a question for everyone to answer

[pixburg-reefer]

When you got started into this hobby like myself, would you have gone to a workshop or a speaker about setting up your first aquarium? Do you think it would have helped? What have you learned now that you wish you would have known when you started or before you started?

I have to do a senior project to graduate from high school. I have been in this hobby almost five years and as my project I am going to have a "training program" of a sort at our local library for kids grades 7-12 that want to learn how to set up there first aquarium. I know I could have really used something like this when I first started but I would like to know what the rest of you think.

Thanks!!!

Kelly

[dkh0331]

Yes.

David

[bllfish]

Great idea. I think people would pay for such a class.

[whiteshark]

Props to you on that great senior project idea!

Hopefully the younger kids will actually listen. Even if you get one kid seriously involved in the hobby, and give them the understanding they need to succeed, you will have accomplished something great!

Give them the basics. Nitrogen cycle, trace elements. Some facts about the fish and corals. And make sure they (the kids and the parents) understand the costs involved in maintaining a SW aquarium.

Give them a quick overview of what the equipment does, the different filtration options and what they will need depending on what kind of tank they start. Let them know the difference between a FOWLR and a reef.

Above all, recommend this site to them!

GL!!!!!!

[scrmbld33]

yes

[pixburg-reefer]

thanks for all of the reccomendations so far I was going to make this class free for people who want to attend. I was planning on includeing any helpful websites (such as this ofcorse! This site has helped me so much) and i am a member of PMAS so I was also going to include a little speech about how joining the local fishclub is helpful because you can save 10% at lfs. I think the nice part about aiming it tward teens (grades 7-12 should be around ages 12-18) is that after I advertise in all of the local pet stores and such, only people should show up that really want to learn the information. And, I think the more people that learn about the hobby the better. I am going to set up a powerpoint presentation and at the end of my whole program I will have a free item to raffle off. It will most likely be my 29 bow that i have never used but it should get someone started.

keep it comin folks!

Thanks

Kelly

[Jordan55]

I guess knowing the chemistry parts of marine tanks would help. Why stuff dies, what elements are in the water, what things need to live.... IMO, the boring stuff

It would help to know to not try and be cheap at the start of your tank, because you will end up paying for it later.

Good luck!

[larryl]

I think it's a great idea. I took a similar class at the local community college and that's what got me back into the reef hobby, totally gave me the confidence to try it myself. In junior high I tried to get a salt tank going and failed miserably (this was when dolomite and undergravel filters were state of the art). Later on I was interested i getting back in but couldn't get my head around all the current technology (pre-Reef Central). I found and ended up taking this class that met once a week for about 6 or 8 weeks. During the course of the class we set up (in the classroom) a 29 gallon with a 10 gallon sump, powerhead for a return pump, built a DIY skimmer, added live rock, cycled it, and added some critters. Some people followed step-by-step at home and if they ran into trouble were able to ask questions when they got back to the next class.

[whiteshark]

^ I wish they had classes like that around here...

[pixburg-reefer]

that would be cool if we could do the step by step! That is such a great idea. I don't think the library would go for another aquarium, they do already have a few.

I was thinking of making this only a 2 hour program or so, just a one time thing but I also wish that there was a class like that when I started.

Do you remember how many people attended your class? I was hoping maybe I could shoot for 20 but maybe that is a long shot.

Thanks!
Kelly

[Mish]

I think it's a great idea, but keep it simple. When I first started, (only a year ago), I was so overwhelmed by all tech geeks that I almost gave up before starting. They really scared me off. Stick with the basics, and I think it will be very sucessful.

[thor32766]

yeah classes would have been nice to go to!

[xtrstangx]

When you got started into this hobby like myself, would you have gone to a workshop or a speaker about setting up your first aquarium?
If it was very local to me and/or free, probably yes.

Do you think it would have helped?
Definately, depending on what knowledge I had at the time and the topics covered

What have you learned now that you wish you would have known when you started or before you started?
Don't skimp on the skimmer or the lights.. in the end, you will be upgrading them in 6 months so don't waste your money now

[pixburg-reefer]

thanks whiteshark, jordan, larryl, mish, and xtrstangx
for all of your suggestions!

please many more people would be helpful too. Out of the more than 100 people that have viewed this post, only 8 people have said something. Any bit of advice would help!!

