The Coral Reef Project At Stratton Elementary School

[domination2580]

Yes, I've drilled tempered glass multiple times, though as you saw, sometimes it doesn't work. It's still glass, just has pre manufactured stress points. If you exert minimal pressure when grinding it will eventually cut through without shattering.

So please tell me how to do it? I have a 55 that needs drilled but it is tempered so I thought I couldn't. Please tell me what I need! Thanks in advance!

 

[ReefFrenzy]

Here are the clownfish I got! BTW my tank is fully cycled!

Looks great and loving the LRS sticker!

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Thanks for passing on the hobby, I think what you're doing is great, I don't know why more people don't do this. A reef tank is probably the most diverse ecosystem I can imagine, everything interacts with everything.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

So please tell me how to do it? I have a 55 that needs drilled but it is tempered so I thought I couldn't. Please tell me what I need! Thanks in advance!

Hello, I hesitated to drill or cut glass for the longest time but after taking a leap of faith trying it for myself I found it's quite easy, especially with thicker glass.

First, I watched some instructional videos online. I found this one from Bulk Reef Supply the most helpful and it references their drill bits and press. In hindsight I realized it was fairly easy to drill free hand (provided you aren't super picky about scratches) and didn't need the press. I would recommend paying the extra money for the schedule 80 threaded bulkheads though, they are much easier to get tight without breaking and can be reused. Also note that the drill bits loose their sharpness after about half a dozen cuts.

In regards to drilling tempered glass, remember that you're not cutting you're grinding and need to go very slow with lots of water for lubrication. It literally took me two hours to make the three cuts I posted about. Put the surface being drilled face down if you can and pad the bottom to reduce vibrations. Use a lot of water and almost no pressure on the drill, just the weight of the drill itself is enough. I adjusted the speed of my drill for screwing, not drilling and still kept the trigger only partially depressed. When I broke the tank a few weeks ago I made the mistake of trying to rush things by leaning over the drill and setting the drill speed too fast.

It's easy to find cheap used tanks and even if you end up breaking yours, buying another used one and trying again is still probably cheaper than purchasing a predrilled tank.

Do you know how to setup an overflow box? I'm still in the process of plumbing mine (have a lot of teacher things to do) but I'll try to post my setup when I'm done.

Good Luck!

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Looks great and loving the LRS sticker!

Here's a photos of Nipun and his mom picking up the fish. His mom Neena is very supportive and a great help to our project.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Here's a rather esoteric question from Cornelius. We were talking about the cyano bloom in his tank (we just set it up) and was wondering about how corals might help filter water. I haven't had time to explain it to him yet and was hoping someone from R2R might also want to chime in.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Here's a picture of my 3 year old daughter Coraline. She often accompanies me on the weekends when I work on my project and is already an expert fish feeder.

I noticed that the two 25 fluval tanks with small LED light strips have started growing small dots of coralline algae. Does this mean that they could support low light corals? If so any recommendations?

I also thought I'd share what looks like bristle worm eggs. Hard to see in the photo but very small, individual worm larva can be seen. The white plate is from the underside of a 5 gallon Jellyfish Art kreisel tank. They can support a surprising amount of biomass.

And finally I wanted to brag about the bubble tip anemone growth on my 90 gallon tank. We feed them small bits of LRS Reef Frenzy food daily and they love it. It's not just for fish.

A few months ago:

Now:

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Very nice!

 

[domination2580]

Hello, I hesitated to drill or cut glass for the longest time but after taking a leap of faith trying it for myself I found it's quite easy, especially with thicker glass.

First, I watched some instructional videos online. I found this one from Bulk Reef Supply the most helpful and it references their drill bits and press. In hindsight I realized it was fairly easy to drill free hand (provided you aren't super picky about scratches) and didn't need the press. I would recommend paying the extra money for the schedule 80 threaded bulkheads though, they are much easier to get tight without breaking and can be reused. Also note that the drill bits loose their sharpness after about half a dozen cuts.

In regards to drilling tempered glass, remember that you're not cutting you're grinding and need to go very slow with lots of water for lubrication. It literally took me two hours to make the three cuts I posted about. Put the surface being drilled face down if you can and pad the bottom to reduce vibrations. Use a lot of water and almost no pressure on the drill, just the weight of the drill itself is enough. I adjusted the speed of my drill for screwing, not drilling and still kept the trigger only partially depressed. When I broke the tank a few weeks ago I made the mistake of trying to rush things by leaning over the drill and setting the drill speed too fast.

It's easy to find cheap used tanks and even if you end up breaking yours, buying another used one and trying again is still probably cheaper than purchasing a predrilled tank.

Do you know how to setup an overflow box? I'm still in the process of plumbing mine (have a lot of teacher things to do) but I'll try to post my setup when I'm done.

Good Luck!

There's two types of overflow boxes. One using the u tubes and the other using the drilled holes. What do u need help with? I'm sure everyone will gladly help you with questions needing answers

 

[stupidted]

Such a great thing to see. My daughter is in third grade and loves our tanks. Wish I had something like this when I was that young. Thanks for sharing and teaching our youth. You guys rock.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Worth a study for your students....


This is just a short link to a very large and interesting subject. This was a noble prize winner . They are trying to use this fluorescence to map the human brain. They have already used it for cancer and for HIV.

Thanks so much for providing this interesting video. With some additional instruction in sub concepts, we had a great discussion.
Here's some of their thoughts:

 

[domination2580]

Hello, I hesitated to drill or cut glass for the longest time but after taking a leap of faith trying it for myself I found it's quite easy, especially with thicker glass.

