I am thinking of wiggling in a 40 breeder into my dorm next year, yes I will have room to have it as I'm going to get a double room to myself or an RA room to myself. The plan would be to place the 40B peninsula style to maybe act like a mini room divider of some sort, maybe right next to my futon so I can lay on the futon and watch my fish. Plan is to make a more riffle/strong flowing tank so powerheads will be used for sure. Here is the list of speices that can be found in the river I am replicating:
Blackchin Shiner
Blacknose Shiner
Blackside Darter
Bluntnose Minnow
Common Shiner
Creek Chub
Hornyhead Chub
Johnny Darter
Logperch
Mimic Shiner
Rainbow Darter
Spottail Shiner
With all of these fish selections I was thinking of for sure going with hornyhead chubs and a log perch (if I can find one). The creek chub looked really nice but they are apparently like vacuums, so they might be out. I could also go for a darter tank, but the darters are very spread out and rarely found as opposed to the shiner/chub/minnow populations. Maybe a stock of 7 hornyheads, 1 logperch and a creek chub could possibly work or maybe more of the smaller minnows.
The only for sure thing I know about the tank is that I want a lot of rocks, so I will need egg crate and maybe even a layer of filter floss to increase the weight distribution of the tank. Another thing would be lights, since little aquatic vegetation grows in the river than light is purely for looks. I think 2 NiCrew 30"-36" LEDs will be my light of choice to get a nice shimmer effect. Lastly I think replicating the seasons to an extent would be cool, I.E. higher faster water in the spring, lower and warmer water and longer photo period (12 hours) in the summer, darker water with some leaves/sticks in the fall and cooler water and lower photo period (6-8 hours) in the winter