River Flow Rate?

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Fishman0

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 3, 2009
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New York
I am going to build a river tank with a constant current. I will design the system based on the average flow rate of a stream/river.

I need to know the flow rate of a stream which it will not stress the fish.

I was wondering if anyone knew the flow rate of a river system. I am trying to recreate a natural current which native fish are accustomed to. Rather than build a system and then modify it, i would rather build to a spec where i know i want it to be.

I could not find any information online but maybe i just didnt know where to look.

any help would be appreciated
 
Well considering a river can range anywhere from a babbling brook to a raging rapid, we'd need a little more info for flow rate. Which river are you trying to recreate? The Colorado is a heck of a lot different than the Mississippi! Also what fish will be in the tank?
 
Also a simple google search for "Mississippi Flow Rate" and the first hit has many different data sets on volume, speed, etc.
 
To clarify better i am trying to recreate a steady stream, not rapids obviously.

I didnt know if there was any studies done on this before.

And do you really think i would run a tank with the same current of rapids?

i would ASSUME the velocity to be under 1.5 feet per second. but i dont want to build an enviroment which no fish can stand.
 
okay....
I was just showing the range. "Steady Stream" is a hugely broad term. If you identify what fish you plan on keeping in there, we could track down the river they hail from and then find some information on there....yet you seem reluctant to do so.
 
If it makes it easier to understand, since Flow Rate measures volume per sec, i would like to find Velocity of flow.

ex.
If a moving body of water is uniformily 1ft deep and 100ft wide, the volume of water that travels a distance of 1ft in one second is 748.05 gallons per sec.

If i have this flow rate in a 100 gallon tank..... Yeah you get the picture.

so if the Velocity of the same body of water is 1ft per sec then i can calculate the system for the tank (which i have not chosen yet)
 
To produce 1 foot per second through a 1 sq foot area, it would take 1 cubic foot per second = 450 gallons per minute = 27000 gallons per hour.


The best thing to do is to get a submersible pump and hook it up to a river tank manifold. It won't replicate the flow of a real river, but it is still beneficial to some fish, like hill stream loaches for example.
 
I am not reluctant to tell you what i plan to keep in the tank sarferer.

I was considering different Darters (Etheostoma rufilineatum, Etheostoma caeruleum, Etheostoma spectiabile, etc...), Shiners ( Notropis chrosomus), Mountain redbelly dace (Phoxinus oreas).

I wanted to keep it as a native tank if possible, but like i said i am still considering different species
 
To produce 1 foot per second through a 1 sq foot area, it would take 1 cubic foot per second = 450 gallons per minute = 27000 gallons per hour.

Yeah i was just using it as an example, i dont know the actual velocity of a "normal" stream.

but yea that flow rate is rediculous to replicate
 
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