Replicating an ecosystem

[aus_bass]

Hey guys,
Well I currently have a tank up and running though in the near future I am hoping to setup another tank (hopefully 4ft) and plan to replicate a creek in my local region, Repentance Creek (located in the Nightcap Ranges). It has no resident fish species (that I can find anyway) though would look spectacular in a tank as it consists of a rock base with the occasional pocket of small stones/very coarse and irregular gravel and some leaf litter. There is also fallen trees and tree roots along the creek which break up the rocks. There isnt any aquatic vegetation besides the occasional algae growths I have seen.

So how would I go about replicating this ecosystem?
Im guessing that I would need to find a suitable natural or man-made (Ive seen foam rock backgrounds) rock slab to line the bottom and back wall, some gravel/small rocks to fill the pockets and some soaked leaves to add some 'vegetation'.

My main questions are;
> is there a suitable filter with a low output flow but efficient enough for the 200L of the tank?
> seeing as it will mainly be rock as the structure, is there chemicals to prevent/combat the leaching of chemicals from the rocks?

Thanks.

[Speedy]

Sounds like a great idea, but i would still be thinking of fish or invert's for it.
How big is the creek and is it permanant, because if there is water there permanently there are a number of fish and invertebrate species which i would expect.
Of the top of my head there could be empire gudgeon, cox's gudgeon, striped gudgeon, maybe a species of galaxiid, smelt, Melanotaenia duboulayi and possibly a species of Rhad. Probably not all, but maybe one or two.
Those are fish species common in the area, there would also probably be a species of spiny yabby and maybe some glass and riffle shrimp aswell.

I think it would be a great idea to replicate it and if you could have some invert's and maybe even a fish which is native to the creek would make for a really good display tank.

The rock, Depends on what type of rock and were they are from but i would doubt they would leach anything.

I am unsure what filter because you need a lot of water to go through it per hour which would be hard with a low flow

Here are a few photo's which i think would be similar to what you are wanting, its a small creek next to dorrigo national park, sounds like your description anyway.
I think go for it and goodluck. would love to see the outcome.

[aus_bass]

Speedy the creek is just upstream of a 111m waterfall (Minyon Falls) and isolated from any other large creek system by rugged terrain and very dense rainforest. I seriously doubt there are fish species (possibly inverts like yabby species which can traverse overground).

EDIT. The creek is 1m in depth at most and possibly 6m wide, with lots of riffle and small waterfalls along its length and IS permanent.

Im pretty certain that fish/inverts exist below, but the creek below the waterfall is entirely different to that upstream.

[Speedy]

ok. that might definitely stop the fish. There still is a good chance of shrimp and yabbies. I have seen shrimp and yabbies in dams built on springs, kilometers away from a permanent water source, after only a few years of being built, dont ask me how but they got there.

You could still make a great looking tank, with a few yabbies and shrimp. If you had the yabbies and shrimp you could add leaves all the time (providing they are not poisonous) to keep it looking like the stream as they are usually there main food source in rainforest streams.

[Doug]

sounds like a tank i used to have set up a while ago at uni which was full of invertes. It was basically where i put all of the specimans i collected so they could live out their lives. It used to house Yabbies, shimp, prawns, mussles, beetles and lots of insect larvae.

In terms of set up...I would get one of the fake rock walls and ass in some rock for the base. Head down to you local garden centre as they will have all sorts of rocks and gravel to choose from, even look in your back yard for some stuff. a filter with a spray bar will take care of excessive flow. part from that they are easy as to look after.