The Coral Reef Project At Stratton Elementary School

[Brandon Rutherford]

Cornelius is this tank's primary caregiver and he was really upset. He sat next to the tank watching the temperature for almost an hour afterwards.

Within 5 hours there was a massive cyano outbreak. Caused by the increased temperatures I guess?

Hope the coral looks better tomorrow.

 

[chickofthesea]

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.

cQUOTE
This stinks. Can you guys get heater controllers? Or is it good for the kids to be able to use some critical thinking and oobservation?

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

cQUOTE
This stinks. Can you guys get heater controllers? Or is it good for the kids to be able to use some critical thinking and oobservation?

I'd love controllers for all of our reef tanks, especially to warn me of water spills or power outages. Just expensive and not as necessary as our ongoing food and salt needs.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

My first attempt at rearing our clownfish eggs was frustrating. I did a ton of research, talked to a lot of people and micromanaged the care of those little specks. Often I would lay awake thinking about them, frequently driving into school in the middle of the night to do a water change or feed them. It was upsetting to both me and the kids that the fry kept dying so late into the process when by all accounts they should have been at a more stable stage.

I decided to put less thought into the process and do less interventions for our next hatch. I lowered the specific gravity to 1.018, (the same as our rotifer and artemia cultures) and will not do daily water changes. I'll keep the water much more green and continue to supplement with more rotifers. I"ll also increase the aeration. I will start adding OGP larval diet in addition to artemia after the metamorphosis and will dose with ClorAm-X instead of methylene blue to reduce ammonia.

Last time I pulled the eggs from our reef tank, I was unaware of when they were spawned. We watched much more carefully this time around and pulled the eggs exactly one week after they were laid (the hatch date according to what literature i could find about saddleback clownfish). I put them in on thursday and expected to show the kids all of the larva on Friday, only to come into school to an empty tank. I gave it 24 and then 48 hours and saw exactly 3 swimming around Sunday morning. Last night I noticed what looked fungus on some of the eggs and gave up on them. Resigning myself to cleaning up and starting again in a few weeks. I came in this morning to quite a surprise as you can see in the video below. It made my day and reminded keep being optimistic. I will be sure to keep you all posted as they grow.

 

[chickofthesea]

I'd love controllers for all of our reef tanks, especially to warn me of water spills or power outages. Just expensive and not as necessary as our ongoing food and salt needs.

I ment just heater controllers. Not full blown tank controllers. It seems you guys have quite a few heater related issues. Just a suggestion though, I know you are on a school budget.

 

[NBcoralreef]

So we got this beautiful fire fish gobie that was confident and happily swimming around amongst the other fish for sale in the store. But as soon as we acclimated the gobie, it has been forced to hide and stay in the crevices of the live rock. All this has resulted because of the Cleaner Shrimp in our tank. It has been trying to chase the clowns so far who are not bothered,but the firefish being new has really got so scared that it has not been coming out at all,not even for food. It's Day3 today. Has anyone seen such behavior from a 'Cleaner Shrimp'? If this continues, the shrimp needs to be sent back to school( to learn to get along...) tank.

Spot the firefish under the rock!

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Just created our spring fundraiser to purchase consumable supplies! More to follow.


gofundme.com/helpourcoralreef

 

[chickofthesea]

Just created our spring fundraiser to purchase consumable supplies! More to follow.


gofundme.com/helpourcoralreef

Excellent!

 

[chickofthesea]

So we got this beautiful fire fish gobie that was confident and happily swimming around amongst the other fish for sale in the store. But as soon as we acclimated the gobie, it has been forced to hide and stay in the crevices of the live rock. All this has resulted because of the Cleaner Shrimp in our tank. It has been trying to chase the clowns so far who are not bothered,but the firefish being new has really got so scared that it has not been coming out at all,not even for food. It's Day3 today. Has anyone seen such behavior from a 'Cleaner Shrimp'? If this continues, the shrimp needs to be sent back to school( to learn to get along...) tank.

Spot the firefish under the rock!

