updates from my school's coral reef project

[JenniB]

Wow! Great job!!

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by Nina51

i am SO SO glad to see you updating, brandon! you are giving these kids something they will remember forever. kudos to you for your hard work and to the kids for their interest in the project!

one of these days, i'm gonna take a road trip to see your tanks.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I feel a little bad about not posting more, Reef Central has been very important to the success of the project. The second half of last year was all about moving, setting up tanks and training kids. I'm just now catching my breath and have time to do other things. Fortunately Stratton is run by an amazing administrator who values the project. She helped me get permission from the district to formally run the project, ensuring that it can continue for years to come. (it might have been shut down do to other problems at Garden Hills) As time passes and kids are more secure on vital skills, I'm sure they will start reaching out more to the reefing community. I will also try to help as well.

I extend an open invitation to anyone in the central illinois area to come by and visit Stratton in person. Numerous people have already done and my kids enjoy meeting new people and talking with them about the project. We also regularly skype with fellow reefers. My skype username is brandonisverycool.

[brandoniscool]

Over winter break I set up this little brine shrimp hatching setup in the neighboring classroom with the 90 gallon reef tank. I'm starting to train Aislin and her friend Samaria on how to culture them and then hope to get more kids participating. We feed the nauplii to our corals.

[mandarin_goby]

I love this so so much. Wish they had something like this when I was in school. I bet your students could teach me a thing or 2 about reefing

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by liverock

Yup

porcelain crab that sure did grow up, and the yellow tree sponge and gorgonians are looking real good Brandon, you are doing a great job keep all that alive as was it not in April that I sent you the rock and critters?
Nice group of kids...one thing in common from last years class....the huge smiles you have provided them with!

Keep it up!

Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com

Hey Richard,

Your gorgonians have been doing really well and are growing new strands. Here's some pictures of them.

[brandoniscool]

Also Richard, here is one of the rock crabs that grew to be about 10 inches in length. I swear I checked all of the rock before adding it and didn't see any crabs in it larger than a quarter when I first set up the tank. It grew really fast. The only place for him now is in part of my sump, don't think he's happy but it's the only place where it won't eat anything I don't want him to eat.

[brandoniscool]

I have a blue tang that's by far the biggest fish in the project. I've had other tangs in the past that have been gregarious but this one always hides. He has great weight, color and skin. He eats well but won't come out of the rocks when anyone is around. Is this normal? He's in my largest tank a 180 that has the least amount of kids sticking their hands in it.

[brandoniscool]

This is my water testing area with microscopes


QT tank with foam filters. Currently has two yellow tangs that I want to become a little less stressed and fat before I release them to the general population.


This tank houses all of my foam filters. I kept half a dozen circulating water at all times so I can set up quick tanks if needed. I cycle the filters with ammonia.



Our rotifer culture. It actually crashed over christmas break.



120 gallon sump behind my 180. Contains a bunch of live rock i keep handy to setup new tanks, some cheeto and hardy frags.

[adamv]

Very cool, this is something I wish I had when I was in school.

[dailydriven911]

Wow how cool is this! Wish I had someone like you as my Elementary School Teacher! Keep up the good work and a big thanks to your sponsors...

[Fury165]

Brandon excellent project, and I would venture to say you are nurturing some of tomorrow's marine scientists and advanced hobbyists it is also nice to see vendors give back to the hobby by supporting your project with their donations and time.

Please continue to update the thread, I Love to read about things like this.

[Betta132]

Very impressive project! Glad to see someone teaching kids how to take care of live things. Also, responsibility is good... I see too many adults, let alone kids, who don't take proper care of their critters. The main problem there seems to be that people don't register that they're dealing with things that are every bit as alive as a dog or a cat.
As for the sump crab... perhaps you could give him some dry base rock to hide under? Crabs are simple creatures. They're happy if they have food and places to hide. Or you could plumb a rubbermaid tub or something into the system and set up a crab tank? Might be interesting to observe him.

[Fuel1976]

Amazing simply amazing. Thank you for educating kids about our passion. Have 3 kids myself who love helping. Thanks to you I've learned I need to engage them more. Your sponsors and your personal commitment deserve a huge round of applause. Thank You

[usingthejohn]

What you're doing cannot be understated.

