30L set up for native aquatic salamanders

[kerokero]

Ok, so they are going to be moved into a new tank, and wanted to figure out the last few details.

The big one is substrate... they are currently housed nn play sand. I like this mostly because it was what they were in before I got them, it doesn't scratch them up, and they can dig around in it (they like to dig cavities under driftwood and rocks and such). I've gotten to play with some of the 3M stuff at some of the get togethers and while a larger particle, it has been recomended to me since others have kept loaches on it with no issues. I also like that it's darker, so it may be more comfortable for the dark brown salamanders vs. the very light play sand. Any other thoughts on substrates for my loach like critters, or arguments for/against the above?

I don't know what I'll be doing plant wise... It will have floating plants so it won't have much light, so it looks like I'll be doing clumps of anubias and such. They will have PVC pipes and flower pot caves to hide in, and I want to try and hide them with some driftwood and plantings. Leaf litter will also be all over the place for cover.

The "filter" will be a powerhead with a sponge on the intake... mostly because sponge filters seem to be the way to go for aquatic sals that don't need super high water flow, and it also won't filter out all the live foods I'll be feeding them.

Thoughts and ideas on how to make it look more like a native slow water stream?

[PaulS]

Corey,
No suggestions but please post pics when you get it setup. Sounds really interesting.
Paul

[Ltrepeter2000]

I cant seem to find the site I had bookmarked about a stream set up but I have seen several that seemed functional. Basic set up is taking PVC under the substrate and putting your intake(sponge filter over pipe end at one end of the tank and put the PVC in a fat U shape to put the output(powerhead) on the other end of the tank. The one I was looking for though is a bit more complicated because it had more than one intake at different heights of the tank and the substrate sloped from top right(closest to the output) to bottom left(Last intake with screen filter) The slope of the substrate was broken up with hard scape to have three levels of intake that simulated eddy's in the stream(think the space under a rock in a river to cause the water to circulate before moving on. I saw it done in a 33 gallon long tank and the output was almost at the top of the tank. All three of the intakes were sent by PVC back to the output for constant flow. I think that the intakes had different size pipes so that the first intake was largest and the last smallest to avoid the first intake being where all the water circulated. Just a thought. I will try to sketch it out on Powerpoint tonight and post it.

[kerokero]

I will definately try to... I want to get it as natural as I can so I've been looking at slow water fish tanks... but there are so few really good ones that I've found pics of (likely not looking in the right places). It won't be heavily planted as these guys "walk" around the tank and the vertically oriented plants tend to be problematic while they like slipping through the leaf litter. I'm thinking some burly peices of driftwood in the tank (if I can find them) and some strategic plant placement. Really depends on what I end up finding to use. Trying to make it look like a bend in a stream where the water is slower...

The stream eddy idea sounds pretty awesome, and would definately be interesting to try with some of the other Mudpuppies! These particular guys tend to be found in slow moving to even still water, compared to their stream inhabiting relatives. They actually have been raised up with little to no water movement so far...

A thought I was having was possibly using Bolbitus in the tank... with the powerhead the aquatic fern may be happy, and it would grow emergent out of the tank too! Hmmm...

[Ltrepeter2000]

You could stick with the U design then but use the layering technique of the other design to create the eddy spaces but no water movement. Your sponge filter would have to be slightly higher to create little movement in the surface of the substrate.

[kerokero]

I'd love to see the sketch of it... I'm a visual person so I'm having issues trying to figure out exactly how that would be lol. Or if you're going to the next meeting, I should be there! I can bring a sketch pad with me

[PadreJP]

I have absolutely nothing worthwhile to offer in terms of advice but I just wanted to say, you're bringing back some fond memories for me when I read you talking about setting up an artificial stream. Back in a previous life (before my life as a seminarian and then priest), I was a grad student in DOGEE (Department of Geography & Environmental Engineering) at Johns Hopkins, and in the basement of our departmental building our geomorphology/hydrology folks had a massive artificial river set up.

By massive, I mean it was about 2' wide, 3-4' deep, and at least 30' long.

It was quite a sight to see. It wasn't planted, rather, it was designed to study things like studying downstream erosion rates of varying particles sizes of sands, or varying rates of silt deposition in aquatic systems. While that wasn't my particular specialty (my focus was the environmental chemistry of pesticides and other complex organic pollutants), I would occasionally help out down in the "river room" (as we called it) when some of my fellow grad students down there needed an extra pair of hands while running an experiment.

Anyway...like I said, that was a previous life. It's been a while since I've actually recalled my times down in the "river room" so it was fun for me to think about it again.