I'm guessing the Octopus will cost about 30 to ship. I'll take pics today. If anybody needs/wants it. I pay it forward.
I'm a little bummed. I was told that sumps like mine aren't good. Can somebody explain? What sumps are good?
I think there is probably a huge varied opinion on that and I think most have their positives. You could make your's work just fine, but you cold also upgrade it pretty easy if you wanted to. A little DIY can make for an inexpensive sump.
Not sure what kind of money you want to spend, but in my opinion a great option are the fiji cube baffle kits. A cheap petco tank, some silicon and one of their kits can be great.
Your sump being only 3 chambers is not really conducive to having a fuge in it. You could use it and use a small 5 or 10 gallon as a remote fuge. This is what I would do with what you got. Wait for the petco $1/gal sale and get one. Either that or make or buy an acrylic one.
Would you guys link me to better options just using a standard tank? I can't afford a nice sump. Just being honest.
Here are the Fiji cube ones, they offer three sizes. Not the cheapest baffle option but they are nice kits, a friend of mine has one. https://www.fijicube.com/collections/sump-and-filteration
The only thing about those kits is it's going to cost more money to go that way vs. using what you got and making a small remote fuge. A small pump in the overflow section with vinyl tubing to a 5/10 gal tank for fuge. And any container that is food grade will work. Drilled for an overflow that could gravity feed right back to the sump would work great. EDIT: This is actually my plan when/if I ever put one together
I agree with @Fudsey, fiji was just an option if you decide to go all new sump with fuge included. A remote fuge would be pretty easy and cost effective to do.
I think your best option is to keep the sump without fuge, and make a remote display fuge like @Fudsey and @mch1984 said
If you like send me a design you want for a sump and I can make it and send it to you. I built acrylic aquariums, filters, and a bunch of other stuff for the trade for over 30 years I think I could handle a custom sump for you and your son. I can build it to match your Tunze since I have most of the specs for them in my office files. No cost to you! Just trying to fan the flames of your young hobbiest and his new aquarium.
You could do two tiny fish. (Maybe a pair of ocellaris clownfish) I think two shrimp should be fine. Just make sure that you don’t put too many inverts.