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I wasn't that happy with the current flow... so I added a third 802. You can see I hung it on the side of the tank.



The boivinianus is dieing back, but the Bolbitis is totally taking off. I am trying to condition the L81's but the Congo tetras have figured out my feeding routine. I may need to remove them from this tank. Any other suggestions would be great.

Love the tank and would love to set a tank up like this for myself. If I might ask what is the total cost of a tank like this? Fish, plants, equipment etc...

This is just a quick estimate. I trade alot of plants to my lfs for credit so I really didn't shell out this much though.
Tank- $140 (store credit)
802's- $ 30 (2 units- BigAls)
301- $ 15
Flourite- $ 40 (2 bags)
Eheim
Canister- $ 60 (got a screaming Deal)
River rock- $ 20 (2 bags from my local landscape supplier)
Large rock- $ 15 (I bought a few, not all in the tank)
plumbing- $ 10
plants- $ 60 (I had most of the plants such as the Val
Bolbitis, and Windelov. I ordered some bulbs- boivinianus
and lotus- cheaper that way.)
lights- $ 30 (HD shop lights with full spectrum bulbs)
Heater- $ 25 (I usually get stuff from BigAls)
Timers and
powerstrips-$ 30
Co2 setup w/ph
controller- $140
Co2 tank- $ 45
L81- $ 60 (got 4 at bigal's in Vancouver bc)
Sturisoma sp$ 36 (found them at a Strange fish store in Seattle's ID.)
congo tetras$ 16 (store credit)
Total _____
$772

I think that is most everything... Kind of a crazy figure when you put it on paper. It really didn't cost me that much though. I will post some new pictures of the tank soon... some of the plants have really started to go crazy.

Cheers, Whitepine

Last pictures before I rip down this tank for moving. I hope you all enjoy.



As a side note I lost one of the Sturisoma sp... he got wedged behind the Anubias barterii

i lost a couple of Hemiloriaria also lodged in an Anubias a while back.

very odd....

Whitepine,
I love the way you have the powerheads set up. What size pipe did you buy and what kind of fittings? I'd love to try something like that.

I think I used 1" pipe with a 1" 90 degree elbow to 1.5" that fit the intake of the 802 perfectly. I will double check the sizes when I rip down the tank next week.

Great looking tank!

I'm in the process of starting a river tank in a much smaller scale (20gL) Your tank has given me some great ideas. I espescially like the cave and how you hid the powerheads with rocks.

I just got done ripping down and setting up the River tank in a new apartment. I took pictures of the return manifold and more important the bottom. It actually looks pretty good after running for about 6 month. Check out the pictures for yourself.

Little experment: super glue vs. silicone... super glue wins.


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Close up of the bottom of the return.


Cheers, Whitepine

I know what would be good in that tank- a Zebra Pleco. It would look good with the way u've arranged the stones.

I've often wondered about super glue and its toxicity. But, it seems your fish and plants are none the worse for it. (I've also wondered about pipe cement.) How long did you let the super glue sit before contacting water?

i'm pretty sure super glue cures under water.

I ussually let it sit out for a few hours before it goes in the tank. I also use use a kicker that speeds up the set time on the glue. I ussually buy the glue at model shops... it's a cyno glue. I also rinse the object really well before it goes in the tank.

cheers

This is how the tank looks now...



I still have some val that keep coming up.
Some of the other plants still haven't started to grow.
also check out my matching hood and stand. It took me only 6 month to finish it!

I don't know how shane moves every couple of years... It was a big pain.

Cheers

It is a big pain (moved in Oct and again in March this year) to move 20 or so tanks, but you get it down to a science. The only thing that slows you down much is the substrate. Tank is looking good.
-Shane

Whitepine, it looks tremendous! I also owe you an apology with pictures. Please see separate posting on Eheim powerhead.

Shane, I have trouble moving myself. You must have this down to a science. Have you ever taken notes on how you move? I'm sure there's lots to be learned by all.

