New to School

LW_BrownBio · Nov 11, 2020

Hello All, I am looking at creating a marine tank for my classroom. I would like to be able to have my students be able to observe a variety of organisms in the marine environment. I am new to maintaining a marine aquarium, but I know the animals. What equipment would you suggest to get started in the classroom? I have a 55Gal Tank that I would like to use, but I have other sizes available.

What species would you suggest once the set up is primed? I would especially like to include echinoderms.

Peace River · Nov 11, 2020

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!! The width of the 55g can make it a challenging size (especially for reef keeping), but could be an interesting provide good viewing for the urchins, starfish, etc. A 40b may be another size to consider for a lagoon style tank.

StlSalt · Nov 11, 2020

I have a 40G breeder with a clown fish/Bubble Tip anemone and a Goby/Pistol shrimp both in symbiotic relations. Could be interesting to study, not sure what grade you teach.

Miguel Negron · Nov 11, 2020

Welcome

ShepherdReefer · Nov 11, 2020

My wife and I set up a saltwater tank in her classroom many years ago when she was teaching. We used a 40-gallon and had only a few fish in the tank and the coral idea for the clown to host will be a great idea. One of them we still have the clown fish. The 40-gallon was easy to keep up with.

New&no clue · Nov 11, 2020

I have a 30 gallon softy tank at work. I would stick to simple corals and fish as you will most likely be gone from the tank all weekend. I would also recommend a sump or AIO (all in one) instead of HOB (hand on back) equipment which can leak and if you're not around to catch it can make a mess.

Fred2482 · Nov 11, 2020

Welcome! Maybe neat to show anything with an obvious symbiotic relationship. Clown/anemone, goby/shrimp.

harley32907 · Nov 11, 2020

Welcome to R2R!

vetteguy53081 · Nov 11, 2020

Welcome to the R2R community

WIReefer · Nov 11, 2020

Welcome to R2R!!!

Jimbhoy13 · Nov 11, 2020

Welcome to R2R. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

LW_BrownBio · Nov 11, 2020

StlSalt said:
I have a 40G breeder with a clown fish/Bubble Tip anemone and a Goby/Pistol shrimp both in symbiotic relations. Could be interesting to study, not sure what grade you teach.

I teach high school.

StlSalt · Nov 11, 2020

LW_BrownBio said:
I teach high school.

That's great there's a lot of chemistry in the water too. Just in case more than biology is being taught.

Here' my 40, I'm more about the fish then making pretty cabinets. On the right is the clown fish and nem, middle is the goby, pistol shrimp is no doubt in the sand somewhere. The bottom of the tank is in constant flux. I have a radiata urchin in there too. No sump just hang on stuff...Aquamaxx HOB skimmer, UV light, heater, and powerheads. As mentioned earlier feeding needs to be everyday and multiple times a day. There are auto feeders and a million ways to set up a tank so this is just one simple example. I'm fascinated by the symbiotic relationships of the ocean so I set about recreating them at home. As for the stars you mentioned there are some that will work in the aquarium but not many. Mostly because they eat sponges and other stuff you can easily keep brittle or serpent stars. I stay away from sand shifting stars because they eat all the microfauna in your sand. You can keep chocolate chip stars but they eat coral.

ScubaFish802 · Nov 11, 2020

Zach B · Nov 11, 2020

Welcome

so many options for a 55. Good luck with everything

mike550 · Nov 11, 2020

Welcome to R2R! Such a great idea to create a tank for your classroom. You'll get lots of great advice here. Good luck!

MERKEY · Nov 11, 2020

Hello and welcome to R2R!

SPR1968 · Nov 11, 2020

Hi and Welcome to R2R!!!

LW_BrownBio · Nov 11, 2020

StlSalt said:
That's great there's a lot of chemistry in the water too. Just in case more than biology is being taught.

Here' my 40, I'm more about the fish then making pretty cabinets. On the right is the clown fish and nem, middle is the goby, pistol shrimp is no doubt in the sand somewhere. The bottom of the tank is in constant flux. I have a radiata urchin in there too. No sump just hang on stuff...Aquamaxx HOB skimmer, UV light, heater, and powerheads. As mentioned earlier feeding needs to be everyday and multiple times a day. There are auto feeders and a million ways to set up a tank so this is just one simple example. I'm fascinated by the symbiotic relationships of the ocean so I set about recreating them at home. As for the stars you mentioned there are some that will work in the aquarium but not many. Mostly because they eat sponges and other stuff you can easily keep brittle or serpent stars. I stay away from sand shifting stars because they eat all the microfauna in your sand. You can keep chocolate chip stars but they eat coral.

I was looking mostly at the brittle stars, because they are my favorite and I used to do research on them. Thank you for sharing your tank. I am on a budget and trying to piece things together in an affordable manner. I may be able to add a little here and there as the years go on.