Local Biotope
 

I'm thinking of starting up a biotope of either my local river or lake, but I have a few questions about the technicalities of it. It would be a ten gallon, as that's all I have room for. The only fish in the lake/river are mosquitos, and I think they'd outgrow the 10gal, although I'm not sure. I'd most likely end up with just snails/plants and maybe a few 'water bugs'.

My first question is substrate. I would use the sand from the water source, correct? Should it be rinsed or just placed directly in the tank?

Second question is lighting. The tank would be situated on a nightstand, in front of a southern facing window. Would I still need a light fixture for plants? Should I paint the back of the tank black to block out the sun?

And finally filtration. The lake obviously doesn't have a 'current' and the river has a very slow one. Do I just keep the tank very filled to avoid a strong filter current?

Thanks for any help! If anyone else out there has set up a local biotope, I'd love to hear about your experiences :D

*mosquito fish. Just to be clear, haha.

I'd be tempted to start with new substrate that mimics the natural substrate. Just a safety precaution that I would take. There are some beautiful window aquariums on the site. You might look them up and ask the owners. A southern exposure would provide fairly strong light for a relatively long period. You could have an algae problem. Again, Probably best to check with the window aquarium folks. You would probably do fine with a filter rated for a 10 gallon tank.

Cool idea! Post some pics as you can.