River style aquarium?

[eon aquatics]

Does anyone have a river style aquarium including layers of the river from top to bottom?

For instance wave makers at the top to simulate river flow, and wood/rock decor on the bottom to simulate a natural ecosystem?

What kind of fish could such a aquarium have and what size would the aquarium need to be?

Does a river have depth zones with different characteristics similar to how a lake has such depth zones?

 

[eon aquatics]

For example, does the water current at the top layer of the amazon river flow faster than at the lower layers?

 

[eon aquatics]

I cant find any diagrams of science articles about such a topic online.

 

[duanes]

I run my 180 as a riverine tank. Water enters the tank at about 1500 gph from the sump, on the northwest end, emptying back to the sump on the southeast end.

The flow to the main tank above.
Beside the recirculated water pumped from the sump, I also use a wave maker rated at another 500gph to move water directionally at a lower depth.

But compared to the current where I catch many of the fish I keep (cichlids, tetras, plecos and gobys) , it's pretty wimpy.

 

[duanes]

Where I collect although there are places like islands where the rocks, and debris slow the current in places, yet in general water often moves as a wall, top to bottom, and I sometimes have a hard time maintaining balance crossing even shallow rivers (especially in the rainy season).

 

[eon aquatics]

very cool!