River Tank for Hillstreams

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Bpweitzm

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 30, 2009
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Santa Cruz, CA
Hey All, I posted this in the Set up Forum but figured it would go well here too!:
So here is the plan for my river tank. It shows the aquarium with background overlayed and water flow directions, plumbing, etc. I've posted about the plans before, it is to be a Hillstream loach tank and I am starting out filling it with water from a 55 gal and have river rocks and plants and a few starter fish in the 55 to begin the system. I should be receiving the powerhead today and will begin construction. I will include pictures for those who need some ideas. I got all of the info on river tank builds from a few hillstream articles and online diagrams of unidirectional flow tanks.

If anyone out there has experience or input please let me know!
 
I cant say that I completely understand whats going on in the diagram
 
The squiggly line is a 3D back ground. I just talked to him and now I understand it!

What are the powerheads you are using? And this is for a 30g tank right?
 
uncwnells;3098698; said:
I cant say that I completely understand whats going on in the diagram
Click to expand...

I guess I should explain better, sorry about that!

The blue rectangle is the tank, a 30 gal
The green squiggle is a 3-D background that sits at most 8in (the bottom) and mostly 4-5 inches from the back of the aquarium.
The dark blue arrows are slats cut in the background to encourage water flow and the 2 big dark blue are holes into it with a screen type mesh over them (figuring this out)
THe light blue are small slats along the bottom to encourage flow as well. The red rectangle is the piping from an intake covered by a sponge (red circle) to the AC70 powerhead. This provides balances and allows the powerhead to be hidden.
I then have the outflow of the powerhead directed back out in the "display area" to create a unidirectional flow lengthwise down the tank. I will provide pictures after the weekend as well.
The HOB AC70 is an additional filer to provide more biological and chemical filtration
 
It looks like it will work just fine but keep the direction of the flow indirectly from the input flow of the HOB as it will wear out the motors of the HOB quickly.
 
Ok thanks! Do you think having the HOB separted by the background from the intake manifold will be sufficient. Any advice anyone has is gladly accepted!
 
Hey Hey
So i got my background, Powerhead and manifold constructed. It is a TIGHT fit in the 30 gal. My background is bigger than expected and the powerhead barely fits behind it. but it fits!

I will post some pictures tonight but I am going to be attaching everythings with Silicone tonight after a quick powerhead test run to make sure nothing has a glitch before I permanently (unless I break down everything) attach everything

I was contemplating substrate now. I went on an expedition (hike with my dog) and collected a variety of river rock from a near by river. I boiled them to sterilize and now have them soaking in a bucket of aquarium water outside to promote alga growth (add fish flakes). I have a lot of excess gravel from the previous set up and was trying to figure out if I should down sand, gravel, or a mix of the two. I will be putting in live plants to any suggestions help!.

As for tank mates I am looking into any or a combination of the following:
celestial pearl danio -- Celestichthys margaritatus
Long Fin White Cloud -- Tanichthys albonubes

With pictures tonight I will post the spp of hillstream I am planning.
 
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