Recreating a River?

[Dread]

Would a marine-reef orientated Wavemaker be nessecary?

 

[amehel0]

essentially problem with wave makers is they make random water motions not a true current

 

[dbcb314]

Some of the people at that loach forum have river style set ups.

 

[Polypterus]

These tanks are extremely simple the only thing you need to calculate out is flow rate and match the intakes to the output.

 

[TheBloodyIrish]

Geez guys... most river tanks I have seen are not that complex as some of you are making it out to be.

http://www.nanfa.org/articles/zoller.shtml
http://www.nativefish.org/articles/stream.php

There is a lot of people that do it with native setups in river/stream/riffle tanks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu0QHNAYa60
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc0emu3JN3c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX7peTD4_hQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8A_b4Qf69o

Hope that will spark some ideas.

 

[fishdance]

If you wish to recreate a river current for spawning fish (not a biotype for decoration) then dont forget circular tanks. I have used some circular above ground pools for large migratory species with success. A couple of powerheads will create a circular flow and fish can swim upstream for days/weeks until they are ready to spawn.

There is a public aquarium in Tokyo (Japan) which has a large donut shaped tank for huge bluefin tuna. If the fish ever stop swimming they suffocate and die. Simple yet effective and totally amazing to see.

 

[BIGgourami]

what kind of river are you talking about doing?
amazonian- not hard, more or less basic tank set up
mountain river- more powerheads and uni-directional flow
tiny lil moutain stream- design like i said
basic river- somewhere in between

 

[Lupin]

This can be interesting for loach enthusiasts.
http://www.loaches.com/articles/a-river-runs-through-it
http://www.loaches.com/articles/river-tank-manifold-design