Nano Biotopes Using IM Fusion 10s in the Classroom

[jay2012]

Dear Forum Members,

 

I am a public school teacher and a diehard fan of the aquarium hobby. Having started on sticklebacks fished from local creeks in California and most recently introduced to the reef hobby by my brother--fish are a family affair--I have come to love the simplicity of keep corals over the hassle of my last endeavor, a high-tech planted tank that I sold to buy my first Innovative Marine Nano 8.

 

This year, I have teamed with the AP Environmental Science teacher at my school to offer a year-long course that makes use of seven IM Fusion 10 aquariums that will showcase seven disparate biotopes. The students formed teams and were given eight choices we thought would be appropriate for these small tanks. Their choices range from Hawaiian Volcano Tide Pool with Opa ulae to Asian Stillwater Planted Tank with sparkling gouramis to a Caribbean Reef with live rock and LPS corals to a Mangrove Swamp with mangrove seedlings.

 

We ran into an unforeseen problem with these small tanks because of the very dry conditions of my school: evaporation occurs much more rapidly than in my own home. That coupled with the Fusion's mesh cover means that my students are topping off daily. We have since purchased acrylic pieces that help slow down the process, but this solution will not work over long weekends and holiday breaks.

 

Our solution setting up ATO systems for each tank, but the school stretched its budget to provide the tanks and cannot offer more funding. Please consider giving to my DonorsChoose project. If you give before November 1st and use the promo code SPARK, the Paul G. Allen Foundation will match your donation. Any donation will help, and you can even do this through your Amazon account.

 

Thank you for reading this rather long forum post, and please do not take offense to this solicitation. I would not have done this if it were not for children and related to our love of the nano tank.

 

http://www.donorschoose.org/jason.chau

[BulkRate]

That is awesome... an amazing classroom project! Just one concern... what happens at the end of the spring semester?

 

The least expensive and possibly less error prone approach would be a single gravity-fed resovior with per-tank drip lines. Twist valves would allow you to tune the rate of the drip to meet the rate of evaporation. You'd probably still need to manually top off a little every few days as some days are more/less humid than others... but it is inexpensive and scales to the number of systems you're running.

[jay2012]

BulkRate,

 

We have a few options for what will happen in June. I am listing in order of what would be most ideal:

 

1. We auction off beautiful setups at our annual spring fundraising gala and raise enough to replicate this seminar next year.

2. Teams attached to their setups can fundraise enough to pay the seminar for all of the hardware (tank, heater, lighting) and a lucky member can take the tank home.

3. All livestock will be taken to LFS as a donation or for store credit to replenish our stock of food and filter media. All plants will be put in a large "mother" tank, so next year's students will not have to spend any part of their budget on plants. Tanks will be taken down and cleaned thoroughly for next year's students. We considered allowing them to stay running empty to maintain the cycle, but the weeks of cycling the tanks actually provide a teaching moment: the nitrogen cycle and why some bacteria are good.

 

We thought of having a common reservoir for topping off, but the individual reservoirs (water jugs) are the least expensive parts. We need individual sensors because the tanks have been evaporating at different rates because of their placement under HVAC vents, and we cannot trust that the school's heating/cooling habits will remain consistent over long breaks.

 

This project, though it sounds like a lot of money, will support 7 tanks and can be used year after year. With the matching, we only have to raise $388 to provide ATO systems for all of them. This will make it easy for the brackish tanks and the reef to supply their tanks with RO water.

 

Thank you for reading.