ecarter

Here's the other version I was playing with. You get a waterfall and filtration with the HOB, then some more filtration through the gravel. The underground return space could be a lot bigger, I guess. I would screen it off so nobody could get in there, too. In the end, I'm not sure it would get me anything more than just having a HOB filter over the water with the land section hollowed out to allow for water (and some kind of pump to keep things circulating.

Interesting. I've seen some stuff like this online (linked below) when I was trying to figure out how to get a sump connected. The roadblock I had with it was that I don't think I could get the land structure looking natural. I don't have the chops of some of these vivarium people with making fake rocks, etc. But what I like about your design is that the water reservoir is under the land area. It seems like such a shame to waste all that space with just substrate or foam or whatever! What is the reservoir wall for? https://www.dendroboard.com/threads/vivarium-sump.206353/

Sure, @madmark285, I'd be very interested in seeing your idea for an undergravel filter. I thought a little about it but was worried it would be too hard to clean.

Lots of good advice, thank you! What's most convincing is the argument that I should just do this correctly the first time (and then have a working sump for later tanks). Unfortunately, I won't be drilling my tank (I think it's tempered) or going as in-depth into this as I need to, so for now, I'll just pass on the sump. Might return to this in the future. Thanks for all the input!

@madmark285: Interesting, thank you. I set up a very rough version of this last night to play with it and definitely saw that the siphon was WAY faster than the return pump. Which makes lots of sense in retrospect. I'll look into the PVC overflow you linked--thanks for that.

Hello! I have a 40g breeder that I'm preparing for dwarf Indian mudskippers. I recently learned about sumps and wonder if (a) the following design makes any sense and (b) it's worth doing at all. I have heard mudskippers can be messy and water quality can be an issue, so I figured more water volume would be nice. Also, I can put the heater into the sump more easily than into the relatively shallow water of the display tank. In my design, the water moves from the display to the sump with a simple siphon. It is then drawn through the sump by the pump and directed back up into the display. I'm imagining the water return then runs off some rocks or something to create a sort of waterfall/stream. If the pump dies/gets clogged, the siphon will get killed by a hole that's normally below the water level. If the siphon breaks or gets clogged, the pump will lose access to water by eventually causing itself to be out of the water in the sump. Am I missing something obvious here and risking flooding? Or am I possibly just completely overthinking this and the benefits can't outweigh the costs? Thanks!

Totally agree. My plan was actually to paint the foam black. The white-black combo is really intense.

Got the mangroves! They look nice and healthy, just more curly than I was expecting. I've got them staked and not actually planted because I read that it's better to let them grow down and embed themselves in the substrate. I'm still messing with tank design. I'd love to be able to take advantage of the height of the tank and the attached was inspired by @Zenzo's video on making a floating island. Basically a floating surface area with about 15g below (maybe for a fig 8 puffer or some other brackish goby). In practice I'm not sure I actually like it. I'm also concerned mudskippers won't be comfortable since it's a bit of a dropoff to the water. Anyway, definitely having fun trying to find an approach I like and getting into things like expanding foam.

Thank you for the super fast reply! And the advice. I'm not sure what you mean about repositioning the pots. My plan is to actually build an acrylic box as tank top, so I'll have another 6" of clearance without losing humidity. Does that address your point?

Hello! I recently decided to try keeping mudskippers (thanks, @Zenzo!). I got a 29g and put in a special order for dwarf Indian mudskippers at my local fish store. I have no idea when they'll arrive, but I want to make sure their home is ready when they do. I could really use some feedback on the current setup. I have about 5g of water in here, a sponge filter, and a small pump to make sure the filtered water fully circulates around the tank. I'll put a heater in there, too. And I'm planning to add some more sand. I've also order some red mangroves to go into the terracotta pots. The goal is brackish, but I believe the local fish store keeps mudskippers in freshwater, so I plan to start there and slowly acclimate them up. Does this seem like a reasonable tank design? Should I add more land and less water? Any advice is very welcome! Also, I'd like to get 3-4, but I'm not sure the tank is big enough. No other tank mates planned, maybe some nerite snails. Thank you!