Opinions on my idea for a riffle tank

I've been playing with the notion of getting a 20g long or 30g long tank later this fall and going back to my parents house to get some fish, gravel, and plants from the woods behind the house. There's a stream that runs down through there, lots of plants sprouting up out of the rocks, some nice looking plants that I can't identify, and some small fish that I can't positively identify. Considering the area and their size, they're some species of shiner, dace, or chub... I guess. Just a small silvery 1-2" long minnow.

So, how could I go about making it like it is down there. There's a shallow moving stream about 3-4" deep that feeds into a large pool that's probably about 3' deep in the deepest part. Obviously, I can't get anything that deep, but how could I simulate something like that in an aquarium with powerheads and filters. Would a 20g or 30g be enough to do something like that with, and have the little waterfall trickle that exists down there that they occasionally hop up into the stream from the pool? Possible?

If I do this, it'll be fall-winter... probably October or so. I don't dare venture into those woods during the summer.... too many ticks and copperheads that I want nothing to do with. Come to think of it, after a little run-in with a very territorial, very angry deer a few years ago... I don't venture down there without a rifle, either. But that's a whole other story. It does make me wonder if I can maintain something like this considering I only have seasonal access to the area, though. Bah, I'm just rambling now.... comments please?

This is kinda how I visualized it. The brown is gonna be carved polystyrene or some other material I can mold and carve, covered with some type of sand held on with silicon. The green spots will be holes cut out for planting terrestrial plants. The streambed itself will be filled with those smooth pebbles that come out of the real streambed. I want to do a biotype aquarium, and this is one that I can do that I've actually observed first-hand, not just read about in a book.

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So how would you suggest plumbing that and what type of filter could I fit in the hollow under the molded frame? Or would you put it under the molded part? Would the filtration be seperate from the powerhead flow?

As for the plants and fish... it's been a while. As best I can remember, they're about 2" long max... a little hump to their back, flat belly, and a shiny silver color. When I was about 10 years old, a friend of mine and I would sit down there with a piece of 4lb fishing line with the smallest non-barbed hook we could get and catch them like that. We threw most of them back, but kept about 5 and put them in my grandparents goldfish pond. They were all still there about 3 years later when my grandfather drained the pond and fixed a crack... but after that they disappeared as the bullfrogs and osprey found the pond and thought it was their buffet, dining on our goldfish and those little minnows. The plants are mostly terrestrial, but I do remember some stuff that looked like grass on the streambed fluttering in the current. Whatever it is, it's not gonna get a lot of light with the thick canopy of trees overhead.. but it still grows.

Originally posted by Cearbhaill
Completely off topic-
How pleased I was to see someone using the word "riffle"!
Most non- redneck folks don't even know what it means.

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Well I guess I'm a redneck If I say that there are also "crawdads" in that stream, does it make me more of a redneck?