Brittle star "jail" design. Am I going to have a puddle on my hands? [pic]

[michaelp]

Let's see if I can explain this. The picture is from the side, so the height of the sump is below the jail and the tank is above the jail. the solid lines are what currently exist (my drain and return from the sump). I'd like to make a small hole in the drain to allow a bit of overflow to flow into the "jail" and then cut a small hole to allow overflow from the "jail" back into the sump.

The only problem with this (since there's no pump involved) seems to me that if the drain on the jail got clogged, I could have a giant puddle (since my tank would keep working) but only a small amount since my sump would then stop pumping at some point because the water level got too low.

There's no siphon involved so this seems like a safe setup. anyone have any comments or better ideas to insert a small 20g "jail" into my circulation system.

I can't put the brittles in the sump because they are so big they could climb out (because there are lots of pumps and equipment in the tank that they could climb on).

 

[michaelp]

Also, the sump is behind a cabinet, but the jail would be outside and visible, so that's an advantage too.

 

[lfsmarineguy]

I'm just wondering....why?

 

[NYreefNoob]

me too,

 

[drunktank]

i dont see the reason for this either. The Brittle Stars wont climb out of your sump.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Yeah like everyone said it's overkill, Throw it in your sump and you'll be fine.

 

[emmanuel]

I did this with a pistol shrimp I once caught I siphoned with airline from my overflow into one of those little critter tanks, the tank was sitting on my baffles in the sump and the cover was on it plus a few small holes were drilled around the top rim of the little tank, if for whatever reason the return pump to the main tank shut down the siphon tube would only take a little bit of water from the overflow and break the siphon. The siphon tube was connected to the overflow maybe 2 inches from the surface of the water after doing this for a month or so with no problems I said what the hell and just dumped the little guy in the sump were he lived happily ever after till a year later (this past month) I decided to suck out all the junk from my sump with a wet vac and forgot the pistol shrimp was in there I hope he was hiding in one of the pieces of live rock that was in the sump then again i haven't heard any clicking in a long time RIP little buddy