Need help with setting up a tank at my school

Wanna-be-reefer · Apr 8, 2019

New to the whole salt water tank stuff and a little uncomfortable with knowing if I’m making the right decisions for this - I (Amy) am a High School science teacher and I have two beautiful tanks in my classroom that I know very little about setting up. One, I think, is a 100 gallon tank with two overflows in the corners and the other one is a 60 gallon tank with a filter under neath. My students look at two empty tanks and ask me all the time when will they be up and running and I feel horrible because I don’t know what even needs to be done to get them running. Anyone is the Palm Beach County are willing to donate time to help set up these tanks for my students or at least come and take a look so maybe I can know what needs to be done?!?! I want my students to be excited to come and see the tanks!! Here are two pictures of what I think is the 100 gallon tank.

Zakery Murray · Apr 8, 2019

I am not in Florida, but if you have any question I am sure we could help you out on here.

lukewithcats · Apr 9, 2019

I think most replies here will be to do with your tanks but I think the first step is to put together an aquarium club. You need to pick the students who will be taking care of the tank. Once that is decided you can head to the library and find some books on the topic and decide if you want salt water or fresh water and assign the kids some books to research and you should read some books/guides also. Learning with the kids seems ideal to me.

Mr.Asbury · Apr 9, 2019

I set a tank up in my classes back in August. If you are planning on starting, I would definitely recommend getting it wet before summer - it takes a while before you're able to add any life. I know my kids asked all the time when something was actually going into the tank.

When I was doing research, one of the best things I watched was BRS's 52 weeks of reefing. The first few are all about setup and are really informative. Later in the series is a lot about dosing and stuff that you won't need to worry about until down the road. If you find the time (which I know is very difficult this time of the school year) take a few minutes to check out the BRS series: .

Disclaimer: I did not watch all 52 - don't feel overwhelmed that there are so many!