Village Free School Tank

[Guest cataphonic]

And big thanks out to Woody at seahorse nw. I took a group of students up to see him yesterday so we could get some advice on having seahorses in our refugium and he offered to hook us up with a bigger refugium tank and all sorts of wonderful things to get us going.

The kids are really excited.

We got to bring home 2 new perks and take all sorts of measurements of our tank and sump to get ready to hook up the refugium.

[stylaster]

awesome sounds good, would like to see some updated shots of the tank

[Guest cataphonic]

We're heading into spring break. But when we get back we'll set up the additional 25 gal tank and start growing some macro algae. Once that is up and running I'll be posting some more photos. Perhaps I'll even catch a few students in the act of setting it up.

[Guest cataphonic]

Refugium, horray!

 

We've spent the last few weeks getting our refugium hooked up and running.

There were hoses to splice and our protein skimmer needed fixing at the same time.

 

Now there is some macroalgae growing under 24 hr lights.

 

Yesterday I had the students mixing up saltwater. They practiced their fractions, ratios and measurement conversions and eventually we got to 1.023

 

Thanks for the donation of salt and to Seahorses NW for our awesome tank.

 

 

I was going to load up pictures, but apparently I forgot how. If anyone cares to look, I have a pictures site up here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/xubi/sets/72157623304285140/

 

soon, I'll post some of it here.

[undrtkr_00]

Here you go:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lewisriverfisherman]

I would like to donate some candy canes and some pulsing xenia. Please let me know if you want these items as I would be happy to bring them to ya.

[Guest cataphonic]

Yay, we have our seahorse now

 

Oh, we have our new seahorse. And she is so sweet.

The kids, all sorts of kids, not just the ones in our fishtank crew, have been coming by and staring a the tank watching her swim around and eat the algae.

They were really excited when she took a ride on the back of a snail's shell yesterday. And we all love how she looks around at us while we look at her.

 

We're growing baby brine shrimp again too to feed her with and are looking forward to the time when we can get a male to join her.

 

thanks to Woody at seahorse NW for helping us get this all set up.

 

 

 

On another note, we've had bad luck with our clowinfish. The Clarkiis chased the new true perks right out of the tank. We found them laying on the ground outside.

We've tried catching the Clarkiis so we can get some more perks as that's what the kids prefer. But they're too quick for us.

 

Anyone out there a good fish catcher who has time to stop by and help us?

 

 

And a few pictures from the day we set up the refugium:

 

working on the hose clamps

 

 

I'm sure many of you have set up much more complicated systems, but for my students it was quite a challenge to get from the parts to the finished set up.

 

 

That's the tank all set up. Now it's a bit dirtier looking as the algae has grown. But the seahorse is working on cleaning it.

 

I hope to catch some photos of her soon.

[Electrokate]

Hi

I live right down the street from you and if we are on the same water you don't need an RO unit... at least I don't. Been using Portland tap water in two locations for a few years now and have had success with soft and hard corals. Algae no worse than when I used RO. For freshwater it's a little sketchy, sometimes the Ph drops ridiculously low.

I have lots of free time, so if you need any help let me know. I can set you up with a few frags too, depending on what you are trying to do. Birdsnest frags in particular, they are all over the place.

 

I have a lot of killifish too, those are really popular with teachers. They are the African ones that hatch out during rainy seasons and then die as the water dries up. And garter snakes, which some students might enjoy. Others not so much (:

Kate

[Guest cataphonic]

Hi all,

this is a long overdue update.

I left the Village Free School a year and a half ago and passed on the fish tank to a new staff member, Jeff. He had a lot of trouble keeping the tank healthy and the kids lost interest in it, so towards the end of the year they dismantled it.

Thanks to all of you who helped us make this happen. It was really amazing while it lasted and gave the kids who cared for it some valuable lessons about marine biology and responsibility.

all the best - Cat