The masters of the river tank.... Loach online forums!

[StraightClownin]

I could use some design help, to see if it's even possible to make a river flow tank from a L shape tank.

Heres my bad cell phone pic, until I get it moved inside and take a digi cam pick.



If I was to make the L straight, the dimensions would be 7'Lx14"Wx22"H

So as it stands now, it's basically, two 3 foot sections, with a 1 foot shared space. The stand is made into a 3 foot section and a 4 foot section.

The tank is acrylic, with cutouts on top, so I'll have to be crafty, on how I put the system together, might be glueing inside the tank, instead of gluing it and putting it in.

The only downfall is, in the corner of the tank, theres really no hole to put powercords through for the powerheads. So I was thinking of maybe having a current going from each side of the L. With the currents crashing together at the shared 1 foot of space, where the intakes would be?

It's roughly 110 gallons. Filtration will be two eheim 2026 canister filters. Two aquaclear 300(had to downsize, to make all the filtration fit) And a magnum 350 deluxe.

How many clowns to house in here. And how many gph for the powerheads? and suggested powerheads? 6x aquaclear x110 is pretty spendy... Was thinking more like the 70s. If I can go lower or diff brand that's cheaper/reliable, please let me know.

This is my first River tank. so still planning.

Thanks for the long reading. I'll reply back with any questions that need to be answered, tried my best to lay my cards out on the table. And one final question. Would you put a uv sterilizer on a tank for clowns? I can't decide if it actually helps enough to justify the 100 dollar cost. Please weigh in with your experiences.

[newshound]

cool tank
no need for glue in the rivertank design.
I'd really go for singular flow in the tank.
It helps push the "junk" to the one intake.
that tank really doesn't have alot of floor (footprint). Loaches live on the substrate so really the tank is smaller than it looks for loaches.

[chefkeith]

cool tank.

[StraightClownin]

cool tank
no need for glue in the rivertank design.
I'd really go for singular flow in the tank.
It helps push the "junk" to the one intake.
that tank really doesn't have alot of floor (footprint). Loaches live on the substrate so really the tank is smaller than it looks for loaches.

This is true. Also I'm going to have a eheim on each end.. so theres actually 5 intakes.. 2 for the aquaclear 300s, 2 for the eheims, and 1 for the magnum 350.

As for glueing. I meant glueing the pvc together. Unless you guys don't glue the pvc together in the river designs? makes sense as it doesnt have to be water tight, since it's just underwater anyways.

[Martin Thoene]

Using some 45 degree fittings in the manifold I think you could build one like this:



If that tank is only 14" wide it would make a cool River-Tank for small species, but not for Clowns IMO.

Martin.

[StraightClownin]

It's mostly just their grow out tank I want to get a huge tank. but couldnt let this one go unbought With your diagram, you don't think the water is gonna hit the corner and pretty much stop?

[Tinman]

Martins suggestion will be good. The water being picked up at one end and moved to the other so it will flow fine.A well placed piece of slate could improve flow at the back corner.
I might make the manifold pipes a more even length to keep pressure up on the longer one though.
A cannister at each end would be better than both in the middle. Your tank is really too small for Clowns but other loaches that stay smaller like Almorhae or Striata would do fine as well as the true hillstreams if you stayed cooler.

[StraightClownin]

Martins suggestion will be good. The water being picked up at one end and moved to the other so it will flow fine.A well placed piece of slate could improve flow at the back corner.
I might make the manifold pipes a more even length to keep pressure up on the longer one though.
A cannister at each end would be better than both in the middle. Your tank is really too small for Clowns but other loaches that stay smaller like Almorhae or Striata would do fine as well as the true hillstreams if you stayed cooler.

I like the slate idea, for the corner turning. What about putting a koralia 3 pump in the corner, to help the current make the turn? I was kinda wanting to have a nice piece of wood in that corner. How many powerheads could I run? I was considering 4x maxi-jet 1200s.

Getting both intakes, and returns from my eheims, would further help the flow? I'm just not sure the eheim pumps can handle that kind of head? Or is it it only verticle distance, not diagonal distance when factoring that in? I'd center the pumps, buth it'd add several feet to each hose length.

What about tieing in the aquaclear 300s. would it aid the flow much? Because it would add suction to the manifold, but the returns would be up top.

Also how much GPH can 3/4 inch piping handle? Assuming I have enough inputs.

[StraightClownin]

Well today I setup my manifold. I'm getting alot of bounce back. And stirring of my substrate. So tomorrow, I believe I'm gonna raise the pipes that the powerheads are connected too, this should help with the substrate moving. I also need to find a large peice of slate to help the current take the corner.

[Dutch]

That's a really nice tank concept. I'm sure the clowns will love it for the time being.
I like to see this sort of creativity. I have some ideas of my own for a "far in the future, no expense spared" rivertank. What I like most about that is simply thinking out all the details of such a project and see it realized bit by bit. Like you're doing now. Very nice!

[Diana]

In the drawing Martin made I would add at least one of the Aquaclears on the left in the shared space. Aquaclears move a lot of water, and this may help the water from the PHs to turn the corner.
IME Eheims do not do much for creating any sort of current, but I would suggest 2 ideas for the intakes:
1) In any dead spot along any part of the tank (perhaps to pick up water from behind a pile of rocks or something)
OR
2) Near the intakes for the PH manifold.
Outlets from the Eheims could also help with dead spots, or be at the PH end of the manifold.

If you are having problems with the PHs moving substrate then you likely do not want one of the Aquaclears above the powerheads, the force of the water from an Aquaclear does hove some downward component, and even if you raise the PHs, the water from the ACs would probably contribute to moving the substrate, though this water flow would contribute to the river effect. How about a few rounded rocks in this area?

[andyroo]

An air-stone in the corner will keep the water/gunk "alive" and moving. Keep your fung-sui flow.
Would look interesting among some plants and bubbles would shine in the refraction/reflection of the corner.
Food for thought. Tuck it behind the slate-bit.
A