Thanks!
Kelly

[know-it-all]

my LFS holds these each week on different topics
first aquarium
beginner saltwater
advanced saltwater
owning/training dogs
small animals

I taught the beginner one when I was working there.
but I found myself getting to involved with the more technical aspects,
and getting way over the heads of the people attending

It also didn't help that I couldn't promote anything the owner did not sell

to answer the question, I would suggest a meeting at the local reef club over a seminar any day

[spoiledcats]

Perhaps if you are raffling off your 29 gallon you can go through the cost for a full 29 gal. reef system (lighting, skimmers, filter, etc.)
And definitely a little lesson on the needs and behavior of available fish in this hobby (maybe the more popular ones that people are likely to buy on impulse).
A short chemistry lesson would be in order. One of the things I wish I had more knowledge of to start with.
Maybe the daily routine you have to maintain a tank.
Oh, there are so many things you could talk about, it's going to take alot of work to condense it into one class.
But good luck, and I'm sure you will get an A+!

[818]

Yes.

Definatley. My mom is a librarian and I get to read some pretty kick 4ss books she gets in on how to set up a tank...Ive been reading them as a child.

[pnsnowboard]

that would have definantly helped me out

[TJimino]

Let me ask you a ? What is it the drew you into SW tanks? Use that then teach them what you have learned. But MOST of all enjoy your self. and have fun with it. I wish you the Best of fun with it . And yes I still to this day wish I had someone show me what to do to start. I had killed everything in my tank when I put 150 lbs of uncured rock right in my tank

[TJimino]

On that 150 lbs of rock The store I had gone to told me to boil it for 1 hr I learn the hard way I did killed the rock and every thing on it and it still smelled so I put it in the trash. Now do you think I could have used some one to teach me YES

[Duchess]

Yes, a how-to-set-up class/seminar would have been very helpful. I had to depend on the advice of the lfs. I was lucky in that the person who helped me gave me the (mostly) correct equipment.

Concentrate on the nitrogen cycle and the basic equipment to help the newbies be successful.

Don't forget to advertise your class at your high school and at the local middle/junior high school! Not everyone who's thinking about a marine tank is visiting the lfs regularly.

I would suggest providing the middle school with enough take-home fliers so that homeroom teachers (or science teachers if the school district allows middle school children to take science all year long rather than just a semester) can distribute them to the students. Give stacks of fliers to the science teachers at the high school, too.

The high and middle schools also might have newsletters in which you could advertise your class. You also could advertise in local community newsletters.

Best of luck and have a great senior year!

[reefNetWork]

definately. great idea.

[NCreefwannabe]

I wouldnt. Its a cool idea, but I have most of my family to bug for answers. Some have been in the hobby for 10 years or so. also reefcentral is but a click away. I think if search worked better for nonpayers lol, you can find anything you need.

[lux_06]

i learnt all i have the hard way... and the expensive way with only the help of a great employee of the LFS... untill RC.

there is sooooo much info on here i wish i had access to when i first started. it is a complicated hobby thats for sure and i think so many people out there are still loosing big $$$ taking bad advise from the wrong people....

after starting my first SW fish tank i saw where we went wrong in aquaculture at school and i went back to help my old teacher cos we lost many things. there is certainly lots to be taught in this hobby...

i'll attend if you pay my airfair!!!! ill give you top marks to so you pass with flying colours too !!!!

[pixburg-reefer]

lol well I was actually thinking/wondering if it would be possible (once I put the slide show together) if possibly I could put it on some website and then place it in the new hobbyists forum, that way everyone could see it if they want to. maybe I should contact a mod about that.

I know that when I started, I relied on so many people, and each had different conflicting information to tell me. I ended up spending way too much on a system that wasn't ample for what I needed.

I also think that this site is by far one of the best places to find your own information to your specific question, it's even better when the search engine actually works... but anyway...

Thankyou to the many people that have pointed out how important it is to keep it simple. I do just want to present the basics and information that is the most important that i think kids/people really need to understand before they start, such as water chemistry (the cycle and all that good stuff...)

spoiledcats- thank you for that suggestion! I think that is a great idea, and maybe that will also help people to understand why i picked out certain equipment, especially for a smaller tank with less water volume.

TJimino- I got in this hobby because of the clown trigger, it was my favorite fish. like spoiledcats suggested, i think it would be an important topic to cover impulse buys on fish and what ones are not suitable. I wanted a reef tank but it's a good thing i found out before hand that they were not reef safe fish

Duchess- thank you for suggesting that I advertise in the school newspaper and such! I hadn't thought of that yet.

Thank you so much to everyone so far! This is really a big help. Also, once i pull my slideshow together, I am going to try to get 2 people that I know to review my information to make sure they think it is accurate and adequate. To have some very experienced people review it will be a big help to make sure I don't leave anything out.

If I were able to put this on the newbie forum do you think it would be a big help if others could see it also, online?

Thanks again! Keep it coming!

Kelly