high school classroom tank

JonT · #1 11-09-2010, 07:16 PM

I would stick with a 4 footer. Plenty of room for fish, and simple corals. And yet still functional for lessons.

Nitrogen cycle (few test kits)
Ph - Calc - Mag relations (hated math with the elements of + that, means - that etc)
Coral reproduction (Biology tie in)
Refraction of light (a nice Brackish water with spitting fish!)

Madreefer · #2 11-09-2010, 07:48 PM

a 20g nano. Any bigger would be just too much work and good chance for a tank crash when it comes to taking it down and moving it at the end of the school year.

DiverDude · #3 11-09-2010, 07:56 PM

Gee that's a tough one. I'll presume you have the ongoing budget to cover any of the options you laid out so, if Ignore cost..

-The best educational experience would be the one that best duplicates the ocean so I'd say reef. If we say reef then I would say 4' simply because it's more manageable.

-From a practical perspective, a reef tank is hard enough to care for when you're around regularly but when you're not near the tank for days on end (long weekends, summer holidays) so I'd wonder if ANY tank is really practical but I suppose a FOWLR would be a compromise of sorts. Still risky IMO.

naesco · #4 11-09-2010, 08:12 PM

A six footer comes to mind.
I don't know why!

sitandwatch · #5 11-09-2010, 08:22 PM

Tank for high school I say predator tank, things that kill and eat other things would be fun... just like school.

ponokareefer · #6 11-09-2010, 08:31 PM

I hate to say it, but I would think a classroom tank would be a major distraction for the students. I know I wouldn't be paying a whole lot of attention in class if there was a fish tank in the room, fresh or salt water.

dsaundry · #7 11-09-2010, 08:39 PM

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 I hate to say it, but I would think a classroom tank would be a major distraction for the students. I know I wouldn't be paying a whole lot of attention in class if there was a fish tank in the room, fresh or salt water.

+1

globaldesigns · #8 11-09-2010, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ponokareefer

I hate to say it, but I would think a classroom tank would be a major distraction for the students. I know I wouldn't be paying a whole lot of attention in class if there was a fish tank in the room, fresh or salt water.

+1, I probably would daydream even more if it was me.... Also, I hate saying this, but can you trust kids nowadays? I would hate something stupid being done to the tank to vandalize it.

bauder1986 · #9 11-10-2010, 01:20 PM

I wqould go with a 6 foot FOWLR for one reason. Teenagers can be destructive people... So with a six foot tank, you have the water volume to handle most minor vandalism (dumping stuff in tank) and FOWLR because that way if a teenager gets angery over something and decides to dump 30% HCl into tank your not killing off an entire reef but just fish, still a loss if just fish die but at least its only half of a loss.

gsar · #10 11-10-2010, 10:28 PM

yea, 4ft reef would do. Maybe a 55. Can't imagine much more room in classroom.

Get a bunch easy corals and damsels just in case one of the students drops a hit of ecstasy in there

Smaller financial hit.

I think that's big enough to add some interesting creatures. You wouldn't have to go too crazy with cost.

just be careful of the janitors when they clean the glass. They have spray bottles that might get cleaner in there.

View Poll Results: Which option would be most suitable for a high school science classroom?
4ft reef	25	23.58%
4ft fowlr	14	13.21%
4ft community	12	11.32%
6ft reef	20	18.87%
6ft fowlr	7	6.60%
6ft community	2	1.89%
4ft community and smaller special interest tank (nano)	8	7.55%
6ft community and smaller special interest tank (nano)	2	1.89%
one saltwater, one freshwater (please specify below)	8	7.55%
other (please specify below)	8	7.55%
Voters: 106. You may not vote on this poll