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It's the perfect footprint 48x18, but only 12 inches tall. I'm imagining more of a small dryish tributary or stream. It's not technically a river tank yet, the flow is not unidirectional. As soon as I get a canister cycled it will be. Here's a preview of the aquascape (subject to change)



Rock work, or bank where the cats live



middle section, transition to planted area



right side, planted area for cichlids/tetras
not quite grown out yet, but I'm working on it.

Nice tank traumatic. I agree, it's a cool tank size. What will you put in it?

It's not technically a river tank yet, the flow is not unidirectional.

I don't know why people are always so concerned with having fully unidirectional flow.

In a river there are turbulent currents and eddies swirling in all directions around objects.

I don't think the fish really care or notice whether you've spend hours fitting a unidirectional system.

Many fish such as plecs will be sheltering is areas of lower flow such as: behind stones, in crevices or in the boundary layer.

I just direct my powerheads along the surface. This picks up loads of oxygen and creates plenty enough turbulence and water movement provided the powerheads are powerful enough.

Definitely a nice tank.

I also agree with racoll that there are many different areas in a river where the water flows in different ways, even in the faster streams, there's often some calmer parts and many swirls etc.

My big tank has "riverlike qualities", such as lots of water movement, but I wouldn't call it a river tank.

I still consider a "river tank" something that has a mainly unidrectonal flow. Assuming there's some sort of decorations, it's most likley going to have a varying level of flow at different places. Depending on the formation and layout of the decorations, even with a pump & tube system where water is picked up at one and released at the other, you may still end up with currents going "the opposite direction" with certain types of decorations.

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Mats

Currently I have my L128, L102, Albino BN and 13 x 1.5" Orange head Geos cichlids. I'll fish them out when they get too big, and prob get some dwarf cichlids and add some tetras. I plan on adding some small rarer species of rapheal cats, wood cats, banjo cats, maybe moth cats, and def. more plecs. I will most likely add more wood to the center area and prob more rocks to the left.

yeah, I get what you are saying. Mr obvious statment here but, my idea is to get the water to basically flow on the surface from one end to the other and not recurculate inside the tank. As the current makes it's way across the tank, it will slow down, hit logs, rocks plants, etc. The current will still swirl and such, which is also what I want, but only in the direction of the length of the tank. Mainly, it's different and fun to work with.

As it is now I have an AC500 which basically dumps the water like a water fall. My plecs just hide under it in the calmer area. Which is to be expected for some species. I also have a power head in the corner(you can see it in the second pic) which pushes the water to the other side of the tank. My cichlids love the current from the power head.

my idea is to get the water to basically flow on the surface from one end to the other and not recurculate inside the tank. As the current makes it's way across the tank, it will slow down, hit logs, rocks plants, etc. The current will still swirl and such, which is also what I want, but only in the direction of the length of the tank. Mainly, it's different and fun to work with.

Give it a go by all means, but I do think this kind of project is more for the fun of the fishkeeper than benefit of the fish.

I agree, I don't think my fish will be healthier, grow faster, or be more personable because I try to make my tank with some special flow system. That is what I was eluding to in my second post. I more or less wanted to highlight the idea of a river biotope tank rather than some of the other "river tanks". I have edited the topic to reflect this. I do want to however switch over to a canister w/ the input on one end and the output on the other, possibly w/ additional powerheads. This won't be anything special, just a matter of where I direct the current rather than having it built up w/ pvc and extra pumps etc.

What would be very nice in your tank (imo) are some forked roots in the right and left hand corners. They should be placed straight up as to give the impression that the tree "continues" above the water level. I don't know if you're going to use a tank lid; if not, this can easily be done.
It'll also give the idea of a creek with lots of vegetation on its banks and I don't think your plecos would mind

good idea. I do want to add more wood, sticks etc. I'll have to see what I can do.

Beautifull tank traumatic
I too would suggest more wood and maybe another large Echinodorus.
I too think that unidirectional flow may not be of importance to fish but its more "natural" anyway to have it in your tank and then you can even call it "river tank"

I added some more stones creating more hiding spots and moved some wood around.

I also added a couple more fish: Agamyxis pectinifrons and Trachelyopterus sp. Otorongo.
I'm hoping to add a couple more plecs soon and possibly some tetras.

I'll post up pics soon.

What a pretty tank. I will be watching for your updated pictures.

Have a great day, adimeatatime