Hello everyone,
I teach High School biology at Ferndale High School and three years ago wrote and received a grant for about $650 to start up a saltwater tank. I was pretty new back then and thought that was alot of money. I spent that in about 11 seconds and have been paying for everything out of pocket since then. I used to have mostly fish and a shimp or two, but after losing most of them to the power outage this summer I decided to go the reef route. Recently I made a 35 gallon refugium with a mag 9.5 return, an acrylic DIY overflow feeds it pretty effectively. The main tank is 85 gallons. I removed the cc and replaced it with about 180 pounds of southdown and have about 40 pounds of fiji LR in there. I also made a pine DIY stand (tall so my students can see it at eye level as they sit in their seats). I made a canopy and installed 4 55W PC lights I wired up. Most recently I put in a DIY PVC beckett type skimmer run by a mag 12 that seems to be working well. My next project will be an auto topoff, but I am still researching that and am still a little clueless on that one. I don't want to fry anyting. Water quality is really good and the few fish I have left are fine. Recently I received a really personable yellow tang as a donation that is the new "cool" thing in the tank. I also should be getting some donated chaeto in soon to help the refuge along. So after 3 years working on the tank, my overall impression is that even though I have spent a ton on it, my students love it so much and we use in class as a teaching tool or for examples, that I keep trying to make it better despite the high costs. Some of my older students have started their own at home. I only recently found this site and a few others and people have been very helpful. I wish I would have found them earlier and not made so many costly stupid mistakes.
So I think I have most of the "hardware" installed ( i know I need more wattage in the lights department and should think about a calcium reactor someday and need to increase flow with a closed loop or powerheads) and now its time to stock it with more life than just a few fish, astreas and bristle worms. My goal is to create a reef with a much diversity as possible. Is anyone willing to donate ANYTHING to this worthwile project? I would never ask for freebies for myself, but this really is for my students so I can beg for freebies and still respect myself in the morning. I know I can't keep SPS corals, anemomes, or clams with my lighting so those wouldn't work, but anything else I would be willing to try if you think my setup can handle it. I definetely would pick up and would write you a receipt for whatever you feel an item is worth that you can deduct as a charitable donation come tax time (my school is a non-profit organization, I forget the IRS code 503B? or something like that). I will type it up on letter head and mail it to you or bring it to you on pick up. I have done this before with out any problems for other things like donated computer equipment from local businesses. I would much appreciate ANYTHING anyone would be willing to offer; frags,live rock, lights, rubble rock, chemicals, test kits, detrivores, live sand, powerheads, pumps, anything laying around not being used anytime soon ). Honestly, just about anything could be put to good use and help my school out. Thanks for reading this really long message and considering a donation.
Ryan Dunlap
rdunlap@ferndaleschools.org
dunlapry@msu.edu
I teach High School biology at Ferndale High School and three years ago wrote and received a grant for about $650 to start up a saltwater tank. I was pretty new back then and thought that was alot of money. I spent that in about 11 seconds and have been paying for everything out of pocket since then. I used to have mostly fish and a shimp or two, but after losing most of them to the power outage this summer I decided to go the reef route. Recently I made a 35 gallon refugium with a mag 9.5 return, an acrylic DIY overflow feeds it pretty effectively. The main tank is 85 gallons. I removed the cc and replaced it with about 180 pounds of southdown and have about 40 pounds of fiji LR in there. I also made a pine DIY stand (tall so my students can see it at eye level as they sit in their seats). I made a canopy and installed 4 55W PC lights I wired up. Most recently I put in a DIY PVC beckett type skimmer run by a mag 12 that seems to be working well. My next project will be an auto topoff, but I am still researching that and am still a little clueless on that one. I don't want to fry anyting. Water quality is really good and the few fish I have left are fine. Recently I received a really personable yellow tang as a donation that is the new "cool" thing in the tank. I also should be getting some donated chaeto in soon to help the refuge along. So after 3 years working on the tank, my overall impression is that even though I have spent a ton on it, my students love it so much and we use in class as a teaching tool or for examples, that I keep trying to make it better despite the high costs. Some of my older students have started their own at home. I only recently found this site and a few others and people have been very helpful. I wish I would have found them earlier and not made so many costly stupid mistakes.
So I think I have most of the "hardware" installed ( i know I need more wattage in the lights department and should think about a calcium reactor someday and need to increase flow with a closed loop or powerheads) and now its time to stock it with more life than just a few fish, astreas and bristle worms. My goal is to create a reef with a much diversity as possible. Is anyone willing to donate ANYTHING to this worthwile project? I would never ask for freebies for myself, but this really is for my students so I can beg for freebies and still respect myself in the morning. I know I can't keep SPS corals, anemomes, or clams with my lighting so those wouldn't work, but anything else I would be willing to try if you think my setup can handle it. I definetely would pick up and would write you a receipt for whatever you feel an item is worth that you can deduct as a charitable donation come tax time (my school is a non-profit organization, I forget the IRS code 503B? or something like that). I will type it up on letter head and mail it to you or bring it to you on pick up. I have done this before with out any problems for other things like donated computer equipment from local businesses. I would much appreciate ANYTHING anyone would be willing to offer; frags,live rock, lights, rubble rock, chemicals, test kits, detrivores, live sand, powerheads, pumps, anything laying around not being used anytime soon ). Honestly, just about anything could be put to good use and help my school out. Thanks for reading this really long message and considering a donation.
Ryan Dunlap
rdunlap@ferndaleschools.org
dunlapry@msu.edu
He has a great selection of SPS, LPS, clams and softies on his site. Shipping was great I got my shipment before 10 o'clock after he shipped out about 9 the night before and everything arrived looking great.
