WHS Reef Tank (Marine X 110.4)

[Zach0918]

Hi everyone, I wanted to share my class' journey of setting up a reef tank in our classroom at Westerly High School (RI). This has been in the works since September and after a lot of work, including obtaining a grant for the some of the expenses. I am happy to be able to say we are ready hit the ground running when we come back from February vacation. This is not the first tank I have had in the classroom but this is by far the biggest and most complex so I am sure will have a number of questions along the way. I also like to try to get the students involved in the community so I am hoping this thread can serve as a way for those conversations to take place. I will be posting more details about the equipment/livestock we add we a as things as are installed and shouting out some of the amazing companies who supported us along the way.

Tank: Waterbox Marine X 110.4
Skimmer:
Heater:
Controller:
ATO:
Lid:
Controller Board
Lighting: AI Hydra 32 x 2
RODI: BRS 6 Stage
Rock and Sand: Caribsea LifeRock and Live Sand, MarcoRock Cement

 

[Zach0918]

Update #1: 2/16/2022) - Tank is in!

Tank is here, I have to give Waterbox Aquariums a huge shout out for working with my budget to make our dream tank a reality. Your support of education and inspiring new hobbyists is greatly appreciated! The tank is still in its box but I am excited to post more pictures once it is on the stand.

 

[Zach0918]

Huge shout out to Caribsea who has always gone above and beyond to support my projects. They donated all the LifeRock and live sand needed for the tank. I have used both these products in the past and have nothing but great things to say about them.

Before February break we played around with some aquascape ideas, here are two of the ones the students built. Would love to get some feedback on them. We will be cementing once we decide on a final design.

Aquascape #1 (aka The Dragon)

Aquascape #2

 

[thrillreefer]

Exciting build, and something the students won’t soon forget!! Following along

I vote “dragon.” Looks very natural and has more spots for attaching coral

 

[MikeG]

I like aquascape 1 (the dragon) as well.

 

[Zach0918]

Busy day today! The students all worked hard today, lots of progress.

Stand is now level!

AI Lights are mounted!

Aquascaping is in progress! Thanks again to Caribsea for providing the LifeRock and MarcoRocks for providing the cement. First time cementing an aquascape and it was pretty straightforward once you get a feel for the ideal consistency. We made a little bit of a mess. but sometimes that is half the fun.

After class we were able to get the tank mounted onto the stand and plumbing installed and lights mounted on the tank. It's coming together...

 

[Owen386]

So cool wish you were my teacher back in school

 

[scavdog]

How's it coming along!?

 

[Zach0918]

Sorry guys I am long overdue for an update. We have made a lot progress but bwtween staying until at least 5:00 every night last week and being sick I haven't had a chance to post. I will be in next couple days.

 

[Zach0918]

New updates coming soon!

Last year was a bit of a struggle. We had major temperature control issues summer 2022 and the whole 2022-23 school year was taken up by trying to get those issues resolved and sadly the tank was left as fish only. This challenge was admittedly very frustrating for me and although it is always nice to see the kids learning about and working on the tank, knowing what they were missing was difficult, thus my lack of motivation to update this thread.

Over this summer, a mini split was installed on my classroom, thus fixing the climate control issues that plagued us all last summer. Although the reefer in me wants to start adding corals now, I am even more excited to let the students go through the process of adding our first coral.

Now this is reefing so it's not all rainbows and sunshine, so when one issue goes away two more pop up. Immediately following the mini split install, my return pump that Current generously donated died on me out of the blue. Huge thank you to @Reef Breeders for always supporting us with a great price on equipment for the tank. Logan quickly had a replacement return pump out to me and we suffered no major ill effects to the livestock. Simultaneously my Apex had an issue when updating which we believe affected the SD card. After explaining my situation to Neptune they were very understanding and agreed to swap out my base unit free of charge. Fingers crossed this fixes those issue we are having.

With those issues fixed, I am really excited for the next chapter in this project. The goal this year is to add our first corals, develop a regular maintenance schedule, monitor water parameters regularly ( possibly dosing?), maybe add a new fish or two. Hopefully this will set us up to begin fragging next year. I intend on posting updates on new livestock/equipment as well as questions as they come up.

 

[DylanCameron]

Thanks for the update! What fish are in there currently?

 

[Zach0918]

Thanks for the update! What fish are in there currently?

White Wyoming Clown
Black Ocellaris Clown
Pair of Blue Green Chromis
Flame Hawkfish

We lost our yellow tang last year, got sick in the summer and never fully recovered :/.

 

[DylanCameron]

Sorry to hear it. I love the black/white combo, I also have a WW and was planning on getting either a black osc like you or maybe a naked clown.