Tropical Fish Keeping banner

River Tank Rebirth!! photo journal

13K views 17 replies 6 participants last post by  willow 
#1 ·
Soooo I went ahead and got my hands on an old River Tank, which is basically a system from the days of old using plastic molded pieces to make a series of waterfalls in a small aquarium for really active fish. heres the thread I started about it.

http://fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9354

at any rate im going to improvise and modify it slightly to allow me to have some kind of amphibious creature(s). what? who knows, but I want this baby to MOVE SOME WATAAAHHH. ahem.

first off, heres the tank


and heres a rough idea from the top down of how it works


here is the pump I chose to use, at least for now. Its out of a fountain I have on my front porch that I never got around to wiring up. you can get them just about any home depot, lowes, or similar stores. I will probably need to get a bigger one eventually but this one will work for now.


to extend the tiny length of hose that was already attached to the pump I cannibalized an old washing machine hose that was in my workshop. I had to whittle down the raw end of the washing machine hose to squeeze it in, but for now until I get to home depot for some real stuff, this will work just fine :)


last step for the pre-trials was to fill her with water and let her rip. this "dry" test turned out to be anything but!! the tank itself was the ONLY part of this mamma jamma that did NOT leak. you can see the even water level in the tank all the way across... its supposed to be about 50% less water in the left hand side of the tank. Off to home depot for some aquarium safe silicone when I get some cash. stupid non-profit job :evil:


ultimately that pump will be hidden BEHIND the plastic molding, I just wanted to see how bad the leaks were and how much junk would wash out of the cracks that I missed when washing it, and to see if the pump I have would work in this application. I think everything will work just fine!

next step will be removing the plastic molding from the tank. and thats only IF it will be possible without cracking it. I might have to get creative with the silicone and do it in place.

STAY TUNED!!! ill be journaling every step of this project through the use of my digital camera :)
 
See less See more
5
#3 ·
well, after some discussion im starting to wonder if any amphibians or reptiles would be suitable for such a small swimming area and an even smaller basking area. I have another bigger tank coming this week, so perhaps I'll dissect the principle of the river tank and some of its parts and use it in a bigger tank. Time will tell though! stay tuned for updates :)
 
#5 ·
update! the tank.... has fallen :(

Today I set about removing the rivertank insert and cleaning everything. I used a scraper and razor blade to remove the old silicone, and washed it in the sink with regular dawn. this is what she looks like all taken out and put back together, minus the tank



but alas, when I was washing the tank, a little too much pressure on what im sure was a pre-existing chip or crack...



devastation :( im just going to chuck it seeing as 10 gallon tanks are so cheap. i might get a 15 or 20 and use the insert in that tank instead. time will tell, ill keep yall posted.
 
#6 ·
Sorry to hear about the tank Beetz, that's tough :( Better to have found out about the chip now than later though when you had it all set up.

Anyway.. now's the chance to get a bigger tank, and you will have more options as to what you can keep in it ;)
 
#8 ·
actually yes! lol i just have to take my fire camera out of my car and snap some pics.

I wound up acquiring a 20 gallon long tank, and Gladiator, Sarge, and Dash, 3 firebellied toads :D At the moment im just getting a feel for the little guys, taking care of them and such before I go nuts trying to landscape their tank. I wound up using too deep of a layer of eco complete on top of the gravel and it is seeping into the water. since I dont have a filter until tomorrow, that = brown water lol

BUT as time becomes available (which isnt often between 2 jobs and fighting fires) I will be working out some new ideas for layouts. I want to do a false-bottom to hide a submersible filter with a waterfall discharge, but only time will tell how feasible it really is ;)
 
#10 ·
welp, here is the temporary trial setup all laid out. Im still missing some stuff so bear with me! lol Im using a fish heater on a low setting to keep the water/tank warm, and I goofed a bit. we made it WAY too shallow, so we built the land area up more using that eco earth stuff you have to soak to expand it... but anyway.

the water gets through the gravel with ease and the eco earth i think is turning the water brown. sooo we need to add more gravel so the eco earth substrate is sitting ABOVE the waterline entirely to keep the water clean. THEN i need to find a filter, maybe a tiny canister, to discharge the water up on a shelf inside the cage. then using a ramp the toads will have water, and then 2 levels of land to hide out if they want to go up by the lights to warm up more. that will make a sweet little waterfall as the water runs down and back to the filter. but at any rate... here is the trial tank


there are 3 firebellies, gladiator, sarge and dash in there at the moment. this one here is gladiator :)


stay tuned for more!
 
#12 ·
ive only heard them chirp (the males only do it) once, and they were.... well.... doing it lol i think, or some type of mating thing. They dont make a whole lot of noise, and they are just delightful :D
 
#13 ·
after a MINOR setback... well.... change.... im back up and running. I made one major change, I added 25 more pounds of gravel to get 99.9% of the substrate out of the water rather than it being saturated. This way the semi-aquatic plant I put in there always has tons of water. The eco earth substrate does a great job of pulling up the water and staying moist, and with the redesign its easier to keep it from getting TOO moist.

I forgot to unplug the heater during the swap over, and my shiney happy visitherm aquarium heater blew up. and I mean blew up. SO im leaving them without a heater, but they are doing just fine at about 70 degrees F. I also added a tetra whisper 10 internal aquarium filter to keep the scruffy stuff from accumulating TOO bad in the water, the downside is the shallow water keeps the flow rate way down. couple that with the chunkies that plug it up from the eco earth and im cleaning the filter every night. A piece of screen buried in the gravel under the eco earth might be the ticket.

I bought 2 10 watt florescent bulbs to replace the incandescent ones in the hood, which makes everything look LOTS better, and as I said before I added a semi-aquatic terrarium plant. Oh, and when I bought that stuff I bought myself another firebelly :) now spartan gets along JUST WONDERFUL with sarge, gladiator, and dash.

future improvements include plastic shelves on the back wall for them to climb on, lathered in silicone and covered in sand for a natural look and grip. I might do a whole textured back for the tank! I might also eventually upgrade to an external canister filter to help control the chunkies.

feeding 12 small crickets every other day and the toads are just booming :D

pictures will come later tonight!
 
#17 ·
well, to be honest I lost my camera at a fire scene :( soo until I buy a new digital camera pics are out for a little while. BUT.. so far im up to 4 happy firebellies in my 20 long tank, and while they took a while to warm up to me they are awesome.. and each different and personable.

HOPEFULLY Ill get some more pics of it soon enough, ive not added much but I did rescape the gravel again, and added a reptile heater to the water, and a tetra in-tank filter. the filter doesnt move much water because the water level just barely covers the intake, but it adds motion to the water and keeps some of the gunk out. they are doing awesome on about 12 crickets every other day
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top