I was wondering if you asked the LFS (live fish store) if your goby was eating well before you purchased it. I think this fish is quite shy at first. I think after a while it will get used to your tank life and get along fine. I see that he allready established his "hiding hole" make sure he has a couple of these to let him feel safe. Don't forget to keep the tank covered, they are great jumpers.Give it a few more days maybe. As for the cleaner shrimp they are NOT shy at all. It will even jump on to your hand and start picking off dead skin you didn't even know you had lol. Good luck keep us posted.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Adding ClorAm-X has kept ammonia a zero despite heavy feeding, but a pH test this morning read under 7! Population has definitely thinned but still have a fair number of larva left. Still definitely more than last hatch though.

Need to do a water change and add buffer but I'm so wary sudden changes. Rigged a drip in and drop out system.

Fundraiser at 100$ thanks to a donation from Neena. I got the complete parent email list from my school and will send a lot of emails tonight.

Please consider supporting us!

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

And then this happened, crazy day...

 

[NBcoralreef]

I was wondering if you asked the LFS (live fish store) if your goby was eating well before you purchased it. I think this fish is quite shy at first. I think after a while it will get used to your tank life and get along fine. I see that he allready established his "hiding hole" make sure he has a couple of these to let him feel safe. Don't forget to keep the tank covered, they are great jumpers.Give it a few more days maybe. As for the cleaner shrimp they are NOT shy at all. It will even jump on to your hand and start picking off dead skin you didn't even know you had lol. Good luck keep us posted.

Good thing the firefish is finally staying out for few mins. and then darts back into its hiding place. Hopefully it will get used to our tank soon. As for the Shrimp,it likes to clean EVERYTHING in the tank n keeps climbing everywhere. LOL!

 

[NBcoralreef]

Adding ClorAm-X has kept ammonia a zero despite heavy feeding, but a pH test this morning read under 7! Population has definitely thinned but still have a fair number of larva left. Still definitely more than last hatch though.

Need to do a water change and add buffer but I'm so wary sudden changes. Rigged a drip in and drop out system.

Fundraiser at 100$ thanks to a donation from Neena. I got the complete parent email list from my school and will send a lot of emails tonight.

Please consider supporting us!

I'm glad to be able to help the students and this worthy project.

 

[revhtree]

And then this happened, crazy day...

Did I hear a Gem tang jumped?

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Did I hear a Gem tang jumped?

Yes, we received a gem tang as a special present from Quality Marine and LiveAquaria.com. It had damaged vision and was unsellable. They needed a home where it would get a little TLC and thought of us. We cleared out our most stable and healthy tank and it has a 90 gallon almost all to itself.

We hand feed it LRS food three times a day and it's doing great (besides jumping out). I'll try to post pictures soon, I've been waiting to announce it but accidentally spoiled the surprise

We also screen the top of the tank immediately afterwards so it won't happen again.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Our fundraiser is going GREAT!

We are almost at $500, one sixth to our goal of $3,000. Fundraising is stressful and all of the kids ask to check the page frequently during the day. We cheer with each new donation and are excited with our progress. We also hope to earn a lot of money for the fundraiser through multiple bake sales at our local fish store.

Following our project from afar leave something to be desired. I wish all could see small moments of passion, heartbreak and success that occur each day. Then all would believe as I do that this project is very important to the children who are part of it. I personally appreciate all of those who help in any way they can. Thank you.

gofundme.com/helpourcoralreef

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

We're now over $700! Almost 25% of the way to our $3,000 goal. Many of the donors are people I don't know, I'm hoping many of them are R2R members. If you can, please consider supporting us through donations or sharing our gofundme campaign on facebook. Mr. Rose and Mrs. Wilson are two teacher who have reef aquariums in their rooms and they shared this brief video today about the benefits of tanks in schools.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Cloram x and pH buffer dosing seems to be paying off. As you can see water is very green and I add Rotifers everyday but no ammonia. Now we have to see if chemical interventions cause long term damage to fry.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Also, fundraiser is over $800! Let's keep it up!

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

This was last weeks fundraiser flyer and here's tomorrow's. Both going home with almost 500 kids. Almost half way and we haven't even started the bake sales yet.