Maureen's Classroom DSA 105

[MolaMola]

Little update on frag tank refresh. Before school ended students started placing some of the super cool old rock in our lowboy tank. We are running it just as a box of water now and had covered the internal overflow with plastic scraps which probably would have been fine until some over-eager boys added extra clamps which made it leak somewhere, so now we have a little overflow box with water to attend to later. Holding off for now on removing it entirely.
The aquascape is in progress and more rock is still in the soaking bucket if needed. The plan is to mount frags on the rock and get rid of the plastic racks. I was going to do it myself, then learned my aquatic studies class was cancelled bc I need to teach another section of science and there was low aqua class size due to scheduling conflicts. Before it really sank in, VP said I could teach it if it goes for the whole year instead of one semester. OK! I can make up more activities. I hope it is kids who selected it and not a class composed of kids who had nowhere to go that period.

So the main point here is for the first time I started looking into the whole gyre thing. I had planned to ask people here how to get air bubble visuals bc it felt like my pump was super weak. I had no understanding of the effect a gyre pump produces. I found some very informative BRS videos talking about the flow, effect on food particles and photosynthesis, demonstrating it with fluorescent dye and air bubbles, and comparing it to powerhead combos. I am now pumped! We might try our own bubble observation in the future in class, but for now have one gyre (still seems very weak), one tiny powerhd that may or may not stay on during power outage, and placed a Tunze on the far side edge, 4' away from the gyre. I am going to try moving the Tunze toward the back to get it more out of view and bc I seem to have a detritus dead spot back there. Like I said, rockwork still in progress and affects flow but I will deal with that in the future. Just finished getting classroom and prep room ready for summer cleaning and have a long task list with our big tank.

 

[Coral reefer]

Let me know how I can help with the task list

 

[MolaMola]

After the angst of custodian floor cleaning schedule snafus, my camping trips, and new hopefully temporary vertigo my classroom is now freely accessible to me. Things seem fine except for loss of very cool herpolitha I wish I had fragged, that I think has nothing to do with the cleaning.
Small tanks except QT still in autofeed setup with ATO off the floor. I almost left on first trip without raising height of one of the topoff lines and lowering reservoir level! Flood for sure. Did not even cross my mind bc normally my routine is to disconnect and cover everything in AM, then open and air out PM for 1-2 days, but this year was different.

Will finish cleaning glass and overdue water changes next week. Although custodians still don’t seem to understand I’m worried about chemicals in the air going into water and not dust flying in, they do care. They must have drawn an extra diagram because in addition to putting student tables back in the same configuration, they even rolled back in the RO, saltwater, and third Brute cans into the exact spots they were in. I have been so fortunate with all custodians!

 

[MolaMola]

Pics below are when I set up tank and Apex Classic over 10 yrs ago. Energy bar is mounted to wall behind tank above sump under wooden shelflike piece with a side, which I had covered with very thick plastic. Some equipment plugged in there and it was easy to add dosing pumps and fuge light later. I think it was well protected this whole time.

Cords went into the two cable covers up the wall and into upper cabinet thru holes I drilled, where Apex is located. Looked good enough and functioned great. There’s also a probe sticking down from cabinet out of the frame that’s a room temp probe so I could track changes before room temp change affected tank. Ethernet port is at the outlet closest to tank.

**warning for @Kensington Reefer to look away here**
HOWEVER, over the years as equipment failed, new cables ended up out in the open, pump controllers went onto underside of cabinet, and I set up “temporary” power strips on counter. Also temporary power supplies and random stuff in controller cabinet bc something went wrong with Kessil daisy chain. There is where it’s at (eek):

My next task is to redo this mess.
I do not know what is wrong with the Apex Classic, but I was fortunate to acquire an Apex Pro (still ethernet-ready, which I need) and it’s time to set up anew!
Any simple suggestions for a modified setup before I dive in and do what I did the first time, which did work well? Key point is this is NOT my living room but a classroom. Safety and ease of use (by me) are my objectives.
Black square above ATO reservoir is covered metal access door I am forbidden to block. I could use the lower cabinet to left of reservoir but drilling into it would be more visible and more in the way.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

My compliments to your persistence!
Best fishes

 

[MolaMola]

I think those reef abalone posted in that other thread are pretty good for this kind of tank since they hoover up pretty much most of the algae in there. Otherwise maybe creating a gyre type of flow and then just vacuuming the spots where it collects really is the easiest way to go. Remember that pretty much all would have gone into a sand bed before so you're doing fine!

