The river tank

Ok so tank no 3, MTS is setting in.
I got this old sump for free from a friend, and ofcourse it is ideal for a hillstream tank....
2.440 m x 360mm high x 400mm wide.
I removed all the partitions, and got some aluminum angle,T bar and flat bar, painted it black and framed the tank as the glass wasn't cut very nicely and the silicone is also kind untidy
Just have to do a light hood, some more DIY using 110mm PVC pipe.
This is my inspiration, tank from the loaches online forum

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Then I saw this
That will look good off to one side methinks so I took this:
Its hollow throughout, to line with plastic for a plant pot,

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No fish yet, still have to do some work, filter etc. Going to have a DIY sump but I am aiming for hillstream loaches, proper hillstream tank

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Looks good. Nice long high flow hillstream tank will look awesome

 

Nice. Hillstream is one of my favourite biotopes (along with blackwater).

Watching this thread eagerly. Keep the pics coming!

 

Very cool, and a nice challenge with such unusual and dramatic proportions. Good luck!

 

Looking forward to the progress on this tank.

 

I think that 25°c is about the top of their range, I've done loads of research on the hillstream loaches, the best I can do is suggest that people do proper research and as far as I'm concerned the people who setup "loaches online" have done their homework and I always refer to their site for information. People often say "I have a hillstream loach in my community aquarium and it is doing fine "....my question is, is it surviving or is it thriving, there's a huge difference, personally it peeves me a little when people make these statements because it's a cool fish to have and we will do anything to justify keeping it in an aquarium...just my opinion but I would like to ensure my fish thrive so I do research and try to provide the best care accordingly,

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Just a note..what most people don't seem to realize is that the higher the water temp, the lower the dissolved oxygen, so for a fish that needs highly oxygenated water ...well this becomes a problem.

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@A new day, Great, they are really worth the effort..check out the articles on the site, they are well worth the read.

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Saw that same comment from Cory and was instantly intrigued - love those loaches but good points raised.
Also hope to keep them someday when I have the right setup. MD Fish Tanks' 'rainbow river' setup (wish the actual tank wasn't so tall) is pretty cool and seems well suited in style.

 

I just watched the video of Rachel O Leary's hillstream aquarium, I really, really want to lay my hands on some of those gobies along with hillstream loaches and then loads of white cloud minnows and danios, last time I had a hillstream tank I had to cover it to keep the danios from jumping out, on this tank I don't really want a lid, so I may skip the danios. Here are some pics of my previous hillstream tank, it was a 1.2m tank with a 60 lt sump, really enjoyed this tank

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Wow @GaryG

That is awesome... with a tank that long there is just so much you can do that it will look amazing!!

Your previous tank was stunning too
Looking forward to see this develop, something different from what we see every day
Love the loaches online site, loads of excellent advice and info on all loaches

Fully agree with you on the difference between surviving and thriving but sadly a lot of people dont see it that way

 

So, you know that little voice in the back of your head that says "this is not a good idea", well it said to me "don't add water without polystyrene under the base"But no, I just added this black trim, I dont want this white thing sticking out at the bottom......sooo now I have to repair the bottom, have a crack about two thirds of the length..