Plans for Hillstream Habitat

Nolapete

Nolapete

Monster Tank Builder
May 29, 2007
5,274
1
0
New Orleans, LA
Last night while I was working on my overflow, sump, and pump configuration for another tank, I got an idea for a hillstream loach habitat. I really like those little guys and want to devote a tank to them.

As some of you know, I got a 135 with a crack in the bottom left back corner and chip on the front left corner for FREE. The tank has a hole drilled in the back glass on the same end as the chip and crack. My plan to repair this tank entails putting another piece of glass to the right of the hole to form a new side to take the pressure off of that end of the tank. The glass will be an inch or so lower than the top of the tank to form an overflow the width of the tank.

That said, my plan is to plumb the trickle filter I got with the $80 55 gallon setup to the 135 via a bulkhead fitting. The Little Giant 3MDSC will provide the filter power and mid-upper level current.

I'm going to use one of the ViaAqua 3900 pumps I have for increasing the river current with a pvc manifold with several outputs. The ViaAqua will sit in the overflow area. The bottom of the tank will be covered in various size stones and large pebbles.
 
I can put the Syncrossus in another tank, possibly the 110. I'm considering making the 90 my planted tank to give some open water above the plants.

Thanks KnaveTo. I think it was loaches.com where I read about the powerhead manifold idea.
 
Here's the start. The 135 before it is plumbed and decorated will look like this. You can see where the chip is in the front left and the crack in the bottom. The overflow/wall will take the pressure off of this part of the tank.

hillstream135.JPG
 
Nolapete said:
I'm going to end up with 25-30 various hillstream loaches. I'm going to put a tank in the sunroom with a bunch of smooth stones to grow algae for them.
Click to expand...
That would be quite nice.:D

Nolapete, wouldn't it be best to use the lighting system instead? I'm wary about putting the tank in the sunroom.
 
I'm putting another tank without fish in the sunroom, not the hillstream tank. All my fish tanks are going in the fish room. I'm just going to take advantage of the natural sunlight to cover the rocks with algae then move them to the hillstream tank which will be brightly lit.
 
Oh. I thought you were referring to the river tank.:D Good luck with starting an algae culture.:) I just put a pinch of shrimp pellets in a bucket exposed under direct sunlight and the algae covers the rocks in a few days. Just thought I'd share how I produced my own algae.:)

There's an interesting thread in LOL where Martin uses urine to produce his algae.:) I'll link it here as soon as I find it.

Edit: Here you go.
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=922
 
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