Water Bridge??? Is it possible and practical?

[rjk]

Hey everyone.

I googled a bit and found something interesting.
A way to connect 2 tanks and make them one big tank.
A water bridge. Basically it consists out of 2 tanks and a pipe filled with water running from one tank to the other. When i tried it the pipe created suction as those cleaning hoses do.

If anyone has ever tried this and succeeded pls help me to accomplish this.
I don't want to flood my living room again. Hahaha :bigsmile:

[Rory]

Possible yes. Practical, well I'd worry about air getting into the pipe, which it probably will since there's always a few bubbles etc around and it can't escape and then if the volume of water in the bridge is more than the extra capacity in the tanks, or if you're pumping from one tank to the other then you have a disaster... On the siphon boxes for marine tanks they always have a bit of a "bleeder" pipe at the top of the siphon.
eg: this hang on overflow box (basically siphons from inside the tank to outside the tank, then overflows from there.
http://coralvue.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/OB-300S.jpg

[Anine]

Rickus built one:

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?6317-Mantlepiece-project

[Vis]

I remember one of the members built one.

[Rickus]

Give me a shout if you need help. It is actually flippen cool, to see the fish traveling thru the bridge to the new house and back.

[SalmonAfrica]

One concern is the actual cleaning of the bridge - any fish waste or algae that collects in there may be rather difficult to remove, except of course if you can easily dismantle and take apart the bridge.

[Rickus]

My tanks are both 200L. I have a powerhead that pumps 400L/H from the tank on the right to the tank on the left. That creates a current thru the bridge. The bridge is dirty inside but not spotless( and I rinse it out every 2 weeks, with a big waterchange). Thanx to my 4x SAE and Pleco's.
HTH

[rjk]

@Rikus. That looks really A-some!!! Do the tanks need to be the same size? I'll have a read through your post. Looks very in detail. Hope I can follow it. I'm limited in space so I want to use smaller tanks and make a bigger one. All in all about 100l.

[Go-Big]

They dont need to be the same size, they must only be on the same level as the water will level out and if one is lower that the other it would over flow.

[Rickus]

They dont need to be the same size, they must only be on the same level as the water will level out and if one is lower that the other it would over flow.

100% correct

[rjk]

Thanks for the advice! I will start to collect the equipment to build the bridge. It might take a while. Rickus How much did the bridge cost to make? If I may ask.

[Rickus]

The glass (4mm, I think) was about R 30.00 and the silicone R 25 - 30 if I remember correctly...
not that expensive.
PS: Let the glass shop cut the glass and silicone it yourself. The cant do a need job.
Feel fry to PM me, and send your phone number, for further advice, It is easier to speak then type.... LOL
If you understand afrikaans, that would be super cool and easier!!!!!!!!!

[Nirv]

Wanted a water bridge since I saw them the first time... NEED MOAR TANKS :)

Good luck rjk!

[Rickus]

rjk did you build a water bridge ???

[rjk]

Rickus I tried it with a 'geet' and it worked. just need to get the glass and so on. Will try next month again. Finance! hahaha

Thanks again for the help.

[Rickus]

Sweet, now we want pics aswell.

LOL - geet is n gutter... my sus en swaer installeer gete. leker dag