Hydrology

[KentFishFanUK]

Any hydrologists out there who could point me in the right direction for learning about flow in aquariums? 

I'm trying to figure out ways of setting up a fast flow hillstream type set up and just wondering if there's a method to setting up hardscape etc to control the speed and direction of the flow (without just trial and error). 

Won't be setting up the tank until I move so got plenty of time to figure it out but I love learning anyway

[CJs Aquatics]

 Interested as well… love to learn new things and I keep hillstream loaches so it would be great to hear about from someone knowledgeable 

[Theplatymaster]

i am in no way a hydrologist, but i think some logic can be applied here.

Say this box is your tank:

say this triangle is your flow source (filter output, powerhead etc...)

and say this circle is a rock.

in this situation the rock is not placed optimally, as all the flow will be dispersed when it hits the rock

as appose to if the rock wasn't there.

and if you have plants say val here is what would happen (say these lines are val):

while the val is not solid like the rock, it will absorb some of the flow while it passes, resulting in whats coming out being less then when was produced from the flow source.

Then again, i am not a hydrologist, so if its life and death, dont use my information.

I am simply trying to apply some logic to the situation.

and behold the flag of my new nation (its such a great flag right? couldnt at all be a flow diagram):

Edited March 8, 2023 by Theplatymaster

[Biotope Biologist]

I have a stream setup. You need significant height gain to have gravity do the work. I would focus on just what type of stream setup you’re looking for.
 

Mine has an island to break up fast flow areas with emergent plants. But you could set up the island to have the water pump through it and create an actual stream. Plants in the stream itself are limited. I just have a mini java fern attached to a log that grows my maidenhair fern. With some christmas moss slowly, verly slowly colonizing the rocks. Most streams setup just let algae grow into mature mats. Alot of the stiphodon gobies and hillstream loaches love to eat this stuff. These are very slow to mature tanks. Mine I anticipate will take about a year before everything is grown in and looking the way I like it.

Here is mine for some ideas:

 

 

 

3 months growth. The snakegrass puts out new shoots once a month. Waterwillow from clemson in the foreground.

[KentFishFanUK]

On 3/8/2023 at 5:56 PM, Biotope Biologist said:

I have a stream setup. You need significant height gain to have gravity do the work. I would focus on just what type of stream setup you’re looking for.
 

Mine has an island to break up fast flow areas with emergent plants. But you could set up the island to have the water pump through it and create an actual stream. Plants in the stream itself are limited. I just have a mini java fern attached to a log that grows my maidenhair fern. With some christmas moss slowly, verly slowly colonizing the rocks. Most streams setup just let algae grow into mature mats. Alot of the stiphodon gobies and hillstream loaches love to eat this stuff. These are very slow to mature tanks. Mine I anticipate will take about a year before everything is grown in and looking the way I like it.

Here is mine for some ideas:

 

 

 

3 months growth. The snakegrass puts out new shoots once a month. Waterwillow from clemson in the foreground.

This tank is absolutely amazing! I love it it's even better than what I had pictured in my mind. Best stream tank I've ever seen!

What size tank is it? 

When you say you need significant height gain what do you mean exactly? Did you ever make  a thread with your process? Will have to look through your posts and see if I can find one haha. If you didn't but have pics of how you did it I'm sure everyone would love to see! 

 

[Biotope Biologist]

It’s the sub alpine creek biotope in my signature. Last couple pages it transformed from a 12g bookcase to a 50g frag tank also called ‘low boy.’ Mine draws inspiration from the Western Washington creeks and streams I grew up with. Went through a couple iterations before it landed here. 

 

I really like the dimensions for this tank I got the idea from someone who made a similar tank out of Suffolk. “Riverwood aquatics” on instagram. Although I cheaped out and bought an ACO prototype light instead of the Kessil Tuna Sun. One of these days! 
 

When I said you need significant height I thought you wanted to build a stream tank. One where the water uses gravity to make currents, eddies, and waterfalls. There are a couple of those styles floating around social media. With mine I just use a big aquarium pump attach to a fan loc-tite angled down at the surface. 
 

True stream style tank I referenced:

 

[Odd Duck]

@KentFishFanUK, if you really want your mind blown, search under “riverine” tanks and especially “breeding gold nugget plecos” Baryancistrus xanthellus.  There’s a tank set up in [was it Germany? Closer to you, than me.] that is phenomenal.  There’s a video showing their set up in operation, diagrams showing how they did it, and they’ve managed to breed this gorgeous pleco.  It doesn’t sound like you need this extreme set up to breed these plecos, but it’s still very cool to see it.  I’ll see if I can find that link again.  There are several ways to set up riverine tanks and there’s been a few discussions here that I think were posted under “riverine” tank or with “riverine” either in the title or repeatedly in the discussion so check that as a search term.

Found it.  It was a George Farmer video.  The riverine tank is mostly at the beginning.  I didn’t review the whole vid but I’m pretty sure this is the one.  I can’t remember how much they dug into the set up of it.

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Odd Duck
Clarify.

[Odd Duck]

Found this link also from Amazonas magazine.  It shows some of the evolution of the tank.  I just re-watched the Farmer video I linked and it doesn’t go into detail about the set up.  I need to find that or at least find the thread on here where it was discussed and had the link to the set up info.  I’ll go look for that next.

https://www.amazonasmagazine.com/2019/02/26/videos-evolution-of-panta-rheis-raging-rapids-tank/
 

[Odd Duck]

Got lost for a minute there, but finally found the thread where all the stuff got linked.  It wasn’t the Farmer vid that showed the false bottom style tank, it was the one right before that.  Here’s the link to that thread.