I've attached a picture of the aquarium that has been filled with a layer of top soil from the Nature Center and then gravel that was donated by a local landscaping company. The aquarium is still pretty cloudy, but is much more clear than yesterday. If the filters won't remove all the particulate in the water, I'll have to do partial water changes until it improves.

I still need to:

Find better filtration
Build a spray/flow bar
Add fish and plants

Overall, I would say that the project is coming along very nicely. I look forward to having a fully stocked tank in about a month.

I still need to:

Find better filtration
Build a spray/flow bar
Add fish and plants

Andy, I've been thinking the idea of a sump that you mentioned could work out real nice for filtration in your situation. It could give you the opportunity to use it to display some of Kentucky's native plants that don't grow in fast moving streams. It could also really increase your options of what type of plants to use as it may be difficult to grow some plants in the kind of flow rate that you're looking for. Just my 2 cents worth.

Steve

Edit: for spray bars, I like using PVC and hiding them under rocks. Sometimes I use inline valving, sometimes I adjust with the size of holes I drill in the spray bars.

Edited by steve, 28 March 2012 - 02:11 PM.

I'm currently playing with the 3 powerheads that I have. I have them placed in the back right hand corner spraying across the back of the tank. My question is, am I looking for the current to flow in a circular motion, or do I want to have the water flow across the bottom of the aquarium and then upwell to return? I have some PVC to work with and can create whatever kind of a mechanism is best. One of the powerheads is occilating and quite small, I don't think I can stop it from ocillating

I've decided against a sump, as it would just be too much of a time investment and getting the pump is probably just as difficult as finding a canister filter. I think being patient and waiting for someone to donate a filter is a much more responsible and adequate solution. I've talked to the LFS and he will be asking his regular customers if they have any extra filters laying around.

I'm currently playing with the 3 powerheads that I have. I have them placed in the back right hand corner spraying across the back of the tank. My question is, am I looking for the current to flow in a circular motion, or do I want to have the water flow across the bottom of the aquarium and then upwell to return? I have some PVC to work with and can create whatever kind of a mechanism is best.

May I direct you to the hyperlinks and images that I in the past few days posted to this topic? http://forum.nanfa.o...__fromsearch__1
If you read that and still have questions I would have no problem answering them. It's only that I typed paragraphs concerning how to direct flow just yesterday.

The general idea is that pulling the water back to the powerhead you're pushing it from (making a closed circuit of flow) is the best way to establish a current. The goal is to make a closed loop; the water should end up where it started. How you do that is up to you.

Edited by EricaWieser, 03 April 2012 - 01:42 PM.

Excellent! I was looking for a thread on flow, didn't find one easily, and posted here because I knew someone would come to my rescue.

Andy, I'm ready to go collecting!

The tank is nearly cycled. There were nitrates in the tank, but still a fair amount of ammonia and a lot of nitrites (as of last Thursday). I'll be getting the water checked tomorrow to confirm that the tank is fully cycled. I have a bunch of pictures of the tank that I'll be uploading tomorrow as well.

The tank is nearly cycled. There were nitrates in the tank, but still a fair amount of ammonia and a lot of nitrites (as of last Thursday). I'll be getting the water checked tomorrow to confirm that the tank is fully cycled.

If there's any measurable ammonia in the tank it's weeks from being fully cycled. Check out slide 8 of this powerpoint: http://www.ag.auburn...tion Design.pdf

According to that graph, my tank would have been at the equivalent of 21 days of cycling as of 8 days ago. Therefore, the cycling should be complete. Either way, I'll find out today.

http://imgur.com/a/vPKP0

This is an album of the initial aquarium set-up. It shows the stand I am using as well as the aquarium after it was filled and after it settled for a day. It has a green/yellow tint because of the driftwood that I added (which will take a while to fade out). The last picture shows the near completed PVC filtration/current system run by 3 powerheads. I'll try to upload some picture of the tank right before I add fish and obviously many pictures after fish are added.

According to that graph, my tank would have been at the equivalent of 21 days of cycling as of 8 days ago. Therefore, the cycling should be complete.

21+8=29
The graph doesn't show zeroes for nitrite until 40 days. At day 28 nitrite is still near its maximal value.
Slide 8 of http://www.ag.auburn...on%20Design.pdf

Edited by EricaWieser, 13 April 2012 - 12:19 PM.

I decided to go ahead and proceed with the collecting, because I don't have too much time left in Louisville for the school year and the fish should be able to handle the current water conditions. If I had not gone collecting over the weekend, I would be at risk for not being able to leave the project for the summer at a stable point. I have some water conditioner to detoxify the Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates and will be watching the water conditions carefully.

The fish seem to be extremely healthy and have responded in a much better manner than expected. So far there have been no losses in the tank and the fish are exhibiting very healthy behavior. The shiners did not exhibit any of the shy behavior that I was expecting and the darters seem to be doing very well. We also collected a big population of snails for the aquarium, I really like the natural look they add.

I did not see any of the plant species I was looking for while we were collecting. I think the current was too fast in most of the spots. I'll be on the lookout for plants and may go walk down some streams over the weekend to see if I can't find anything. If I can't find anything in the next few weeks, I may wait until I return to Louisville in the fall. I plan to make several trips to Louisville over the summer in order to check on the tank and make sure that maintainance is being done and everyfish is doing well.

I plan on feeding the fish a combination of tropical fish flake and bloodworms. I talked with Josh about some of the feeding methods and understand that the shiners are very agressive eaters and that I need to pay special attention to make sure that the darters are getting enough food. I think I will plan on making sure the fish are fed on Tuesday and Thursday and once over the weekend. I will plan to feed the fish for the first time on Thursday.

Josh has written a report of our collection trip along with ample photos of our catch. The link for that is availible here: http://forum.nanfa.o...429#entry98429.

The tank is really hard to photograph right now because its quite sunny outside. While there is no direct sunlight in the tank at any point during the day, the ambient light causes massive glare. I'm going to try and get some black paper to cover up the back of the tank so that I can get some decent pictures. Also, my darters love to only stay still for exactly half a second less than it takes the camera to focus. I'll make sure photos are posted by the end of the day.

During the next two weeks, it is my goal to develop a species list for the aquarium containing the location, feeding habits, general description, and photo of every species in the aquarium. I think the kids that visit will have a lot of fun trying to match up the species list with the actual fish in the aquarium.