here are two good articles I came across on clownfish breeding. Hope this helps and the rest of the juveniles survive & transition successfully.
http://www.fishchannel.com/saltwater-aquariums/species-info/clownfish/breeding-clownfish.aspx
http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/269202-pickles-guide-to-breeding-clowns/

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Just killed the last two clownfish moving them to a new tank. Had acclimation process perfect just stressed them catching them in a cup.

Hatching out new eggs today though. Not giving up!

 

[NBcoralreef]

Just killed the last two clownfish moving them to a new tank. Had acclimation process perfect just stressed them catching them in a cup.

Hatching out new eggs today though. Not giving up!

Phew! It is alright we just have to keep on trying. We have another batch so I am all set to help! Nipun

 

[chickofthesea]

Just killed the last two clownfish moving them to a new tank. Had acclimation process perfect just stressed them catching them in a cup.

Hatching out new eggs today though. Not giving up!

RIP.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Our jellyfish tanks have been very healthy and I think part of the secret is the extensive amount of worms and pods we have in the filter media. You can't see it in the picture but all have an orange and pink hue from their nauplii diet.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Spent the extra money for eheim jager heaters in all of my larger tanks only to have one over heat, raising the temperature in Mrs. Wilson's 40 gallon reef tank up to 87 degrees! It must have happened early this morning because Brandon (5th grade brandon) noticed it quickly enough that we were able to save all of the fish. We quickly moved everything we could catch out of the tank; one of the nice things about have 12 others close by with with approximately the same water chemistry. We did a large water change (the only thing I could think of to quickly bring down the temperature) and got out all of the dead livestock.

Only the invertebrates including all of the LPS corals, the shrimps and some of the crabs died. The large tiger brittle star looked really bad but seems to have bounced back. The soft corals look bleached and had some tissue lost but I'm guessing they'll pull through. I'm so proud of my students, both in their ability to observe the problem and how quickly and maturely they worked to fix it.