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1. Introduction |
The Classroom During back to school night this past fall, the night when students go to meet their teachers for the first time, my son made an exciting discovery. In the back of his new 5th grade classroom sat a well-used, empty aquarium. After studying its dimensions and rubbing his fingers across the limestone caked glass, I knew exactly what he was thinking before he asked. “Maybe we could help his new teacher set up a tank like ours- a planted tank,” he whispered. “Maybe,” I replied with some reluctance. A planted aquarium was a new concept for me. Years ago as a child, I had 5 or 6 fish tanks bubbling around my bed. I had good luck raising algae, duckweed and a few fish, but never succeeded in my dreams of turning an aquarium into a jungle of plants. The thought of having an aquarium again was the most distant thing from my mind, when I stumbled across Nature Aquarium World by Takashi Amano while browsing at the library. His gorgeous aquascapes were exactly what I had envisioned when I was growing up, and suddenly I was again smitten by the aquarium bug. Fortunately at about the same time I bumped into Mr. John Glaeser, the founder of Madison Aquatic Gardeners Association, at a local aquarium shop. Within a couple of minutes he answered questions I had long sought about turning an aquarium into a vibrant aquaria ecosystem. Upon John’s invitation, my son and I attended one of the plant club’s meetings. We left that evening with bags full of aquatic plants and a basic understanding of what it takes to grow aquarium plants. Two years later we have 4 planted tanks flourishing in our basement.
During the first few weeks of school, my son’s 5th grade science class began working on a bottle biology project; a project that turns 2 liter pop bottles into miniature aquatic/terrestrial ecosystems. Their project involved the same principles as our planted aquaria, photosynthesis, importance of water quality, and the impact of nutrient management on plant health and growth. The project generated a great deal of enthusiasm for my son and to my surprise he seemed to appreciate my suggestion of inviting his class and teacher over to view our planted aquaria.
On a late fall day, my son brought his fifth grade science class on a field trip to our home. He gave a brief overview of how we set up our tanks. He showed a sample of the substrate and how we made CO2 with sugar and yeast. Needless to say, the aquariums were a hit, questions abounded and it seemed everyone left with wonder at what a simple old aquarium can be transformed in to. About a week later, my son’s teacher, Mrs. Sally Feeney, contacted me with an invitation to help turn their class aquarium into a planted tank.
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