Anyone with experience setting up a river tank?

[bossteck]

Hi folks,

Am looking at converting one of my tank to a river tank, hence seeking advice here.

Anyone with experience setting up a river tank? Care to share the plans of your setup? (and pics if possible)

What are your choice of equipment, fliteration, gravel, plants, the whole works.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

[ranmasatome]

what kind of river?? fast flowing? slow? benthic? got a lot of kinds you know.
i had a friend set up a fast flowing river once and i know his plans.. he breeds raises hill stream loaches in them.

[bossteck]

Oops... not specific enough.
I am looking at fast flowing river.

[BFG]

Bossteck, can you list down what item you have for this setup?

a) Size of tank.
b) Method of filtration.
c) Amount of budget to spend.
d) Substrate requirement.
e) Livestock.
f) Equipment.

The more we know the better.

[ranmasatome]

yeah that would help tremendously..
Interested in DIYing?? i got plans for a fast river..

[bossteck]

Bossteck, can you list down what item you have for this setup?

a) Size of tank.
b) Method of filtration.
c) Amount of budget to spend.
d) Substrate requirement.
e) Livestock.
f) Equipment.

The more we know the better.

Hello BFG,

At the moment, the only thing which I am not flexible about is the tank.
Size of tank - 5(l) x 1.6(w) x 1.8 (h)
Method of filtration - canister
Budget - no idea, as low as possible (say less than 200?)
Substrate - open to suggestion
Livestock - open to suggestion
Equipment - none

Hello ranmasatome,

Yes please, kindly share your DIY plans if you don't mind.

Cheers!

[Phillipians]

looking at your stuff, i actually think that 200 bucks is a little too little since you do not have the equipment to begin with in the first place

DO you have canister filters? for a 5 ft tank, you ll prob need 2 canisters and cheapest ones cost like 50 + bucks.

That leaves 100 only for the rest. Substrate, even if you use lapis, you ll prob need to spend at least 50 - 70 bucks for the substrate....

hmmm 30 for plants, rocks fish.... light? ehhh... quite tough lei

[Fei Miao]

Perhaps this helps...Here's an excellent river-tank set up by "BornNeo" sometime back:
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ght=river+tank

from Martin Thoene
http://www.loaches.com/river_tank.html

[ranmasatome]

Dont need my help liao.. those plans are similar.

[bossteck]

Hi Phillipians,

Think I might have given the impression that the current tank is a empty one. Actually it is not, there're a couple of pieces of drift wood, about 11 kg worth of rocks, 20 litres worth of brown substrate (don't know the name though). It has a made in china 800l/h canister filter. Really sorry folks, I should have been more specific. It has a home made hood with 4 ft FL tube, don't know the specs though.

The $200 is more for getting the pvc pipes, extra powerheads, plants and if need be, extra lights.

Hi folks, any idea what plants would be suitable? I most certainly do not have a waterfall nearby to collect them from

One more thing, would it be strange to use driftwood and rocks at the same time?

Thanks for all who had replied thus far.

Cheers!

[ranmasatome]

well.. go with the lower maintenance plants that does not need to be planted into gravel..

You can have many species of anubias and probably java ferns in areas where the flow isn't too strong.. should be no problems.. once these plants anchor.. they can take current that is quite strong. Depending on your scape.. you can even have moss if you want.. maybe on some wood parts that stick out of the water etc.
you get the idea.

And no.. in a river, many times you find wood and rocks together.

[bossteck]

ok... thanks for the assurance.
This shall be my upcoming project!
Thanks guys!