A River Tank

[Martin Thoene]

These ones Diana?

http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/88/

[Martin Thoene]

Martin, in your article that shows how you built the manifold going to the powerheads, what was the point of the manifold to sponge intakes?

I'll answer what I think you are asking.

A powerhead could be just fitted with a pre-filter sponge. Water would be sucked from the area below it and ejected down the tank length. Gradually, that same water would make its way back to the powerhead end of the tank and be recirculated. Such things as the Hagen "Quick Filter" work like this and are great ways of providing water movement and filtration in conventional aquaria.

With the River-tank manifold, the water intakes are entirely at the opposite end of the tank. This increases greatly the amount of total water that flows in one direction. The whole point of the design is to create as far as possible (within the confines of the average aquarium), conditions that approximate those in nature inhabited by these fish.

They have certain natural behaviours that you will only see properly in an aquarium with a largely one-way flow. Google "positive rheotaxis".

Martin.

[waterfaller1]

Thank you Martin. Love your articles,tanks, and vast knowledge.

[Diana]

Mine do not look like that, either male of female, and this store is notorious for wrong names.
They look like pictures of several species of females in the post 'Stiphodon genus of Goby'.
Sort of marbled, not any distinct pattern. Good camouflage.

[Jim Powers]

White cheeked goby shipments often contain Liniparhomaloptera disparis as contaminants so the two must share habitat. I have kept them a few times and they do well in river tank conditions and have had them breed a few times. I am down to one female right now and would like to find her a male.

[turtleguy146]

I had a hard time with over-heating while i was cycling my tank. At one point the water in the tank was about seven degrees warmer than room temp. I have a canister filter, and I just raised the flow bar a few inches above the water and turned it so the water spent as much time in the air as possible. I also opened the top and put a small fan blowing over the surface. The combination was excessive, but they both lowered the temperature. The downside is I lose water a little faster than normal. Still way cheaper than a chiller.

[waterfaller1]

Thanks for the tips turtleguy. So to make a manifold, I need 1/2" pipe. Where can I find the coarse sponge part for the intake in black?

[Martin Thoene]

Thanks for the tips turtleguy. So to make a manifold, I need 1/2" pipe. Where can I find the coarse sponge part for the intake in black?

Use 3 quarter inch pipe. This is usually used for things like toilet cistern overflow etc.

Martin.

[waterfaller1]

The intake for the powerhead is 1/2". Are you suggesting I use an adapter to 3/4"?
Also, what about using something such as these on the intake side?
http://www.aquacave.com/searchresult.as ... goryID=445

[waterfaller1]

I stand corrected, had hubby look at it. You are right...3/4" it is..

[Martin Thoene]

Adapting a specific power-head to the pipe can be easy or more involved depending on the power-head make and model.

Those strainers would work as intakes, but I much prefer to use a sponge as it filters out more particulate matter that might damage the pump impeller. Also, should your fish breed, those strainers will not stop fry ingestion.

Martin.

[Katy]

The intakes are both at the west end of the tank, and the outlets are at the east end, aimed the length of the tank.

You will find you can increase flow rates considerably Diana by changing that around. The Earth's rotation helps give it a boost

Martin .

Cloudhands just repositioned our powerhead from South-to-North to now North-to-South. Seems to be a more natural flow for these guys ( ) because they are alll of a sudden MUCH more active....

And it is funny watching them move -- they look like claymation cartoons!