anyone here have one of those nifty river tanks?

[Hans]

i remember seeing them along time ago, they had the per made levels and the fish would jump up the waterfalls and you could get frogs and lizards adn stuff for the little islands,

http://www.geocities.com/river_tank/http://www.geocities.com/river_tank/FullTank.jpg

[belmont0182]

I saw one at a local petstore the other day...i asked about it and the clerk said that they recently stopped making them. the one i saw was in a 20gallon.

[DEmigh]

Originally posted by Hans
i remember seeing them along time ago...

Me too. I recall that they were only made for tanks with a 12 inch width. Seemed like a pretty cool idea (and really clever marketing :D )

I recall they were sold under the trade name of "Vivarium" or something like that. I looked up the word recently and found that it is the generic term for any sort of habitat. Aquarium is specifically for water (hence the "aqua" prefix) and Terrarium is specifically for land (hence the "terra" prefix). Of course usage in the hobby and dictionary definitions won't necessarily be in complete agreement.

I haven't actually looked at your link yet, so this may all be so much blathering on my part :p

[Gambusia]

The community college I went to had one. They had guppies in it plus a crayfish and a green frog.

You can still buy them I guess but this one had a narrow special tank.

[OldVamp]

Huh, those are neat.

They seem quite expensive. ( source (http://www.abundantearth.com/store/rivertankecosystem.html) )

Small - 10 Gallon - 20"L x 10"W x 12"H
Medium - 20-30 Gallon - 24" x 12" x 16" or 24" x 12" x 24" (16" height is without lizard ledges)
Large - 45-55 Gallon - 36" x 12.5" x 24" or 48" x 12.5" x 24"
Extra Large - For 60 + Gallon Tanks 18" wide and max. 60" long

River Tank Ecosystem - Small $48.95
River Tank Ecosystem - Medium $72.95
River Tank Ecosystem - Large $98.95
River Tank Ecosystem - Extra-Large $164.95

It would be more fun/cheaper to make one of those out of rocks and/or spray foam IMHO.

[lawndart]

I think it's called a paludarium. I'm working on setting one up in a 90 gallon right now. I'm going to base mine on using these two web pages. Can't remember where I found them though. Found them and couldn't stop thinking about how cool they look.

Setting up a paludarium (http://badmanstropicalfish.com/paludarium/Paludarium4.html)

Chuck's Aquarium Page (http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/46g.htm)

[TKOS]

Yeah, they are called paludariums (or palludarium?). That is any tank that is half water half land. Thyey can be pretty cool setups, but I imagine they couldbe a lot fo work as well, dealing with different plant types, keeping dirt where it should be etc...But still a lot of fun.

[RTR]

I've used them for years. Originally they came pre-set in Perfecto tanks, then they were available as DIY kits, then pre-done again. They work fine and did come in 18" configurations as well as 12".

The flow paths and waterfalls are the coolest part of the setup, and quite a step up from most DIY palludariums.

[Julia]

Hans you have really started something in my mind. :) Thank you.

RTR, how did you start with your river tank? Did you re-create a specific riverine ecosystem or just put in stuff you liked? Any good troubleshooting stories you could share?

I think I'll try to talk my son's high school science teacher into seting one up to replace the rather insipid display they have in there now...

Great fun to think about, thanks again Hans! :cool:

[belmont0182]

the links arent like the one i saw. the one i saw had distinct pools at different heights. the pools were connected by small 1 inch waterfalls. the fish could then jump from pool to pool

[RTR]

Both were used as planted frog tanks, with no effort to recreate any biotope at all.

The units were designed to use Whisper Bio-bags in a specific pocket as filters. Those I tossed immediately. The whole system is a big gravel bed emerse plant filter anyway. I do use Filter-MaxIII prefiters on the powerheads. I'd much rather mechanically filter the water before the pump than grind up debris and try to catch it later with a biobag.

I also used thin airline tubing and connectors to run drips to the upper trays and shelves. Substrate throughout is standard aquarium gravel (I'd use Flourite now) topped with long-grain sphagnum moss. Upper planted shelves are largely mosses with Cryptanthus and other small bromeliads, plus dwarf creeping fig (some plain green some variegated - I pull this out every few years, then miss it and put it back). The wet-feet pockets were planted with Crotons (select several forms and colors for variety - they grow beautifully and take any amount of pruning) and Dracena sanderiana, again several cultivars. The submerse areas are mostly too shaded for good plant growth , so a few crpts and some Anubias nana and Java Moss are about the limit of the underwater stuff. Java Moss in the emerse form is used to soften the plastic dividers in the water channels.

The 33XL river is for Fire-belly toads and is ideal. Feeding is in a small terra cotta saucer behind/under the biggest Croton. A few (3 max) zebra danios live in the water, but at long intervals one gets captured and eaten. They are great as they leap the waterfalls and spook the heck out of dinner guests - this tank is between the living room and dining room. Then there is the occasional calling of the male frogs, so everybody grabs their beeper or cell phone.

That tank hass 4x20W NO fluorescents in two each two-tube strips, each 12 hours on, with a 15 minute offset between the two strips.

If you have a place (and the muscle) to move the tank to a cooler area for a few months and shorten the daylength, when you bring it back out and restore daylength, the toads will breed.

The 40 long was for White's, set about the same, but the beasts lived in the pocket which should have held the biobag, comming out when it struck their fancy to destroy the plants. If you want White's (really wonderful frogs), don't landscape. It ended up some patches of moss and Pothos. Pathetic and tacky looking - my poor choice of livestock. It started as 4-tubes, but after destruction ended up with only 2x40W. It is not set up currently.

But stashed away downstairs I have the kit to set a 75, and one of these days it will happen.

50% water partials weekly, wipe down the internal glasses, prune the creeping fig, divide Cryptanthus rarely, prune Crotons peridically (months), cut back alternate Dracenas and let them regrow maybe annually, no added ferts - frog and fish poo does that quite well, easy care.

Inspired? HTH

[Julia]

RTR, sounds great and yes, it's very inspiring! :)

What powerheads do you use? Prefilters are a much better idea, thank you. And the drip lines sound interesting, although I'd imagined that a mini rain cycle would keep the upper plants moist. Do you let air in to keep condensation down, like some people suggest?

Lights in the front or the back?

How'd you attach the Java moss to the dividers?

The bromeliads sound beautiful. :) :) :)

[RTR]

Maxi-jet powerheads.

The 33XL has no glass cover, just two two-tube strips, so there is a narrow opening along the front, between the two strips, and behind the rear strip. This avoids most condensation and keeps the temperature down near room temp. The fire belly toads are temperate, not tropical.

The 40 long had a glass cover initially, but I changed it out for a plastic screen cover to prevent the White's from wandering out. It also had two two-tube strip fixtures. There I did keep the rear light aligned with the back of the tank - to help weigh down the plastic lid.

The Java Moss only rests over the plastic, no attachment provided (although it eventually adheres other than when White's climb over it). The edges of the moss on at least one side of the divider are in the water, so they do/can wick water up.

[Richer]

Great, reading all of this makes me want to convert one of my empty tanks into a paludarium... thanks a lot RTR! :p

-Richer

[Julia]

thanks a million for your help & inspiration, RTR! :) :cool: :)

[johnnyxxl]

I have seen them offered through carolina biological supply which sells to schools etc for science departments and such things as some fish stuff and disection supplies etc.