teacher seeks help in set up

Hi there,
I'm a high school teacher who is looking for a little help regarding a couple of topics - i'll seperate them out for ease of answering (I hope you can help!).

1) I'm trying to set up my sort of new reef tank (65 g) to represent the general ecology of a reef environment. Here is the list of whats in it so far: clown, 6 line wrasse, orange-spot goby, coral beauty, niger trigger (yikes - he's calm so far, but i'm not beyond sending him away - he's pretty big) - elegance coral, bubble tip anenome, star polyp, mushrooms, 2 snails that look like, well, throwing stars, a starfish (gray color), and a snail that seems to snorkel under the sand. The sand is live, and its got a large t-5 array on top (no metal halides). Protein skimmer online as well as decent filtration - UV possible (not sure if I want to use it here or on the production tilapia tanks). If you need more, I can provide.

The question here is what else should I add to create something that best mimics a true, ocean environment for teaching pruposes? I want it represent as true as possible a look into the ocean environment.

2) I have a sump and refugium from aquatic ecosystems - both nice fancy jobers - which I really have no idea how to set up on this tank. What do I put in the refugium (live sand, algae, etc?) and the sump? What type of pump size would I want to run the water back up to the tank with (I asssume only one would be needed if a syphon could be created)

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

 

oh yeah

the light is a nova extreme 4 x54 watter

 

ok what kind of experience do you have with reef tanks or something related?

 

if you want to make the corals and fish act more realistically, you can add some sort of wavemaker, either to the powerheads, or if you have the money, an electronic one.

what about a shrimp? a cleaner shrimp would be a really nice, and really cool addition

 

Hermit crabs too.....

 

I would presume that you teach Biology?

 

I teach at a agriscience school - so I teach natural resources, aquaculture I and II, and biology, and a new pilot on marine biology and oceanology. I have been doing the salt thing for a year or so, but the fresh water fish I've been into for many years. I have a decent knowledge of pumps, sizing, pressure loss, etc., but am just getting my feet wet on reefs.
Oh, and I do have a cleaner shrimp too.

 

You wont have the shrimp long with the Trigger in there once he gets bigger. If you have any detectable Nitrates the Elegance won't like it.

 

the trigger may need to go if it nips corals and fish or if you want a shrimp.a cleaner shrimp would be a real hit with the students.that snail that seems to snorkel under the sand?its a nassarious snail,the big ones are tonga nassarious.stars with pointy bumps are not usually reef safe,that leaves you mostly with brittles which are easy but hide alot or linkias and fromias which not much is known about.the pump in my 29 gallon sump is a quietone3000 at 780 gph for a 55 gallon display so you will need that,or bigger.you will probably need one or two 600 gph powerheads in the display but keep them away from the anemonies.they can get to close and then you have a blender lol.since you have anemonies you might want to avoid expensive corals cause they can deside to sit on a coral till it dies if they like that spot.if you get a brain,i have the best luck with lobo brains.in a classroom the tank might smell.if that happens you will need to add about a cup of carbon per 55 gallons water and change monthly.i'm just a hobbiest so spellings might not be exact but i can point you in the right direction.if my science teacher had done cool things like reef tanks in class maybe i would'nt have mad him cry in 10th grade lol.

 

My dad was a Biology teacher at the High School level for 35+ years. The school he taught at had a pretty good budget as it was in an affluent neighborhood and never failed a levy. He taught Biology I & II as well as two (what would be considered AP now) courses called Bio-Medical Problems (two classes) and Embryo Genetics (one class). So thank you for contributing to the community in what I consider the greatest profession there is. K+.