Making a river tank...

[theotheragentm]

You should always do a test on rocks before putting them into your tank. Pour white vinegar on them. If nothing happens, you're good.

[2cvbloke]

Originally Posted by theotheragentm

You should always do a test on rocks before putting them into your tank. Pour white vinegar on them. If nothing happens, you're good.

I've read about the vinegar test, I remember doing them at school with different rock samples, a bit dull compared to Cassium, but it's something to do before exam day!!!

As for cleaning them, I guess I scrub them up and then just bung 'em in a pot and boil them?

Another question, what sort of lighting should I get? Not type of light (I'll probably just get the standard T8 Fluo type light, T5 if it's cheap enough), but the temperature/colour...

[2cvbloke]

Well, as I definately know that I need a powerhead or two for the tank I want, I want to get a good one suited to the conditions I need to recreate, but I know nothing about water moving, and the Aquaclear renge all seem to be just numbers. So, out of their range of PHs, which would be best for me to use to recreate water flow up to about 1 Metre per second (which some Hillies have been known to exist happily in)?

Thanks...

[roka64]

You could go with a Maxi-Jet Powerhead/Pump , they have great strong, direct flow, or the Hydor for a broader more gentle flow. I would wait for oth's experiences/opinions, since I don't know anything about river tanks and their flow requirements....

Geeze, still having an off day, corrected the URL....

[dskidmore]

Originally Posted by 2cvbloke

So, out of their range of PHs, which would be best for me to use to recreate water flow up to about 1 Metre per second

Should be a simple calculation, you have the GPH or LPH of the pump? I recomend google calculator for complex unit conversions.

Convert pump rate to <tank dimmension units> per second

Get the cross-section of the tank
Now you've got a number in <tank dimmension units> per second.

Convert to Metres per second

Obviously you'll have to adjust the numbers in my examples.

I was glad to see this post. I've considered doing this before, but have not actually gotten to it yet.

[2cvbloke]

I've been back to the pet shop, and they were doing some maintenance on the tanks (not the way I'd do it, or any one else here either, though!!!), and I got another look at the tank I'm after, and I got the measurements wrong, it's 24x8x8, so a little smaller than I thought it was (where I got 10" from, I don't know!!!)...

Anyway, I bought things this time, 5x plant bunches to replace the ragged plants in my mum's tank, 1x 2nd hand Fluval3+to replace the cr*ppy filter in my mum's tank, 1x bubble filter (for the snail tank) and 1x compact fluorescent for the snail tank except they had no ballasts in stock, so I have to wait until friday...

Anyways, back to the river tank, I forgot to look for powerheads in the shop, but I have them in my eBay watch list, so once my brain swithes back on I'll get the LPH/GPH calculated and pick the right P/H...

They had a much bigger long tank (about 5 feet) in the front of the shop, if I had the space and money, I'd have that one as a river tank!!!

[2cvbloke]

They never did get those bloomin' ballasts in, so my snail tank has no light, just a makeshift on made up of a clip-on light with a "Cool white" standard CF bulb, the algae loves it do much that I can't have it on for long otherwise it all turns green!!! I think the snails like it though...

[duke33]

Good Read.