Gorgeous tank Whitepine, and you've prompted to maybe build my own river setup for pl*cs.

Can you explain what the manifold does and vagually how it works? I was assuming it's something to prevent water hitting the end of the tank and flowing back...but I could easily be wrong.

thanks

Nik

When I originally thought of this idea, it was just a water return. I just wanted a way to hide as much of the circulation system as possible, making it more natural looking. If you look at the first setup pictures, you can actually see I buried the power heads. I plan on fabrication a small hood to hide the power heads under... I am looking into a cast able resin that is nontoxic. The return also acts as a filter. It also allows the water to slowdown before hitting the back of the tank. Again, when I originally thought about setting up this tank... I was going to fill the tank half full of rock and substrate that was sloped to a deeper end...as to simulate a pool. That changed after seeing other river tanks online and after I had a modified Undergravel Filter in one of my tanks. The tank became heavily planted and I used the system as a co2 reactor.


My corner tank that had a modified UGF ..This picture is from last march.


I realized that I could simulate a pool with a water return manifold 3/4 of the length of the tank. Most of the water is picked back up by the power heads via the return. A small amount of water actually makes it all the way to the back corner where I have the return for my canister filter. I have had to only clean this every few months as the return acts as a filter also. I was actually surprised how much mulm was around the return manifold.

I hope that answers your questions and I still have plans to modify this tank to make it look more natural along with better performance.

Cheers

What were the occupants of this tank? What a look! It would be interesting to know if some nervous/jumpy species would be calmer with such a set up.

how do you plan on cleaning the tank long term? I'm guessing that eventually the manifold with foul up and need removing to be cleaned, or do you have a system that allows for it to stay in place?

I move rock around and vacuum around the manifold area every water change... which is 40% weekly. If you read the whole post you would have read about the extremely long pipe cleaner I have to run down the piping. The mulm build up under the manifold after I broke it down after 6 months was almost nothing. No real large debris can make it through all the rock and substrate... and what is left is either broken down by bacteria or is circulated through the water column. THIS IS NOT my main form of filtration in this tank! I have an Eheim canister filter running in the tank, with the return on the opposite side of the tank. Any small debris that stays suspended in the water column for very long is picked up by canister filter. The last time I ran nitrate/rite test, my reading where almost zero. The canister filter actually picks up quite a bit of waste!

Cheers

I came home tonight and caught all my guys hangin out.

Check them out.

why they all looking on way
comes the water from there

When I first walked up to the tank... one of the nuggets was sitting on a big rock right infront of one of the power heads. I went for the camera...and when I gotback they where all sitting under the anubius on or near another big rock. The current is basically a back eddy in this spot. I ussually have one fish hanging out in this area at any given time... not all of them. I don't know if the picture shows them, but my ottos where hanging out nearby as well.



Cheers, Whitepine

I noticed when ever I walk in to the room the Sturisoma sp. swims to the front of the tank.

Hello, I love your tank setup! I do have a question, would a river tank still be considered a river tank if it was not planted?

If you look at most river systems, you will realize that a lot of them actually have very little plants in the main channels or current areas. The current areas are just moving to fast for plants to really establish themselves.... with this in mind; my river tank has plants that are use to lots of current. Most rivers would have very little plant growth in the main channel or high current areas... so a river tank without plants would probably be more like nature than my "river tank", especially when you take into account that almost all of the plant species in my tank are from Asia and Africa(Most of the inhabitants are from South America)! I just love plants... but have always wanted to construct this type of tank.

Cheers, Whitepine

That's exactly what I was thinking and why I asked thank you. And again you have a great looking tank!!

I added a few new inhabitants...





a few Farlowella.

The gold nugget don't even notice that they are in there with them... I have watched a gold nugget plop right down on a Farlowella and the farlowella didn't even move.

Cheers, Whitepine

That's the idea if you're pretending to be a stick, don't move or blow your cover.