St. Jude Project

This will be an ongoing club endeavor.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has 2 salt water aquariums in a common room inside the hospital. We will be maintaining these tanks, along with a complete overhaul of both systems. Right now these tanks are fish only tanks. They look like typical 1980's era tanks. There are a couple of pieces of fake coral (or coral skeletons), plastic plants, etc. We will be changing these tanks into mixed reef tanks full of life. Live corals, shrimp, snails, crabs, fish, feather dusters, etc. I know that with hard work from volunteers these tanks will be something that St. Jude and our club will be proud of.

Another part of this project is the Frag Swap. I would like to donate all proceeds from the frag swap to St. Jude in the way of new items for these tanks.

This page will be continually updated with lots of pictures, and information about the progress so please check back.

Want to apply to volunteer at St. Jude? Click Here.

The following companies have donated equipment.   

AirWaterIce donated a 100 GPD RO/DI water purifier	Digital Aquatics donated a ReefKeeper I
Premium Aquatics donated 100 pounds of live rock.	Red Sea for donating a book.
Kermit's Reef for donating products, services, and knowledge. Without them this project would not be as successful as it is.
Discounted Protein Skimmer Donated 3 books autographed by Julian Sprung and 3 supplements. Donated three 1 watt Coralife Moonlights Donated a Wavebox Donated Marine Basic test kit, a magnesium and a calcium test kit, and 500mL bottles of their Reef Complete, Reef Carbonate, and Reef Plus

Some pictures of the kids enjoying the tanks at St. Jude. This is what it is ALL ABOUT!

Again, I would like to thank all those who have helped us make this a reality. Air Water Ice, Digital Aquatics, Premium Aquatics, Kermit's Reef, and of course all the volunteers who worked so hard. We are accepting coral donations now, and will be breaking down and renovating the 2nd tank at St. Jude very soon. Check here for details, dates, etc.

New Pictures taken 7/21/06:

Updates:

3-1-07

Here is the blueprint of the new St. Jude tank.

Updates:

1-24-07

Ahh, Christmas in January! The Wavebox arrived last Friday and the Skimmer came yesterday. Man these are nice! The club is meeting at St Jude on Saturday to do some much needed cleaning (backroom that is) and organization. The hospital is getting ready for a big inspection so I have to get everything in order.

1-15-07

Mari Arroyo at Bermuda Aquatics has discounted a protein skimmer for the predator reef! I saw these at MACNA and liked the design. Ours is the BPS-5C. Can’t wait!

1-12-07

Roger at Tunze USA has donated a Wavebox for the reef tank! THANKS ROGER!

12-29-06

Jordi, Linda, White Stripe, and the Vermiculated are all getting along swimmingly. Bah dump bump!

12-28-06

I finally caught the buggar! Man he’s a cautious one. Almost a week of baiting and keeping one eye on the tank and the other on my kids was taking its toll. My tank is in the kitchen and our dining table is in front of it, so I have a great view of the tank while eating. In between bites he would swim in to taunt me, and just as I would get up to catch him… he would causally swim out. Aargh! Well, he’s finally on his way to St Jude.

12-22-06

The trap has worked its magic on me and I’m going to catch my Vermiculated angel and donate it to the predator reef.

12-21-06

The game is afoot! Here fishy fishy fishy.

OK. That lasted all of 10 minutes! Seems she’s a bit of a piggy now that she’s got easy access and peaceful tank mates. A coworker sympathizes with her plight of abuse and has adopted her. She will now be known as “Linda.”

12-20-06

Emperor is doing just peachy. Its since been named “Jordi” and has been a little more elusive than I would like. Oh well, she’ll warm up to the kids in no-time. And now begins the fun part. I’m going to remove the yellow tang from the reef tank (him and the purple tang aren’t getting along so well) and put him back in the   “predator reef.” She was origionaly in there with a HUGE French angel, HUGE Unicorn tang and a dogface puffer, along with probably 15 damsels. She had almost no fins left from all the bedeviling of the damsels and was bone thin because they would run her off into a rock pile when I fed them. I picked up a fish trap at Kermit’s to do the transfer. I saw a movie that Melev had at MACNA when he caught his Regal and thought I would give it a try. Here’s hoping I can get the little booger!

12-12-06

I added a Emperor Angel today. It was a special request from Jordi. She’s so happy!

12-5-06

Well, the squirrel is now named “White Stripe” and he’s doing great. He’s still hiding out in the Premium Aquatics live rock but hes coming out more and playing “hide and seek” with the kids. I’ll be getting some more rock for this tank soon and will arrange to get the nicest pieces of the Fiji on top. Oh and BTW, Premium Aquatics sent some REALLY nice pieces! Covered in coraline and big!

Shhh.....I'm hiding.

12-4-06

Went to Kermit’s this weekend and found 3 really great fish for the second tank. I took the first one (a stripped squirrelfish) in today and will let it go in a couple hours after acclimation. The kids are already excited!

12-1-06

Premium Aquatics donated another 100# of their Fiji to the second tank! Thanks so much yall! I got the rock in and will be adding the first fish on Monday.

11-30-06

This just in!

Two Little Fihes also donated 3 books and some chemicals!

Invertebrates: A Quick Reference Guide

Corals: A Quick Reference Guide

And

Algae: A Problem Solver Guide

Magnesium, Iron, and Calcium concentrate!

All lovingly donated by the good people of Two Little Fishes, and autographed by the author, Julian Sprung!

11-28-06

Steven from Facilities and Operations Management her at St Jude came in and hung the lights from the ceiling’s above the tanks. They look great and now I can get in there and work without killing myself!

11-27-06

Second tank is almost ready! I got the plumbing on and wound up having to make another sump. The old one got a crack in it and I didn’t think It would last for long. Picked up 180# Indo Pacific from Kermit’s and Premium Aquatic is donating another 100# on Live Rock for this tank as well. Thanks!

