I am in the process of setting up a Paludarium and have a few questions. If you can answer any of them please do. Some are asking a lot i know, but i cant really find any great answers online.
1. I will have roughly 7 - 7 3/4 inches of water in the 18" tank. What i need ti know is will I be able to run a fluval 204, 404 or even an aqua-clear powerfilter that sits on the side of the tank. will there be enough suction from any of these to work properly.
2. If the above will not be able to work with that little water, then would it be possible to attach a small pump to the intake of one of the fluvals? (matching correct pump to suction rates). And if this is a problem what about using the fluval powerless with the impeller removed with the pump hooked up to the intake. (figured i would at least ask before trying for myself haha)
3. Since I will be having two sections of land separated by water (will be a bridge or sorts joining them) the land portions will need some sort of drainage for any spilled water or other drainage needs. What would be the best method of doing this properly. I do not really want to use two separate false bottoms here so what I was thinking about doing is running a small pvc tube down each corner where the land portions are and notching a hole in one side with screen over it, and whenever i needed to do some draining i can just hook the shop vac up and suck it out haha. I also read that putting a nice layer of carbon down will help just like it does in a filter, is there any drawback from doing this.
4. Currently i have no idea how i am going to "decorate" the back glass. what would be the best way to create a natural looking background without taking up too much space.
5. What is the best sort of top to use, i was thinking of making one out of plexi with some small holes drilled into it (possibly even a computer fan if there is a need), so that i could preserve humidity and so that the critters inside wont get out.
( I have attached a pic to give you a basic idea of what the two separate land plots will look like so you can understand what i am talking about.)
