Snodgers

My first sump was a 30 gallon storage tote with poret foam dividers, lava rock in the bottom, and a tetra fountain pump as the return to filter a 29 gallon. I later upgraded to a 40 long with the same sump, and now have the same 40 long and a 90 attached to a 40 gallon tote sump. What I like about both sumps I made was I placed them on cinder blocks high enough to drain through a spigot on the bottom into a 5 gallon bucket, and I could put the heaters in the tote and make the aquarium look cleaner. This is really cool for my current 2 tank 1 sump setup, because I heat both tanks using the same inkbird controlled heaters. Each time I made a sump, I wanted to do a freshwater refugium but hadn't figured out how to make it work. But I may have an idea now partly inspired by the OP. Current layout of sump: Inlet [coarse poret foam] lava rock [fine poret foam] return pump and heater I might switch this to the following: Inlet with lava rock as refugium [coarse poret foam][fine poret foam] return pump and heater I may try putting neocardinia in this lava rock refugium and see how it goes. I could see a possibility for putting fry in here too, but as of yet I don't have a filter sock for the inlet pipes, so the turbulence may be a bit much for the fry if they wander too close to the inlet. This would also mean I need to alter the tote lid to make it easier to access. I already have an accidental snail population in the sump, they are clearly feeding on something in the sump, so why not try putting a colony of neos in there?

For this same species, I've been trying to hatch a spoonful of peat with eggs from a breeder, and have only gotten as far as 3 days post hatch survival. I'm feeding vinegar eels. First attempt I tried placing them in a new container with an eyedropper, bit gave them like 4 drops of vinegar eels a day. 2nd time I left them in the container they hatched in and gave them more like 2 vinegar eel drops per day, and changed 50% of the water after day 2 (unchlorinated). The hatching container is a glass pot about 2.5" high and 2" in diameter. What should I try next to improve survival? My pH is probably 7.8.

Do I have less than display tank volume + sump volume because of substrate, equipment, decor, and fish?

If I have a 40 long, and a ~20 gallon sump, do I dose enough easy green for 40 gallons, or for 60 gallons?

So the screen is going straight into a bulkhead instead of attaching an overflow box to the hole in the side of the aquarium via a bulkhead. Does that help?

Has anyone had experience with using a suction screen for the outlet taking water to a sump filter in a freshwater tank? I'm upgrading my tank and the upgrade is drilled, but the overflow box for my old tank is a HOB style, and the top of the new tank is such it won't accommodate the HOB overflow even if I plugged the holes. Pros and cons of both? Thanks in advance!

Has anyone had experience with using a suction screen for the outlet taking water to a sump filter in a freshwater tank? I'm upgrading my tank and the upgrade is drilled, but the overflow box for my old tank is a HOB style, and the top of the new tank is such it won't accommodate the HOB overflow even if I plugged the holes. Pros and cons of both? Thanks in advance!