hillstreams and "cold water"?

[Andrewz00]

ive read a decent amount about hillstreams.... but how cold is "cold"?

and they like fast moving water.... can they do OK in say a 90 gal with only a eheim 2217 pushing the water around?

 

[Crepe]

Looked up hillstream balitorids in my big book of fish profiles, it says: 72-77F water; minimal water depth preferred, 10-12inches of water; 6.5-7.0pH, should be a tank with sufficient algae. Really really hard to maintain without an inline chiller (at least during the summer). I think a 2217 with the spraybar positioned deep with two 150gph powerheads would generate a sufficient "stream". You can get a pretty decent chiller for about $200 on amazon, although isn't as good as a real inline will drop your temp that extra 3-4 degrees.

 

[Andrewz00]

hmmm sounds like i may have to invest in a powerhead or two.... the rest of the parameters fit my tank..... except the whole depth thing...

long story short.... ive wanted one for so long and have NEVER seen one... my lfs FINALLY by chance got one in "by accident" (im still convinced they ordered it for me, since i know a few of the guys there) and i could not resist! so without doing too much research i bought him!

im super excited... untill i started reading about them more.... ugh... my tank is a standard 90 gal... so its a lil deeper then described.... ph is 6.6 - 6.7 so thats fine... my temp is about 74-75, a lil on the higher end for them... maybe he will adapt? i hope...

so back to the lfs for a powerhead this week!

 

[Crepe]

Well the book says the most forgotten aspect of a balitorid tank is that water flow should be distributed throughout the tank. Flow should be directed on the surface of the tank and near or at the bottom. It suggests a sandy/rocky substrate mix.

 

[Andrewz00]

Well the book says the most forgotten aspect of a balitorid tank is that water flow should be distributed throughout the tank. Flow should be directed on the surface of the tank and near or at the bottom. It suggests a sandy/rocky substrate mix.

so what are you suggesting? the eheim spray bar across the top and a powerhead across the bottom?

 

[Crepe]

That's probably the easiest way to do it. I would go get some Koralia power heads that are used in SW. They won't jam up from sand as normal power heads would near the bottom. They also give crazy high gph for the price.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchItem.aspx?SearchText=ul+nano+evolution&vendorname=Hydor_USA&Category=Fixed_Flow_Aquarium_Powerheads&vendorcode=HD&IdCategory=FIPHFF&parsed=1

The Koralia nano is probably more than enough for your purposes.

 

[Etunes]

Okay, i LOVE hillstreams so i hope you enjoy them as much as i do. First things first. You need to know about them, the reason why is because they need high levels of O2 in the water. What i would suggest for a filter is making your own and a eheim is just a plus.

Above is my plans. You need to put power heads on 1 end so it sucks water through the other end. You put some sort of media on the other end and in a sense you made a filter. Also about the algae, they graze on it and look for micro organisms. They will take a flake food as a snack but not as a staple diet most of the time. 1 way to get this is you can put a 10g outside in direct sunlight and let algae go crazy on the rocks in the tank. Then just drop them in and let them graze.