Duncan7 Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 I thought I would post the progress of our classroom tank and also take a moment to thank all of the amazing ARCers who donated things to help make it a better tank. Thanks to Robb in Austin for Macro Algae and Frogspawn, Mel in Elgin for Candy Cane coral and Kenya Tree coral, JeffT for Anthelia and Purple Monti Cap, and mcallahan for GSP. Thank you all of you for the great additions! The first picture is our tank about 2 hours after I set it up and added substrate and salt water. 12-3-10. Live rock was added about a week later and then the tank just sat until January. The next one was taken on 2-14-11. This one was after I "lost" my frogspawn and had to take most of the rock out; I rearranged it when it went back in. It is still pretty cloudy in the picture. It seems that my frogspawn does not like the plugs that I put it on, it kept on coming off after awhile. I used super glue gel, but maybe I did something incorrectly. The other plugs that I did are still doing well. Anyway, the little guy has moved in under a ledge off to the right of the tank in this picture. A couple of days ago it relocated itself to the middle of the tank under all of the rocks. sigh. I can get a glimpse of it, but cannot reach it. I will keep an eye on it and get it out when I move the tank in a couple of weeks. 4-11-11. This one was taken on 4-25-11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted April 28, 2011 Author Share Posted April 28, 2011 This is a 28g Nano Cube with CF and a Cora Life MH lamp on the side. It has these things in it: 22 lbs live rock crushed shell substrate kenya tree coral (2) anthelia-several bunches until I pass some on to the other tanks in the school district candy cane coral--also several bunches for the same reason purple monti cap--have two now zoanthids red mushrooms finger leather (might be devils hand?) 2 bowtie damsel fish GSP--just got some last night, not in the picture that is posted Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted April 28, 2011 Share Posted April 28, 2011 Looking good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Here is the leather coral on the day I brought it home, Feb. 19th. Button Polyps on 2-27-11.... and 3-14-11. Zoanthids on 3-14-11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mel in Elgin Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Looks Good! You'll have a full reef in no time :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffT Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Congrats and the tank is looking great. You will be passing off frags in no time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 How neat! Thanks for sharing I bet the students just love it. You'll have to keep updating with pictures as it all grows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 Thanks for the kind comments. I gave anthelia and candy cane coral to the teacher at the other two schools today, so now all three tanks have them in it. We are going to be watching to see how they do. We are holding off on the purple monti cap as it turns out that I have metal halides and the other two tanks do not. So we will see what happens with lighting over the summer. Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted May 13, 2011 Author Share Posted May 13, 2011 Today was moving day for the marine tank. I placed all of the coral in a styrofoam box full of water from the tank, the live rock into another box with water, the fish in a bucket of tank water, and 4 containers full of tank water. The tank went home and everything got moved and put back in the tank. Of course, the tank looks totally different now. And I found my frogspawn! It is no longer stuck in the middle of the tank down at the bottom, but is closer to the front in a little nook where it can't get blown away. Last time I tried to glue it to a frag plug it escaped. Not sure what to do with it now. It seems a little larger than a couple of weeks ago. I will post a few pictures of the tank as soon as the water clears up. I still need to move my tropical tank. It is a 50 gallon with some interesting fish. I did finally get rid of the plecostamus as it was eating all of the plants. (I didn't flush it, but returned it to Aquatek.) This was my big mistake as I did not read about the fish before buying it and putting it in my tank. Lesson learned! Now I check before buying or accepting gifts. The tanks will live at my house this summer and return to the classroom in August. I am looking forward to having them here; I always wonder what is going on at night with the tanks and now I will be able to watch them. Fun! Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Here is my once-lost frogspawn. It is looking very nice! Thanks Robb in Austin!! This is what the tank looks like right now: When I brought the purple monti cap to my tank, it faded almost to white by the end of the first week. I did not know about helping it adjust to new lighting. Instead of throwing it away, I moved it down to the bottom of the tank and waited. It has been about a month now since the bleaching and the frags are making a comeback. I am seeing a good amount of purple around the rim and the white is changing back to purple now. There are some places where there is what looks like brown algae, but I have been holding the frag in front of the pump occasionally and it seems to be coming off a little at a time and not returning. I'm really glad (and lucky) that this is working out. This entire tank has been a good lesson in patience for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Here is a picture of one of my purple monti cap frags. You can see at the narrow tip how white it still is there, but the rest is returning to a pale purple with some dark purple in the middle. Not sure what the dark purple is as it originally was all the same shade of the lighter color. Thanks again JeffT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 I tried to spot-feed my candy canes a little while ago. I got them from Mel in Elgin and tried feeding the same Mysis that they are used to getting from Mel. So....I put half of a cube into some water from the tank, mixed it up, sucked it into a turkey baster, and held it over each head trying make sure one of the shrimp landed on it. The first time I forgot to turn off the pumps, so I tried again. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but when I had finished and looked again, one of them had puffed up a bit. I watched for awhile and after maybe 10 minutes, it began to "spit" out a white substance--probably what was left of the Mysis. Here is after I fed it, it is the one in the middle: This is about 10 minutes later: I got the Mysis at Aquatek earlier this evening. I've got to tell you how great everyone there has been with helping me (and the other teacher doing this) get the tanks up and running. I have 2 tropical tanks and the 1 marine tank. the other two elementary schools have 1 of each kind at their schools. Aquatek helped us select tanks and stock, gave us discounts as we bought everything, and have given out a TON of advice. I am pleased to see that it is all working well. Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Unbelievable! My frogspawn is missing again. Do the little creatures have feet that I just can't see? or what? I got out a flashlight and looked in all the nooks and crannies, but nothing. It seems to have gone into hiding again. sigh. Any suggestions? Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I try to spot feed my candy canes too, and sometimes they grab the food, most of the time not. As long as they get adequate light, they will grow. Ad I think your missing coral was solved in your other thread by the landscaping damsels. My two devils damsels also move corals around. I have tried expoing corals near one of their caves, and it comes out and pushes things away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted May 22, 2011 Author Share Posted May 22, 2011 I try to spot feed my candy canes too, and sometimes they grab the food, most of the time not. As long as they get adequate light, they will grow. Ad I think your missing coral was solved in your other thread by the landscaping damsels. My two devils damsels also move corals around. I have tried expoing corals near one of their caves, and it comes out and pushes things away. Sorry to hear that your damsels enjoy decorating as much as mine do, but it is nice to know that it isn't JUST my damsels. Thanks for the info on the candy canes. Only two of them appeared to eat a shrimp this evening, but that's a 50% improvement. I have put my frogspawn into a clean blackberry container from the grocery store for now. The clear box has slits in it for water flow and I can see the frogspawn move back and forth inside when the pumps switch. When school is out, I will put a piece of rock under it and leave it in the box until it--hopefully--attaches itself to the rock. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll try finding the skeleton again and try gluing it. Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted May 23, 2011 Share Posted May 23, 2011 When school is out, I will put a piece of rock under it and leave it in the box until it--hopefully--attaches itself to the rock. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll try finding the skeleton again and try gluing it. Duncan7 There really should be skeleton. And that skeleton is dead, so it won't attach to anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted May 24, 2011 Author Share Posted May 24, 2011 When school is out, I will put a piece of rock under it and leave it in the box until it--hopefully--attaches itself to the rock. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll try finding the skeleton again and try gluing it. Duncan7 There really should be skeleton. And that skeleton is dead, so it won't attach to anything. I guess I was thinking of what I do with my mushrooms. I can't seem to find the skeleton, but I will try again when school is out next week. If that doesn't work, I'll check around here and ask someone to help me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 The GSP that mcallahan gave me is still alive! I am really glad because there was a small patch of it in the tank early on and it died. I was concerned that GSP did not like my tank. It is growing and still very small, but there and alive. Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I am surprised any GSP died ... that is some hardy coral! I have had to isolate my GSP in my tank to prevent it covering everything up. It will grow right over top of zoas and smother them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 I had finally found a place to put my frogspawn--still not glued to anything--and came to look at it two days ago. In the couple of hours since I had last looked, it had floated into a button polyp which had closed down on a tentacle. I think what my children said is that "the button polyp is eating the frogspawn!" I sucked the frogspawn away from the button polyp with a turkey baster and put it back in it's plastic container for safe keeping. By yesterday, the button polyp was looking like someone had poured acid on it's fringes. About half of them are gone, as if burned away, and some of it looks black with some white on it. I guess it didn't like how the frogspawn tasted. The frogspawn is doing well, by the way. Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 sounds like your zoas got a good sting. What a bummer. Too bad you can't get that frog spawn to stay put! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted October 12, 2011 Author Share Posted October 12, 2011 Summer is over and the salt tank has been moved from my living room back to the classroom. The temperature is now 6 degrees cooler than it was all summer and things are looking good. I lost some coral this summer, probably due to the high temp the water was at--82-84 degrees F. I know, but that was all I could manage and keep my a/c bill affordable. The red mushrooms let go of their rock at some point and are all gone now. The finger leather is about 1/3 of its original size. One of the damselfish died when we caught it with a net and it did not make it in it's new home. Long story. On the bright side, the candycanes are doing well, so are the zoanthids, the GPS is happy, good so far with the Kenya tree coral, both monti caps are growing, and the frogspawn is well. The frogspawn was pulled back under the rocks by the remaining damselfish early this week, so I am going to have to go find it again. I am going to have to find someone to help me glue it to a rock, or at least to something that the damselfish cannot lift. Any takers? I'll try to get a picture up in the next week or two. I almost forgot: the anthelia in my tank is doing well, but the anthelia I shared with one of the other two tanks is looking amazing! It almost doesn't look like the same coral. Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 I'm happy to read an update on your tank. Sounds like it's coming along well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Do you have any cooling fans besides the stock ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan7 Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Do you have any cooling fans besides the stock ones? Not as part of the tank. I tried a desk fan over the top of the tank while it was propped open, but it only brought it down a degree or so. I probably should have left it when I moved the tank to my house. I'll try to make other arrangements for the tank next summer since I don't have much room at my house to put a free-standing fan. Duncan7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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