Science Teacher in Need of Help

Its a bit of a long read now, but I've listed most all of the best prices and places to buy stuff in this thread. If there's anything specific that your looking for, let us know.

mainefragswap.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=23

Do you use rodi water?

Below is a list of the setup I have:

1) 55 Gallon Glass Aquarium
2) API Rena Filstar Canister Filter
3) Chiller, no heater --> The classroom is to warm for one
4) Instant Ocean SeaClone Protein Skimmer
5) Hydor Koralia Evolution 550 Aquarium Circulation Pump, 550 GPH
6) Basic Blue Actinic lighting

I would just use the tap to create the salt water, as the teacher did before me and had a successful tank. The substrate was just large gravel, similar to what you would use in a freshwater aquarium.

Yea, regular tap water, even if its from a well can have a lot of heavy metals and other dissolved substances that are highly toxic to a reef tank. Especially if your tap water goes through copper tubing!! At very least if you can't afford an RODI unit, just a cheap 3 stage RO unit will help immensely! May I ask whats your goal for this tank? Will it be a fish only with live rock or an actual reef tank with living corals and inverts? You don't really need much if you plan to only have fish and liverock but if you plan to keep corals then you really can't skimp much. Either way we're all here to help. I would start by getting an RO or RODI unit and some basic test kits. Salifert is the brand of test kits that I trust and use for my reef tank. At least if you have a bare minimum of nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, ammonia, ph, Alkalinity, you should be on your way to figuring out what the quality of your tank water is. Start with getting your tank water parameters figured out and then move to the nest step.

What type of actinic lighting do you have? Is it standard fluorescent bulbs like you'd use on a freshwater tank, or is it T5's, Power compacts, or Metal halide? For corals you want to have a mix of at least 10,000k white lights and 420-464nm actinic blue light. You can get 50/50 bulbs that have both spectrums along with metal halide bulbs that go up to 20,000k blue/white. The old way of figuring the amount of light you need to grow corals, marine plants and many reef inverts was to have a bare minimum of 3 watts of light per gallon of tank water. This is just a very rough idea to get started with. Most use the par value along with a few other more complicated light measurements to get an actual figure of how much light they have or need for their tanks.

I'm one of many that have seen and experienced the troubles and issues with using canister filters. Is there the possibility of setting up a sump and overflow system at all? At very least a hang on filter will be a great addition because its an area that would allow you to add something like a poly filter or other types of filter media.

Definitely get a heater anyway!!!! Should there ever be an issue with the ambient temp you'll be able to keep everything from getting too cold. Via Aqua titanium heaters are one of the better cheaper heaters that you can buy!

The gravel, Would you say its like regular freshwater pebbles of more like crushed coral and shells? FW gravel from what I've read is almost always made from a terrestrial type rock. I've been told that both the dyes, paints or minerals in most FW gravel can eventually dissolve into saltwater and cause contamination issues later on. Crushed coral sand is fine because its made primarily from calcium carbonate and other safe minerals. Its best to keep it clean though. Your best bet is using either a deep or shallow sand bed made from an agronite sand.

Do you have an area for mixing new salt for water changes? Its recomended even if you don't have corals to do weekly water changes with new mixed saltwater. This both removed excess nutrients, fish waste, contaminants, annd it replenishes essential minerals that not only corals plants and inverts need, but the fish need to.

These are just suggestions but if there's anything you ever need help with, don't be afraid to ask. I'm only in West Gardiner so Monmouth is just a few minutes away if you ever want any help or advice in person. PM me if your interested.

IMO, I would say its best to setup a cheap sump especially if your going to turn it into a reef. If its setup properly you'll never have to worry about your pump running dry. But if I had to choose between a canister filter and a hang on filter, I would choose a hang on for the ease of cleaning it, not having to worry about there being a leak in the filter and having tank water back feed onto the floor. Had that one happen a bunch of times. Plus like I said, a hang on filter can be used for many other purposes. Heck they can even function as a hang on refugium. I'd say, if your not gonna setup a sump which is perfectly ok. I would buy a really good hang on filter and then try to either trade of sell the canister to help cover some costs. I'm pretty sure you can buy 50/50 daytime and actinic T5 bulbs. You'd probably have to add at least another 2 bulbs to keep any corals alive though. Let us know if there is anything else you need.

Never thought of getting a water report, thanks for that!

My goal for the tank is to expose students to the Marine Environment (since we are inland) and the variety there is to marine life. Also to gather data from the tank (nitrates, ammonia, nitrites, etc) to be used within the curriculum (Nitrogen Cycle, Phosphorus Cycle, etc).

Pretty much my goal is to use the aquarium to enhance the curriculum of the class.

Agreed, and getting some RODI water will eliminate a lot of variables. There can be trace minerals in the tap water that is obviously not harmful to humans but could have a devastating effect on the fish.