[xxoczukxx]

here

from what i understand its basically a pump to circulate the water a bit in a very shallow pool of water as utricularia graminifolia grows best in these conditions.

can anyone explain how i would set this up/what kind of materials are needed? Im looking for a basic thing, for a sloped tank for the water to run down the slope get taken into an input and back up, kind of like a waterfall

 

[PlantedRich]

Much of it will depend on what you find works for you and you can get. I would suggest one of the tiny little pumps like table top fountains, Put it into the low spot with some form of screen to keep debris back and then use whatever adapters needed to go to the small tubing like irrigation tubing as it is easy to fit together and flexible to make changes. One way to make a manifold is PVC pipe, drilled to fit 10-32 fittings and use airline tubing. The manifold doesn't need to be any special shape as the water volume to each spot is not important. The tubing ends can be sealed by heating and mashing them flat when hot. That lets you add holes for outlets along the tubing. Larger or more holes will tend to slow the stream pressure at each hole. Use cheap stuff and trial and error will teach the rest.
Same as garden irrigation systems?

 

[xxoczukxx]

Much of it will depend on what you find works for you and you can get. I would suggest one of the tiny little pumps like table top fountains, Put it into the low spot with some form of screen to keep debris back and then use whatever adapters needed to go to the small tubing like irrigation tubing as it is easy to fit together and flexible to make changes. One way to make a manifold is PVC pipe, drilled to fit 10-32 fittings and use airline tubing. The manifold doesn't need to be any special shape as the water volume to each spot is not important. The tubing ends can be sealed by heating and mashing them flat when hot. That lets you add holes for outlets along the tubing. Larger or more holes will tend to slow the stream pressure at each hole. Use cheap stuff and trial and error will teach the rest.
Same as garden irrigation systems?

what kind of thing would i use to keep the pump area clear? in the post i linked they had like a corner blocked off, but how would i achieve that?

 

[Clear Water]

So to me this looks like a revers flow under gravel filter. I have heard and seen one other tank set up this way. Plants grew like weeds. I didn't read the whole article but it didn't look that hard to do. One thing I would plan on is being able to get to the pump as time goes on it will need to replaced or repaired. There lots of other ways to do this even using pre made under gravel filters. I say go big with the pump your defiantly going to have back pressure.

 

[PlantedRich]

I look at this as something like a basement sump area only instead of pumping water out of a basement, the water is pumped back to the floor!!!
To build the sump, one could use something like heavy weight plastic grid. Light diffuser (AKA eggcrate?) is easy to cut and fit. Plastic ties to hold the vertical walls together and then add a "lid" for access to the pump. Simple and cheap while working out the design is something like a plastic milk jug, cut off and slits in the walls. A nibbler makes a nice easy job of cutting the slits. Maybe a nice décor item like rock or wood to conceal the lid? To further improve the straining effect of the walls, some really course sponge might be cut and fit on the outside of the eggcrate. It may take some play to find the correct amount of filtering media so keep in mind using more than one wall for the sump. I would think of the sump much like media in filters and go from the course stuff down to finer as it gets closer to the pump. I would not think large flow would be good, so a really small pump and let the water flow back gravity style rather than use a large pump. More like hydroponics use the pump as a simple way to get the water back to run through again. Same as a HOB, except the water moves by gravity rather than sucked over the side by the filter?

 

[Nordic]

Sounds like those underwater waterfall with sand without the sand. I would just make the horizontal intake leg long. To get this system balanced correctly a stable water level will be needed... There are some DIY top up solutions.