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Our 28g Classroom Tank


Duncan7

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I really enjoyed reading about your tank! My mom used to be a teacher back in the day and all she ever had was the class guinea pig haha. But that's no fun to hear about the frog spawn taking out some of your zoas and losing your mushrooms. That's happened to me on more than one occassion but nothing you can do about it. If you'd like some new coral to replace your lost pieces I could always frag some that might add a bit of color to your tank. I have an orange montopora digitata, some bright green zoas, and some dragon eyes too that you could have if you're interested. Just let me know!

-Brian

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Here are a few pictures that I took a little while ago.

The tank:

DSC07955.jpg

The remaining Damselfish:

DSC07982.jpg

The new fish. He came from the same tank that the damselfish originally came from and was raised with both of them. The owner decided to break down her tank, called me this summer and brought him over. He fits right in.

DSC07983.jpg

Duncan7

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  • 4 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Here is a pic of our purple monti cap. It doesn't look purple under the lights I have, but it did when it was given to me.

monticap.jpg

Still having a great time with the marine tank here at school this year. My kenya tree coral threw two small ones a couple of weeks ago, so I gave them to the other two schools tanks on Friday. So far, so good.

Duncan7

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Hi, Kim! Things are doing well overall, but it has changed quite a bit. The other damselfish jumped out of the tank and mortally injured himself on landing. The small blue fish just didn't come out one day. All I can think is he died under the rocks and decomposed down there. Otherwise things look fairly good. The anthelia is doing great! I have it growing on the upper left side of the tank. The GSP are staying on the shell where I put it so far. The Kenya tree coral dropped some branches just in the past few weeks and I passed them on to the other two schools tanks. The thing that has really amazed me is the green candy cane coral. It has grown all over the place and almost doesn't look like it did when I put it in the tank last spring. The zoanthids have not spread much, but they are not dying either. Still pretty to look at. I have had some green bubble algae growing on the back wall of the tank, but it does not come back as fast now when I remove it. I am hoping it will stay away soon. I have some pretty macroalgae that came with my live rock last year and I keep it in the main part of the tank. The students and I like how it looks. I have two large mushrooms, probably in the 2-2.5 inch across range, that are doing great. I noticed a couple of babies today nearby and am glad that, after losing mushrooms this summer, they are coming back.

My leather coral has died back to just a fraction of its former self. I will try to get a picture up for everyone to see. It was white at first, then it began to turn a brown color, eventually I found most of it laying on the bottom of the tank, it had fallen off its rock. Now I have two small pieces still attached to the rock and one on the tank bottom, still brown, but seems to be doing well. We'll see.

I continue to change out between 1-3 gallons of water every 1-2 weeks, supplement with a reef builder and reef buffer, add 2 drops of iodine for the leather, and feed the coral a food called coral frenzy every month or so. The temp has remained between 73-78 in the classroom since I brought it back from my house this fall. pH, salinity, and the other basic tests continue to come out fine.

I have 3 large snails that I can see, so I am planning to pick up some more. People are welcome to donate any coral that they have extra of, but I really wanted to document what has happened with what was given to me here. We have really enjoyed the tank. I know it isn't crystal clear like some beautiful tanks, your seahorse tank comes to mind, Kim, but we are loving it.

Duncan7

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  • 3 weeks later...

It has taken an entire year to get to this point, but I was finally able to offer up some coral to other people! Thanks so much to y'all who helped get our class tank stocked--it feels good to be able to pass that on. :)

Duncan7

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  • 1 year later...

It has been over a year since I last posted. The tank did well until December, when I put in 4 cups of tap water. I I know. Stupid decision. But I did it and the tank picked up two kinds of algae from the city water supply. I fought it until everything had died, about a month ago. I have now cleaned the tank and started it going again. Once it has stabilized for another month I will try to begin putting a coral or two in and see how they do.

I had been using tap water originally, but as I read about the dangers of it, I began using RO water for all of my water changes. I did that for about a year before putting the ill-fated tap water in last Christmas break. Go figure. Anyway, it is doing well right now, well, as well as a tank of rock, water, and substrate can do.

The students were horrified to see what was in our drinking water and how much and how quickly the damage occured. We are learning about what happens when we mess with water and how difficult it is to repair that damage, so all is not lost, even though the coral is gone. We will continue to track the tank and get it going again.

Duncan7

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  • 3 months later...

It is almost time for Christmas break at the school and our tank has stayed clean and clear for most of the semester, so it is time to begin putting things back into it now. I am going to see about something hardy, like a kenya tree coral or some GSP. I will keep everyone up-to-date on how it goes.

Duncan7

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