A River Tank

[waterfaller1]

Hi, hope all of you are well. I have a tank that has been sitting empty for awhile.{can't have that now can we } I was thinking this morning how much I have always admired the Sewellia Lineolata. I would like to set up a river tank for them. Anyone here have one?

[Diana]

I have 2 river tanks.
One is a 20 gallon long tank (30" x 12" x12" = 75cm x 30 cm x 30 cm, about 80 liters)
This one has small fish like Darter Tetras, White Cloud Minnows, Fresh Water Gobies and Hillstream Loaches.
The other river tank is about 50 gallons, 4' long. This one has Denisoni Barbs, Rainbows and a few other fish.

Both are set up with cobbles (rounded stones about 3" to 6" diameter) and Soil Master Select substrate. There are some branches of manzanita in there, too.
These tanks have a lot of water movement, about 400 gph and 1000+ gph. (over 20 times the tank volume per hour)
The plants are mostly small, tucked into niches in the rocks.

[waterfaller1]

Hi Diana, Thanks for the response. This is a 20 long. How do you accomplish turning the water so much without overheating it? I have been looking at Martin Thoene's articles. I really like this tank he has in the article,
"A River Runs Through It"

[Jim Powers]

I also have a 20 long river tank.
I use a Aquaclear 402 (its called something else now) that puts out 270 gph, a Dueto interanal filter that puts out about 70 gph and a Penguin exterior filter that puts out about 170 gph.
I get plenty of flow, the fish are happy and no overheating.

[waterfaller1]

I am thinking my 2215 Eheim which is 164 GPH with a jet return, and a MJ 900 powerhead is 230 GPH, that gives me roughly 394 GPH. Both with sponge intakes.

[Diana]

Eheim 2234 with 132gph
Aquaclear 50 with 270 gph. This one is modified per instructions here at Loaches to increase the flow.
The intakes are both at the west end of the tank, and the outlets are at the east end, aimed the length of the tank.

[Martin Thoene]

The intakes are both at the west end of the tank, and the outlets are at the east end, aimed the length of the tank.

You will find you can increase flow rates considerably Diana by changing that around. The Earth's rotation helps give it a boost

Martin (with tongue in cheek).

[Keith Wolcott]

Thanks for the laugh Martin!!!

[Martin Thoene]

Thanks for the laugh Martin!!!

Actually Keith, we once had a thread going here about River-Tanks relating to owners having left-right or right-left flowing tanks. The first word was where the powerheads were.
Every R/T I've set up has been right-left. I think we decided the choice had something to do with personal aesthetic.

Martin.

[Keith Wolcott]

That's interesting. My earlier river tank was left to right. My current river tank has the end against the wall so you can view it right to left or left to right.

[Jim Powers]

Hmmm...I prefer my river tanks left to right.

[waterfaller1]

Umm..I venture to say............ this MUST be a guy thing...

[waterfaller1]

Martin, in your article that shows how you built the manifold going to the powerheads, what was the point of the manifold to sponge intakes? Can't I just run my powerhead straight out with just a prefilter for safety? Wouldn't trying to intake the water from across the tank reduce the flow of the powerhead? I will also have the canister, with a sponge prefilter, and jet return.
Here~
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... id=prod_cs
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2753144

[waterfaller1]

I have 2 river tanks.
One is a 20 gallon long tank... Fresh Water Gobies and Hillstream Loaches.
s.

What kind of fw gobies are you keeping in the river tank with the loaches?

[Diana]

Both of my tanks are right to left. One is against a wall and looks better that way. The other could have gone either way, but the feng shui (can't spell it!) suggested that this direction is better. Doesn't seem to work

If the intake is directly under the power head, for example a sponge over the intake, the water in the tank tends to swirl around more.
When you set up a manifold there is more of a straight line of water flow. Not entirely, though.

The common name at the store was White Cheeked Gobies. If they are any of the Gobies in the thread about them, then they are females, and I cannot ID them.