Designing a Reef-Keeping College Course

[jdbrown1998]

Hello,

I am a chemist who teaches in a Marine Science major and have experience keeping reef aquariums. In fact I am just starting up a nano cube (JBJ 24 gall) in my office. I often get asked how I learned how to keep reefs and other questions by students who all like the idea of keeping a reef. We teach an elective every other year or so on Reef Ecology but that deals more with natural reefs in the ocean.

So my questions are - 1) Does anyone know of any college courses on reef keeping? 2) If you had to cover some must know topics for novices what would they be?

Right now in my head I see this being a 1 credit lab based "fun" elective for them that would have them buy a nano reef setup and cycle the tank through the semester so that by the end of the course they would have a 5-10 gallon tank that they could start adding corals to. The reason for the small size is I want to be respectful of the fact that the students will be graduating and moving so it needs to be easy portable. 2-5 gallon buckets in your car is definitely doable. But I want them to experience the time it takes to properly set up a tank and appreciate the water chemistry that goes into maintaining a tank properly.

Also, I would want to source one or two options for them that would be mostly all inclusive for equipment. This equipment would be the "required" text for the class. We will be setting up a 90-120 gall tank in the student lounge so in future years I would have that available to me for sand/live rock ruble to seed their tanks.

All feedback is welcome!

-JD

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

From a chemical perspective, I think the basics of calcification by corals and the nature of calcium and alkalinity in seawater (definition of alkalinity, supersaturation state of aragonite and calcite, etc.) are the most important.

Second tier might be:

1. The interrelationships between calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, and pH with respect to abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate
2. The relationship between carbonate alkalinity, CO2, and pH
3. How CaCO3/CO2 reactors, limewater (kalkwasser) and two part systems supply calcium and alkalinity, and what the differences are (pH, residual ions, etc.)
4. Basics of the nitrogen cycle and differences between salt and fresh water systems (particularly lack of nitrite toxicity in marine systems)
5. Basic methods of nutrient (nitrate and phosphate) reduction (growing macroalgae, organic carbon dosing, phosphate binders, etc.)
6. How and why skimming functions
7. What does GAC bind in seawater
8. State of trace metals in seawater (organic binding, speciation, etc)
9. What is ORP and how is it impacted by ozone, organics, etc.
10. Methods of salinity determination (refractive index, conductivity, and specific gravity)
11. What is the composition of seawater

scrolling through this list of my articles you'll see in general the other chemistry issues that I think are useful:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/randys-reef-chemistry-articles.174821/

 

[Sabellafella]

Study and understanding of bacteria

 

[Reefrookie220]

@Paul B ,this guy has to have some input. If he's not too busy getting his head polished by super models that is!

 

[Paul B]

I know it is an old thread, I just found it so work with me. Randy has listed all the chemical aspects of a reef tank but no references on immunity or disease resistance which I feel is important because if your fish are not going to be healthy, you may as well keep them in damp sawdust because chemicals won't matter much unless you feel the need to soak your feet in Epsom Salt which I just added to my reef. (before I soaked my feet in it)
Here is something about immunity if you feel it would work in a college course.. I also don't think you could teach this in college as there are virtually no correct ways to do any of it.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-discussion-on-immunity.209701/

 

[Cory]

Pretty hard to charge for info thats free on the net.

However if you want to market to the a specific group, it might work.

If its free, id do it.

 

[Mimmrfr]

I could not justify paying for information that I could research for free. Money saved not taking a college course on reef keeping would be well spent on my reef tank!!!

 

[Untamedrose]

I would have signed up for that when I was in college... sounds like a fun course Doubt the gibill would have covered it but eh..

Might look into group buys to get the tanks and etc for much cheaper then having each student go out and buy on their own.
Heck you could also just make this a club rather then class.

 

[Paul B]

I didn't go to college. I figured I already knew everything I wanted to know.

 

[KJ]

I didn't go to college. I figured I already knew everything I wanted to know.

A+^^^^^^^^^^^ jk

 

[jtmojo]

Humboldt State University here in california used to have a aquarium keeping class. Here is the course description: FISH 165. Small Aquarium Management (2). Construction, operation, maintenance, and management of small aquaria for home, commercial, or public display of marine and freshwater fishes. [CR/NC]. The course hasn't been taught in like 10 years, I want to say it was taught by one of the LFS owners. I would have loved to take it, especially if if really went into the hard science of reef keeping.

 

[Paul B]

Well if college in America is ever free. I don't want any of my tax money going to fish courses.

 

[reefwiser]

I have been working on a class based off A friend's german reef's clubs coarse. It's very through coarse that is taught by the club every year.

 

[Drakonis]

Firstly i dissagree with the comments about paying for information free on the web, everything is available that way now days thats not the point here. Secondly reef keeping is a giant chem lab regardless of what meathod you use or who's system you model after, eventually almost all reefers dive into the science aspect and most get overwhelmed with all the different aspects. Lets be honest we all do not agree on right and wrong alot of what we know is based on scientific hypothesis which we have read to be successful somewhere and add our own variables, there is truthfully such a small percentage of absolutes in the hobby its truely amazing we gain the success rate we do. As for the school part in relation to chemistry its a perfect teaching aid, it covers biology, it even covers some life lessons like working hard for things and patience because im sure all reefers can agree any reef requires those. The hardest part of it being a course is the school politics, aside from finding focus in such a boundless scientific on going expirament we call a hobby. In closing I would take that course no questions asked, in my opinion it has more merrit than alot of filler courses because there is a much more real foundation in regards to the science world.

 

[BigSofty]

i think understanding the effects on the corals, fish, inverts, etc...in a reef environment compared to the seas they are from would be helpful...and just sitting or online with a classroom full of people also interested in the hobby and listening to their ideas and "tricks" of the trade would be worth every penny.

 

[Kentech5]

Sounds like the perfect class to fill up elective requirements. You can learn something interesting instead of taking an elective you have no interest in.

 

[McMullen]

Physics classes are free online......still needed a classroom

I would've taken this class!!