HA! Four years ago, same questions now, and your original suggestion is being implemented. Gyre seems cool but possibly too weak as I have it now, and was wondering what to do about detritus that collects in a couple areas beyond rocks. Spot vacuum, duh! And why do I keep forgetting the crew here who always tout the benefits of water changes? Has proven to be such a simple and effective help to me so many times - when I actually get into the habit. I'm so lucky to have this club!
Oh yeah, and maybe if algae is common on my lowboy shelf rocks and bare bottom this year I will try out that hoovering abalone. Inverts are my favorite reef creatures.

 

[MolaMola]

Oh geez. Went to my big tank all positive to redo my Apex. Labeled cords attached to old Apex base unit for easy transfer, installed new base unit in cabinet and was all happy and motivated to remove old cable cover umbilicus and deal with cords inside. Then random people on campus kept interrupting, I got sidetracked by the damp saltiness of my sump area that I do not see in anyone else's photos, saw that the new EB832 is larger and different shape than old EB8, debated on taking shortcut using a replacement EB8 instead, decided I should just move the new EB832 into my cabinet since the directions specifically said do not even consider placing it on wall over your sump (how did they know??), and left still happy and motivated. Back at home I looked up all my equipment cord lengths and thought it possible everything could reach the nearby cabinet with base unit and I could just drill another hole. Started planning that out, looked at photos of my equipment scattered about now plus the heater controllers I want to add and imagining how to organize it in cabinet, made the mistake of looking at other people's incredible setups and cable management, and the joy was gone. Poof. I think I am going to take my chances with just mounting new energy bar behind the tank again, reduce the salty dampness in there, see about mounting heater controllers inside stand, and move on with it so I can get back to the tank inhabitants.
At least before I left and I did my usual visual sweep that all was well and the RO faucet was turned off, I noticed how happy it is to see the tanks in there and know I am lucky to have that great space.

 

[Alexander1312]

Oh geez. Went to my big tank all positive to redo my Apex. Labeled cords attached to old Apex base unit for easy transfer, installed new base unit in cabinet and was all happy and motivated to remove old cable cover umbilicus and deal with cords inside. Then random people on campus kept interrupting, I got sidetracked by the damp saltiness of my sump area that I do not see in anyone else's photos, saw that the new EB832 is larger and different shape than old EB8, debated on taking shortcut using a replacement EB8 instead, decided I should just move the new EB832 into my cabinet since the directions specifically said do not even consider placing it on wall over your sump (how did they know??), and left still happy and motivated. Back at home I looked up all my equipment cord lengths and thought it possible everything could reach the nearby cabinet with base unit and I could just drill another hole. Started planning that out, looked at photos of my equipment scattered about now plus the heater controllers I want to add and imagining how to organize it in cabinet, made the mistake of looking at other people's incredible setups and cable management, and the joy was gone. Poof. I think I am going to take my chances with just mounting new energy bar behind the tank again, reduce the salty dampness in there, see about mounting heater controllers inside stand, and move on with it so I can get back to the tank inhabitants.
At least before I left and I did my usual visual sweep that all was well and the RO faucet was turned off, I noticed how happy it is to see the tanks in there and know I am lucky to have that great space.

Cable management seems to be it's own science. My oldest and I redid the cables/controllers etc a few months ago, which took hours, and the end product looked as messy as it did before, just in a different way. Next steps is a controller board.

 

[MolaMola]

I changed my mind yet again and may try to mount the new energy bar inside the cabinet like a normal person and just stuff every single cord in there. I could remove a shelf for more space. Had to take a break to clean tanks and do water changes.