First, I watched some instructional videos online. I found this one from Bulk Reef Supply the most helpful and it references their drill bits and press. In hindsight I realized it was fairly easy to drill free hand (provided you aren't super picky about scratches) and didn't need the press. I would recommend paying the extra money for the schedule 80 threaded bulkheads though, they are much easier to get tight without breaking and can be reused. Also note that the drill bits loose their sharpness after about half a dozen cuts.

In regards to drilling tempered glass, remember that you're not cutting you're grinding and need to go very slow with lots of water for lubrication. It literally took me two hours to make the three cuts I posted about. Put the surface being drilled face down if you can and pad the bottom to reduce vibrations. Use a lot of water and almost no pressure on the drill, just the weight of the drill itself is enough. I adjusted the speed of my drill for screwing, not drilling and still kept the trigger only partially depressed. When I broke the tank a few weeks ago I made the mistake of trying to rush things by leaning over the drill and setting the drill speed too fast.

It's easy to find cheap used tanks and even if you end up breaking yours, buying another used one and trying again is still probably cheaper than purchasing a predrilled tank.

Do you know how to setup an overflow box? I'm still in the process of plumbing mine (have a lot of teacher things to do) but I'll try to post my setup when I'm done.

Good Luck!

What kind of bit do I need?

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

What kind of bit do I need?

I used these, they're pretty standard. BRS lists correlations between bit size and bulkhead size. LIke I said, the drill guides are nice but not necessary needed and I recommend using the SCH 80 plumbing pieces. When I mentioned overflow setup I was referring to the drain design. If you do some research you'll find that some internal overflow plumbing can be quite complex to allow for smooth draining without air bubbles and prevent jams. I used the herbie overflow design which seems the easiest to do.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

Here's my first overflow build. I got the tank used on craigslist and already had a very weird cut at one end so I had to make some modifications to make use of the hole. It's a little sloppy but very functional and I've had zero problems with it. My only concern is that one of my students will try to climb up to the tank by standing on the plumbing and break the glass. If you have more questions let me know. Not an expert but totally willing to help

 

[120reefkeeper]

Awesome job ladies and gentlemen! I'm so glad you enjoyed this information and I encourage you to dive deeper "pun intended " into this subject.

As you can see we can learn a lot from the creatures around us . We can all help the life in the sea and the creatures of the sea can help us.

Bravo students!!!!

 

[120reefkeeper]

Another creature that uses fluorescence is the jellyfish. It also has a cousin named siphonophore. Siphonophore' s are alien like creatures and they use fluorescence in a different way. I hope you find this as interesting as I did!!

 

[7hogwarts]

I do love following this thread. It's so good to see our future in this hobby learning.

Also, when drilling a tank, I make a dam around the area to be drilled with plumbers putty. Fill the dam with water for lubrication (and to get particulate matter from floating into the air. The drilling will go much faster this way.

 

[brandon429]

teaching must be just great. I would just dole out the rewards until we were all full up based on presentation alone.
these new scientists are inspiring by the way. I miss these years apparently lol these kiddos showing their research and interests reminds me of my kiddo long about 2006.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

At the beginning of the school year I built a 25 gallon tank in a kindergarten classroom. Its been very interesting seeing how the youngest kids in my school react to living things from the ocean. They come to the experience with almost no background knowledge to make connections. All of the kindergarteners are highly interested but their imagination and perceptions of the phenomena they observe runs wild. Everything is personified and all of the fish and inverts have complex social relationships with each other. They are constantly getting married, playing together, sleeping etc. All of the starfish are considered octopuses and the clownfish are all either Nemo or his dad looking for Dori (the blue tang in the tank in my room). My kids and I try to inform them about the factual reality of their tank inhabitants but most seem to prefer to keep their fantasies.

Anyway...I wanted to diversify what they see and wanted to use their very stable tank as a QT for new fish I eventually want to place in the 120 gallon aquarium by the office. 3 weeks ago I removed all of the fish from their classroom and re-homed or moved them in anticipation of new arrivals. I had been saving up for an order through my awesome sponsor Quality Marine but it was delayed due to weather and my personal financing. The kids reacted much more strongly than I anticipated and even with reminders about what was happening, assumed the fish died or moved away on purpose.

When I was finally able to place the order, the class literally threw a sea themed party and decorated their room.

Here's their photogenic teacher Ms. Gittings

Part of the language arts curriculum used in the classroom includes poems they choral read

And the kindergarteners are with their new fish! A shipment from Quality Marine arrived today. They now have a school of 12 blue green chromis and 8 peppermint peppermint shrimp. All of the fish arrive super healthy and are already eagerly eating LRS Reef Frenzy. I'll post pics of them soon.

 

[Brandon Rutherford]

I also got some goodies for the other tanks. Swapnil, Nipun, Gene, Minha and Dahee are working on a special research project on Banggai Cardinal fish. I think they are a model to raise awareness of the environmental impact of wild caught fish. Last year I saved up enough to order a large school but lost most them do to poor husbandry on my part. I really hope all of them make it this time.

Half are going in my most healthy tank with no quarantining. I've been carefully monitoring water quality, turned all off the lights out and Cornelius and Elyes taped up the glass to give them a little privacy for the first day in their new home.

The other half are going in another 25 gallon tank in a second grade classroom. Dahee on the right is part of my art squad. A group of mostly girls that do water colors and other artwork after school. She'll be my student next year and is already starting to learn about the project.

I also got a blue finned watchman goby for the 10 gallon nano in a first grade classroom. There's a fairly big tiger pistol shrimp living in the sand bed that I've literally never seen. I only know it's alive because it keeps making tunnels. I'm hoping that the goby gets it to come out more. Quality Marine sent me a big healthy one and I'm a little worried that I might be pushing the bio load for this tank.