Could plants fix this issue?

[MattW]

This is grossly how I would have planned... I have "0" experience with paludariums

First paludarium I have ever built. I usually just use small internal filters in my tanks. I'll take your filtration advice on if I ever make another one . I mainly used Tanner's build videos from older setups he did (SerpaDesign) when I made this one.

 

[MaloK]

Me too, the specification versus the real life results of devices alters the speed the water really flows in the tank at the end.

 

[seangee]

If you don't want rooted plants one option may be to install a small circulation pump / wavemaker to disturb the substrate, just enough to move the mulm but not the substare itself. Initially it will make the water cloudy as it kicks up the mulm but over time this will be removed from the water column by your filter. And you could set it on a timer so that it only comes on when you are asleep . I did this in a past tank and eventually just had the wavemaker running for 30 minutes overnight.