starting a fuge

i just bought 2 snails that cost me 6$ and my hermits ate them. so im frustrated and figured id just make my fuge and put the hermits in there. my idea is to put a 10 gal fuge. no skimmer just fuge and return pump. skimmer will come at a later date and configuration. i have a few questions.

can i raise pods in a fuge with hermits in it? (future mandarin plans)
can i get beach sand ( i live in CT) and just boil it for my DSB?
can i drill a hole in the bottom of my hob filter and run plumbing into the fuge for the feed line? (cant drill tank and looking for cheaper alternative to an overflow kit)
what am i looking at paying for the return pump required for such low flow?

as usual thanks for the responses in advance

 

Hermits will hunt snails to find a new home...provide them with empty shells and it may help in the massacres.
I wouldnt get beach sand...way too polluted..even to boil...think about all the car exhaust and people pollution...yuck...
I would just get an overflow kit..ur asking for trouble drilling a HOB filter.
And probably around $30-40

 

Well let's see... Hermits would be fine in a refugium but maybe not with copepods, but then again I'm not entirely sure but I wouldn't put them together just to make sure nothing bad happens. Beach sand is just WAY too polluted; you can blame humans for that lol. If you wanna raise some copepods, you can do what I'm going to do, which is get a separate tank, get ideal conditions like a regular fishtank (no cycling really needed), and just get a box or container with live copepods, putem in the tank, and feed them with phytoplankton. I would recommend looking it up some more though; I'm still learning how to avoid a culture crash.

 

i actually have alot of random shells scattered around the tank for that reason. i also had 2 snails i dont know what kind but they havent even looked at them i dont get it. and there is no way i can setup another tank besides a fuge lol im lucky i can fit the one i have

 

I would look into getting a HOB refugium or even a DIY HOB fuge.

 

would it be worth the money for that small of a refugium i plan on adding an additional 10 gal tank with a skimmer and move the return pump into the same tank as the skimmer

 

Do a small fuge with like 5 mangroves and it will be well worth it...mangroves eat a LOT of nitrates and other bad things in the water.