Freshwater Underground Filter Questions

[Gold3nku5h]

I am building a paludarium, from a 45 gallon tank with half land and half freshwater.
The water feature will be shaped like an L with a 24"x8"x8" long side and 8"x8"x8" short side making the total volume about 8.8 gallons.
I have a 1-1/2 hole drilled and am thinking about an under-gravel filter, or just having coarse enough gravel to let everything be taken care of by the sump.
Do you guys have any ideas what might work best?
I was thinking possibly a bulkhead with a strainer, an under-gravel filter that drains through to the sump tank to be filtered more, or a basically DIY under-gravel filter that acts pretty much just like a mechanical filter to be pre-filtered before the sump.

I am planning on using a coarse grain substrate no matter what, and i dont plan on any freshwater fish, shrimp, or snails, but i am not opposed to having any. I will have aquatic plants living in the water side too, and plenty of them at that.

Thanks for your help, i love learning from your forum.

 

[RubberFrog]

If you intend to keep plants, your not going to want to use gravel. Go with fluorite. Your plants will absorb iron through their roots and they'll have a hard time getting enough out of the water, no matter how much flourish excel you dose. Plus fluorite has a very natural look that will go well with the look you're going for. Also, it works very well as a substrate for a ugf.

 

[Gold3nku5h]

Thank you, i will add that to my list of products and supplies.

 

[jayjigga]

I would probably join plantedtank . net, since a lot of what we do here won't help nearly as much. They are just as awesome as the community here. I'm a member of both. Good luck!

 

[Gold3nku5h]

thanks, im checkin that out right now. i get help from all places

 

[xCry0x]

Aw, I skimmed the thread and thought he was making a saltwater land/water setup.

Was thinking how cool it would be to have something with sand & some small land reptile/amphibian like a leopard gecko then have a lr wall/barrier which falls off into a pico reef w/ some macro algaes & planted mangroves.

 

[Gold3nku5h]

the only plant i know of that is heavy salts tolerant is the coconut, and that cant work in a tank!

 

[xCry0x]

the only plant i know of that is heavy salts tolerant is the coconut, and that cant work in a tank!

Macro algae are marine plants, same with mangroves.

 

[allsps40]

I agree an under gravel style filter will work just fine. Some ghost shrimp and small tetras are a cool addition to planted tanks.