Corals in a classroom

[Hypancistrus]

I am a HS science teacher who teaches biology and aquatic science. This year I started a marine tank after many years of only doing freshwater. It's a 20G for now with possibility to upgrade to a larger size eventually if things go well. We put 15 lbs of live rock in the tank in August and let it cycle. We added snails in November when algae started to grow.

 

We put two fish into the tank this past month-- a clown and a Royal Gramma. All of our water chemistry readings are good-- 0 for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, 8.2 for pH and 1.025 for salinity. There are about 5 snails in there and a skunk cleaner shrimp.

 

Now my students are wondering if we could do corals, so we were doing some research on coral varieties for low light situations. It seems like zoanthids are one of the most often recommended for low light, but I also read that they can make toxins that can be dangerous to people. How accurate is this? Should I avoid zoanthids? My students don't typically stick their hands in the tank, but it is a busy classroom and you never know what can happen. Is this something I should be concerned about? Would other species of coral be a better choice? Right now I only have a regular marine strip light on it, but I am not averse to purchasing a T5 light or something like it. Our tank doesn't have a skimmer, so I wouldn't want this to be a reef tank, but if there were some easy corals we could include I think my students would enjoy that.

[brandon429]

Wonderful post!

 

Yes your concerns are accurate, they simply need to learn and practice basic aseptic technique and this is a great way to learn. Lab chemicals will require similar care, and are more likely to cause harm. The protopalythoid groups are your major concerns, avoid them.

 

not so much colonial typical colorful zoanthids, the palythoids.

 

They need to use gloves, and not handle the reef if they have small nicks around the fingernails etc. The chances of an infection are rare rare in fact my 4 year old was raised in a pico reef

http://reef2reef.com/attachments/childreeflol-jpg.299193/

 

I have something so profoundly nice to link to you, pm this person anytime talk about nice!! both your ideas of tanks in the classroom are wonderful science you are changing some children's lives permanently.

 

The major risk in handling reef materials is vibrio bacteria, not palytoxin although that is to be considered, and its source. vibrio is common, palyt is rare.

[GMay]

Zoas should be fine. The toxin you've head about is palytoxin and it is not made by most zoas, but is by palys. They are in a different genus. A little research will get you headed in the right direction.

[fishfreak0114]

Here's a good article

 

http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/aquarium-science-palytoxin-and-you-how-and-why-to-avoid-a-deadly-zoanthid-toxin.htm

 

+1 to what Brandon and gmay said. If you wanted to do some other corals too, mushrooms, close polyps, green star polyps, leathers, and Xenia are all relatively low light beginner corals. Some of them do grow pretty quick though and could become in invasive in the tank.

[brandon429]

http://reef2reef.com/threads/the-coral-reef-project-at-stratton-elementary-school.232341/page-3#post-2713612

 

 

 

 

 

I think its fair to say they do corals in the classroom

 

We want your documentation about corals in the classroom here at nano-reef.com

 

it is quite possible to round up some science funding help, we can see, when the ventures are documented and shown beneficial to kiddos. Companies that make feed, or pumps, are often happy to help a classroom begin, and there's no foul in finding those options on the web, we hope you'll start your thread and documentation here at nr.com so we can watch it grow.

 

Its not that reefing is without harm, its that among bacterial and infection risks out in public it ranks pretty low

 

the most important thing you can do with them as a habit is assess they are old enough to understand that if they handle, its now a mini medical procedure where we don't rub our eyes etc and we wash hands after getting done. Errors like splashes, some water in the mouth inevitably, aren't a concern for us here by and large, and in a tank without palythoa I wouldn't care if my kid got an eye blast at school... dirt on the playground can have worse, but do try to avoid lol.

 

avoiding the palythoids is wise for sure. most else like mentioned above is fine, get a reef and pack with mushroom corals, LPS, candy canes, neat fish, and your class will be safe and learn advanced eco science.

[Hypancistrus]

So in looking at LiveAquaria... the ones which are called "Zoanthids" would most likely be safe?

 

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=597+599&s=ts&count=24&start=1&page_num=1

 

The mushrooms are very pretty and I like the way the xenia stand more upright.

 

Like I said, they don't typically handle anything in the tank-- we use it to observe and supplement what we do in aquatics.

[fishfreak0114]

Yes, anything that is a zoanthus sp. should be safe. Another good easy coral, keeping in mind that grows pretty quick and late, is Kenya tree.

 

That's really cool, having a saltwater tank in a classroom

[brandon429]

none of those are palythoa so they are all ok for your purpose

If zoanthid colors and pops are wanted, those are the safer kind. I haven't researched to see how many of those strains are known toxin producers

[VW_TDI_02]

Xenia are good since they constantly pulse and would be pretty attractive. Only thing is that they ca take over a tank if you let them grow too much. Zoanthids should be fine but I would not order from LiveAquaria simply because of those prices. Pretty much any local fish store that has a saltwater section will have some zoas. There are some that are definitely more collector oriented and expensive but others that are dirt cheap. Mushrooms are another option. Ricordea florida mushrooms look great and don't need much light at all. If you happen to be in the Raleigh/Chapel HIll/Carrboro, NC area, I have a few that you can have.

[fishfreak0114]

One thing you definitely want to avoid introducing is sea foam palythoas, which are invasive and toxic. I had a bunch growing in my tank and I had to scrap the rock because I had pissed them off and they were poisoning my aquarium.

[smiz]

I also think soft corals are your best bet. But LPS and even SPS can be easily maintained with consistent water changes. Your lighting may not fully support these but that can be upgraded.

 

As for a build thread I think this is a really good idea! We have a local school that has a larger 100g system and the teacher had a thread going along with a "wish list". The wish list was quickly taken care of by various people. Not to mention The massive amount of frags that were donated to populate the tank.

[ReeferReefer]

Yeah just get some easy soft corals. Mushrooms, zoas, toadstools, leathers and Xenia tend to do well and don't require additional dosing.

[Elizabeth94]

^ your signature takes up my whole computer screen.. Lol!