Project True Riffle

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
107
Pittsburgh, PA
Setting up yet another native tank, this will be my 4th all native tank and if you count tanks where I have natives and tropicals mixed then it will be the 6th. This tank is going to be a 30 Gallon Long (36"x12"x16"). I'd say about 70% of the stock will be riffle inhabiting Darters and for midwater I'll have some Shiners or Dace. Was at my local creek an hour ago getting the substrate and unlike last time I carefully went through every handful of gravel to make sure I only got the looser stuff. For decor it's going to be rocks, rocks, more rocks, and maybe a piece of driftwood. Unlike my last attempt at a PA riffle tank (which has become more of a southern planted swamp biotope) I'm making sure to make this tank as similar as I can to a true riffle. To do this my filtration will be an HOB which will also help with flow and for the main flow I'm going to have a string powerhead blowing across the tank to give the darters some natural current to swim against. Of course I don't want them to get tired and have no place to rest so I'll arrange a large slab rock or two to be undercut in the opposite direction of the current for some slack water for the fish to rest in. I plan on keeping temp from 64-72F and pH at 7.6. Now on to the stock, I don't have every exact species picked out yet but this is a rough idea of what it will have.

*4 6 of some species of a native shiner or dace
*2 Greenside Darters (already have in another tank)
*2 Rainbow Darters
*2 Banded Darters
*1 Logperch
*maybe 2 Fantail Darters if there's room in the bioload

Really looking forward to setting this tank up and can't wait to see how it turns out :).
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
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Pittsburgh, PA
Tank is ordered! Coming next Thursday to my friend's LFS where I'll pick it up and sit around and BS with him for a while :). Some stuff has changed since I made this thread though so here's an update. Instead of an HOB and a powerhead I have/was given by my genius friend probably the best filtration idea for any riffle tank that I'll be making a DIY thread for in a while for others who are interested but it's a surprise for now :). I'm conflicted between using creek gravel or Home Depot pea gravel so what do you guys think would look nicer for substrate. I also got a bunch of slab rocks that I'll be sanding the edges of for darters to hide under. Got a nice sized piece of Mopani driftwood for a tank centerpiece and I'm working on getting the tannins out now by soaking it. I'll be collecting the fish most likely (assuming my collecting buddy is good for next weekend) in PA's most darter abundant body of water: French Creek. As well as some dace or shiners ,possibly. Stock list has changed to something like this since I lost my Greensides to Cyanobacteria infections.

2 Banded Darters (my favorite PA species)
2 Orangethroat Darters
2 Fantail Darters (or Bluebreasts if I go into ohio since they're endangered in pa but if they're from ohio it's legal)
1 or 2 (probably just 1) Logperch
5-6 Shiners, Dace, or Small Chubs

Ill get some equipment pictures posted soon but right now I'm recovering from getting wisdom teeth out and a frenectomy this morning. I probably should even be posting online :D.
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
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Pittsburgh, PA
sounds cool. we will need to see some pics. definitely go with the creek gravel.
Will do on both :D. The creek gravel is taking forever to get clean because here was a ton of silt under it when I collected it from my creek.
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
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Pittsburgh, PA
Picking up the tank tomorrow morning. Not setting it up until next weekend though since collecting got pushed to then due to weather.
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
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Pittsburgh, PA
Haven't done an update in a while. Tank is in place on the table, no rocks, decor, or water in it yet but I'll be doing that tomorrow. Went collecting today but couldn't find the right fish so I'm going out again tomorrow to my favorite local collecting spot to hopefully get some nice fish to put in. I'll be instant cycling the tank with an established sponge filter so no need to worry about that, I still monitor water for the first month as well and do WCs if I see ANY ammonia or nitrite when I cycle tanks like this. The French creek trip also got canceled since my friend (who is a lock operator) said the water there was 4X the safe level to be in the water in any form (swimming, wading, and small boats) so I'll be collecting locally. The creek gravel I was going to use I'm now not because after washing it nightly for a WEEK there's still dirt and silt I can't get out so if I get the fish tomorrow I'll be using pool filter sand substrate (i believe that should be fine with the fish going in this setup but please let me know if it's not) or if I wind up with nothing tomorrow either I might get some play sand or pea gravel. However I'm anticipating getting fish tomorrow so probably pool filter sand.

image.jpg
 

Jmart159

Piranha
MFK Member
Jul 13, 2009
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Tampa, Florida
I look forward to seeing this once it's set up. Maybe I missed it while skimming through but, how much flow were you looking to have?

-JMart
 

Dark Rose

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 27, 2013
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United States
I'll be watching this, love the idea of a native tank for rainbow darters, but didn't think I could do one right that was that small, so I'm curious to see how your setup and filtration comes out!

Sent from my SM-N900V using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 

divemaster99

Dovii
MFK Member
Jan 10, 2014
4,795
385
107
Pittsburgh, PA
I'll be watching this, love the idea of a native tank for rainbow darters, but didn't think I could do one right that was that small, so I'm curious to see how your setup and filtration comes out!

Sent from my SM-N900V using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
Id highly recommend doing a native setup, my smallest native tank is a 5.5G so size isn't much of an issue, I know some people on nanfa that have used plastic shoe boxes with powerheads and HOBs as riffle tanks.
 
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