Beyond keeping these students engaged in biology, you've instilled a sense of pride, responsibility, accomplishment, and teamwork at a very young age.

In the grand scheme of things, reef keeping is low on the life lessons you've imparted on them.

You are these kids hero. I hope you don't diminish your effect on their lives. They'll cite this for the rest of their lives.

[Rybren]

Brandon, great work! It is so refreshing to see someone approach teaching with such enthusiasm. The knowledge and skills that you are providing to your students goes way beyond fish keeping and will stay with them for their entire lives.

Congratulations. Please continue to share with us.

[nctinter]

I love this!

[entropygain]

Fantastic way to learn science!
Now start up some frag systems and start selling them to teach entrepreneurship/economics/etc.....

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by Betta132

Very impressive project! Glad to see someone teaching kids how to take care of live things. Also, responsibility is good... I see too many adults, let alone kids, who don't take proper care of their critters. The main problem there seems to be that people don't register that they're dealing with things that are every bit as alive as a dog or a cat.
As for the sump crab... perhaps you could give him some dry base rock to hide under? Crabs are simple creatures. They're happy if they have food and places to hide. Or you could plumb a rubbermaid tub or something into the system and set up a crab tank? Might be interesting to observe him.

I totally agree with you that respect for life and nature is not relative. People get so hung up on the warm and fuzzy animals that they ignore many other important parts of eco systems. My wife is a botonist and will talk you ear off about the importance of the most insignificant looking plant.

My kids are actually very protective and respectful of the reef life. They are quick to jump the tanks defense when they see anyone being silly or tapping on the glass. It's actually the staff members needed to be educated about the complexity and fragility of our reef systems. A teacher last month unplugged most of the tank downstairs for over 4 hours to use one of the dedicated outlets and then didn't understand when I got upset, saying that it was 'just a some fish and rocks'.

You make a good point about the rock crab. My concern was that rocks or grave would be sucked into the unscreened skimmer or pump inlets (which happened in October to the tune of $200) but I put some large PVC unions in there for the crab and he's using them to hide.

[brandoniscool]

I have some quick video of kids working on the project today. Wanna imbed it but don't know how. Can anyone help me out? Here's the web link:

[brandoniscool]

Guess I figured it out. I feel like I never use video because I want it to perfect and don't have the time to shoot and edit quality work. I will try to post more quick and 'dirty' video, pardon the poor quality.

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by entropygain

Fantastic way to learn science!
Now start up some frag systems and start selling them to teach entrepreneurship/economics/etc.....

My kids are actually very aware of our project's budget and how necessary fundraising is. There's a lot of thing's on their 'wish list' but major focus is just keep the project going.

Selling frags is definitely a option later on, we just broke up several large colonies of green star polyps. We have too much empty tank space at the moment though.

[ReefKeep66]

Such an awesome program! Many children would get great benefits from hands on learning like this. keep it up!

[Drae]

Outstanding!

[cody6766]

That's awesome, man. You're doing some seriously heavy work in these kids' lives, probably more than you realize for a few of them. You're working with the right age group, too. When I was in grade school, I was lucky enough to test into a gifted program offered by the district. It allowed me (and the other kids from my school) to be bussed to the gifted school with other kids from other schools for classes once a week. We were able to chose our own course work each semester (4 classes each semester) and pursue our own interests. I took a vertebrate zoology class in 4th grade that was more in depth than any class I took until college. I might have learned a few new facts here and there, but I wasn't challenged until after high school in that area. I also took creative writing classes, classes on Shakespeare, Greek mythology, classical music, physics through legos, aerodynamics through kites, a geology class and some other stuff like that. I think it was the thing that kept me engaged and out of trouble in grade school, and taught me how to study and be ambitious in my projects, which helped in later years of school.

Your program is different, but it provides the same extra push that the gifted school gave me. I still remember many of those teachers' names (I'm 30 now), and the lessons (not just academic) they taught me. I don't doubt that you're going to be the main reason a few of your students go to college an succeed.

[mbemount]

Pretty awesome! I work just down the road and drive by Stratton all the time. Keep up the good work!