for $10 at home depot i just made something simular to that but i went a bit further and basiclly i made a parimater of pcv around the tank on the bottom under the sand minus the very front and at each corner of the tank i have the
pvc coming out of the sand about 12-15 inchs and drilled holes into each riser in all diff directions !! if yous worried about the
pvc look my idea was to cover it with super glue or what not and cover it with sand/
cc/or rock !! right now the water is pumped via the sump !! to keep ya from losing everybit of water if ya lose power right at the water level on the return peice drill a hole so if ya lose water it will not flow due to it suckin air and stopping the reverse flow !! but i want to get like a 1000 pump and set it more like a closed loop !! which makes me ask cause i havnt done it yet but if you make a closed loop and have the pump on the floor sucking water in and out of the tank thru 1/2"
pvc would it prime its self if the power goes out ??? i think it would !! then no powerheads would be in the tank just my thought