"The River Tank" setup

[Phoenixphire55]

I was just reading about a tank set up that attempts to recreate a river style water flow throughout the tank. Apparently it involves using powerheads at one end of a fairly long tank and then intake sponge filters at the other end which are connected to the powerheads via pvc tubing. This would create uni-directional water flow. How cool! Has anyone tried this?

 

[pitt420dude]

No I havent tried it but it sounds super cool. That would be awesome really. You wouldn't want to get angels, or any other fish that don't enjoy a heavy flow.

I would LOVE to see a real long tank with very fast watermovement stocked with fish that really like fast moving water. That would be awesome.

 

[chimmike]

Add rocks in for the fish to rest, like a rocky mountain stream or something.......that's a really cool idea!

 

[p3purr]

Remember that power heads raise the water temperature, especially in tanks under 55 gallons. If you're keeping fish lat like cooler water or if the ambiant temp is warm they're not a great idea.

I've seen HOB filters adjusted to make river tanks. I'll look for the link and post it later.

 

[pitt420dude]

Yeah please do, I'd like to check em out.

My local Zoo (Pittsburgh) has something similar. I love going there, they have AMAZING tanks.

 

[tomherndon]

Could a river be simulated with a series of custom long tanks along a wall, each tank an inch or so lower than the preceding tank. 5 tanks butting against each other with a total drop of 5 inches and a loooooong return line from the last to the first (something like a gutter).
imagine the waterfall pieces on yard ponds as 20gallon long tanks . . .

 

[Purrbox]

I've read about this type of setup before and would love to give it a try some day for Hillstream Loaches.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

I didn't know powerheads raised the water temperature. Do you think it would be a problem in a 50 long? I would think that most coldwater fish would be fine if they are naturally from fast moving waters, because coldwater fish have a higher oxygen demand, but a river setup would create so much turbulence that the water would be really oxygenated. Would goldfish be good for a river tank? Maybe a a river setup on the slower side, like one powerhead instead of two or three for the faster river setup.

 

[p3purr]

Grumble, I wrote a detailed post and lost it when I hit the quote button in another post. Sigh.

For now here's the link about setting up a riffle tank with a HOB filter.