Hi Laura;

As far as I know, these aren't made any longer. They fell out of favor due to the artificial look of the plastic inserts, the small amount of water couldn't keep very many fish healthy, and the planting spaces weren't very useful. They also cost an arm and a leg! Several pet stores around here had them for a little while then got rid of them.

I also bought one recently, for a great discount, because the pet store couldn't sell it. I got it for less than a plain tank of the same size. I'll be taking out the plastic inserts and scraping off silicone from the front. The back will be covered with a more natural background, I'll be turning it into a vivarium of my own making.

If you want to try it as designed, you'll need a powerhead or good sized fountain pump to move the water. There should be a place in back for the pump, and you run tubing from the outlet up a narrow channel (also in visible the plastic), through a hole into an upper pool. It then spills down a couple levels and returns under the plastic to the pump. Any pet store employee good with aquariums can help you find the right size pump.

To set it up, watch to see where the water will flow, and where the water will be showing through the front glass (if it isn't obvious, just set it up with water only and watch it).

Then, use clean aquarium gravel to fill the planting spaces and holes until the gravel is higher than the water level. You can plant directly into the gravel, or top the gravel (above the water line) with some potting soil to plant in. Be careful if using soil- a little slip can make a huge mess in the water! Fill up with water again, and it's a good idea measure how much water you actually put in.

After you've got the water going and the "land" parts planted, then do the usual cycling of the tank just like a regular aquarium. Remember to treat it like a tank the size of the actual water amount- not like a 30 gallon tank.

Mine's in storage now or I'd get pictures, sorry. Hope this helps a little.

Vincent

Hi Laura,
If you are still interested, I inherited a tank from another teacher complete with manual. I could copy it for you if you like.
Kim

I have a river tank 125 gallon check out my pics in the gallery
also I posted some pics on webshots also do a search in garden web this topic was talked about in previous forms. I'll sell you mine if the price is right everything included
here is the webshots link
community.webshots.com/album/269965173ZAvmIn