11-21-06

The Mandarin’s have a name. Sonny and Cher! Thanks Jordi.

11-20-06

Just received some goodies from the nice people at Seachem. They donated a Marine Basic testkit, a magnesium and a calcium testkit, and 500mL bottles of their Reef Complete, Reef Carbonate, and Reef Plus! Thanks yall!

11-19-06

Added a pair of mated Mandarin’s today! Dave at Kermit’s Reef had them and one of my tank buddies wanted me to get her one. Well, she’s getting two!

11-16-06

Scott Larson at Hellolights donated three 1W Coralife Aqualight Moonlights! Thanks Scott!

7-6-06

Added more fish today. They are: 2 red fin anthias, 1 powder blue tang, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 social fairy wrasse, 1 firefish, 1 purple fire fish, and 1 lubbocks fairy wrasse.  The kids were all waiting on me when I came down to release them. Cheers and giggles abounded when I let each one go. They played hide-n-seek with the purple firefish which went straight for a rock. Best was the cleaner! The copperband came up immediately for cleaning and the cleaner shrimp climbed on and took the copperband for a ride. The kids LOVED that and were squeeling and laughing! Lovely day.  By the way, I’m down daily for updates and talking with the patients and parents. Everyone is so happy with the tank. I just want to thank all of our donors and supporters again. Kermit’s Reef for all the beautiful fish and supplies, Digital Aquatics for the Reefkeeper, AirWaterIce.com for the fantastic RO/DI units, Premium Aquatics for the 100+# of rock, and all the club members who have donated corals and time with the on-going project . You should see these kids faces.

7-3-06

Added a flame angel and a neon green sarcophyton donated by Cathy Peck.

6-30-06

Added a copperband butterfly, a bartlets anthias, a regal tang, and a roya gramma.

6-27-06

First water change. Changed about 45gal. Everyone really loved it! Fish and Kids!

6-22-06

Added the more corals today. They are some zoanthus and a mushroom. Both donated by club members. Thanks to Willem Burmel for the large zoanthid colony and Ramiro Palabate for the hairy mushrooms.

6-14-06

Added the very first corals today! They are a large finger leather donated by George “Milkshake” and some zoanthids from me Barrett. The kids went nuts!

6-12-06

Lots of questions from parents and patients. Man this is snowballing into something great.

6-6-06

Added the first fish today! 2 Oscellaris Clowns, and a Pygmy Possum Wrasse. I’m listening to screams of “NEMO!” Lots of compliments from patients, parents, staff, and visitors. Thank you to everyone who has donated your goods, time, service, corals…etc!  These kids are bouncing off the walls!

6-2-06

Tank’s Nitirification cycle is stabilizing. NH4 is gone, NO2 is way down, NO3 is up but not too bad. Think I’ll add some fish soon. The kids are all over the tank! Every day I come down they watch me intently from the other side of the glass. I can’t let them back to look at the equipment or to feed the fish because of  health and safety concerns with the hospital and doctors. Man do they want to get back here!

5/29/06

Barrett and Colin worked most of the day getting the canister filters online, drilling the sump, adding more live rock, and connecting the ReefKeeper.

5-28-06

Colin and I went in today to get the plumbing finished for the filtration closed loop, set in 100# more rock from Kermit’s Reef and get the lighting on. Also installed the Reefkeeper. Digital Aquatics has donated a Reefkeeper with purchase of same. Thank you so much! We had a blast and it took longer than expected, but it was worth it.

5-20-06

Added some astria snails and mexican turbo’s. Kids are squealing to see the turbo’s shuffel across the glass.

5-19-06

Premium Aquatics Live Rock came in! 100#’s worth graciously donated by the good people at Premium Aquatics. It really looks good too! No lighting yet but the “mystery” had got the kids all excited!

5-17-06

Added about 70# or so more live base rock. Donated my club member Dustin Dowling. Thanks!

5-12-06

Added 120# of Indo-Pacific Live Sand from Carib-Sea. Waiting for the cloud to dissipate. Kids are excited!

5-5-06

And the filling has begun. Should take a couple of days. There’s a buzz among the patients about the “empty” tank. Lots of questions. Now that its filling their wanting to come look. Will fill and get SG set so sand and LR can go in.

5-3-06

Update from Saturday, April 22, 2006.

14 volunteers showed up Saturday to help with the task at hand. Thank you to all of those who came out. Everyone did a great job. We started by emptying the tanks, getting rid of all the base rock and plastic decorations. Next we caught the fish and Vicki and Sanford transported them to the Zoo. While they were gone, everyone else was busy cleaning. By the end of the day I think everyone was tired and hungry, but one tank is ready for plumbing, and both tank rooms are clean and orderly. This Saturday we will be plumbing the clean tank and adding the filtration. Barrett will then start adding RO/DI water. Once it is filled we will be adding sand and live rock. We have had several offers of frag donations, and once we get this tank running, we will be taking all of you up on those offers.

In case any of you are curious...here are some tank specs...

225 gallon tanks (72" X 24" X 30")

40 gallon sumps

1500 GPH return pumps running through 2 3/4" Sea-Swirls per tank

ASM G-4+ skimmers

57 watt VHO UV sterilizers

Ocean Clear micron filter canister

Ocean Clear carbon filter canister

Lighting - 3 X 400 watt metal halide hood with 2 X 160 watt VHO actinics

Controllers - ReefKeepers

Cooling - 1/3 HP chillers if needed (these are negative pressure rooms and may not require cooling)

Look who showed up...

This is what we started with...

Then the cleaning began...

This is the tank all cleaned and ready for action...

These are the fish that were in the tanks...now they have a new home at the ZOO.