My Water Bridge Project Is Completed Plus A Tower

[BigIan]

is this thing still running???

 

[Lord Zogat]

is this thing still running???

Tanks are running fine, bridge has never failed. Tanks have been running and cycling for almost a month and a half now.

Oxygen comes out of the water and collects in the top of the bridge (temp is cranked for fishless cycle, so oxygen escapes the water more frequently). I simply work a small tube up into the bridge, get the end in the air pocket and suck it out, lots of hose so no water in my mouth.

I have the intake of the large filter in the smaller tank, forces water through the bridge. One night the water evaporated low enough that the filter started sucking air, woke me up, no big deal it was well above the bridge ends so the bridge never failed. I just jammed the intake further down into the tank, then next day topped up the water and pulled intake back above the level of bridge ends.

If I wasn;t home, worse thing is the filter would suck air until I got back.

If power goes out, nothing happens except water stops cycling between tanks until the power comes back on.

If I can ever get this fishless cycle to complete I'll have fish and pictures of them using it.

 

[Lateral Line]

If I wasn;t home, worse thing is the filter would suck air until I got back.

Something you should be aware of is that the motors of most powered filters require water to cool them. A pump "sucking air" may well overheat. At best, it'll just get hot, more normally, parts of the unit distort destroying the pump, which can be costly to repair/replace. I guess in the extreme, it may catch fire, but I've never heard of that happening.

Anyway, it is something you want to avoid. I burnt out an Eheim powerhead out by forgetting to switch it off while changing water, it wasn't normally on that tank so I just forgot about it.

 

[Lord Zogat]

If I wasn;t home, worse thing is the filter would suck air until I got back.

Something you should be aware of is that the motors of most powered filters require water to cool them. A pump "sucking air" may well overheat. At best, it'll just get hot, more normally, parts of the unit distort destroying the pump, which can be costly to repair/replace. I guess in the extreme, it may catch fire, but I've never heard of that happening.

Anyway, it is something you want to avoid. I burnt out an Eheim powerhead out by forgetting to switch it off while changing water, it wasn't normally on that tank so I just forgot about it.

Thanks I will keep it in mind, however there will be at least a cup of water still in the filter even if its sucking air, this may help a bit. I don't ever intend to allow it to suck air.

 

[troutfly]

If I wasn;t home, worse thing is the filter would suck air until I got back.

Something you should be aware of is that the motors of most powered filters require water to cool them. A pump "sucking air" may well overheat. At best, it'll just get hot, more normally, parts of the unit distort destroying the pump, which can be costly to repair/replace. I guess in the extreme, it may catch fire, but I've never heard of that happening.

Anyway, it is something you want to avoid. I burnt out an Eheim powerhead out by forgetting to switch it off while changing water, it wasn't normally on that tank so I just forgot about it.

Thanks I will keep it in mind, however there will be at least a cup of water still in the filter even if its sucking air, this may help a bit. I don't ever intend to allow it to suck air.

This is a great idea, I have 2 - 10gal tanks sitting side by side under one of my 55gal. I think a way to prevent a syphoning problem if the power goes out would be to use a cannister filter syster instead of a over the back type filter. That way you could use one tank as the intake and one for the exhaust side of the filter creating a "sealed" system and not having to worry about loosing the water preasure in the fish bridge. Just my opinion, who knows, I maybe wrong.

 

[Spinal]

This is a great idea, I have 2 - 10gal tanks sitting side by side under one of my 55gal. I think a way to prevent a syphoning problem if the power goes out would be to use a cannister filter syster instead of a over the back type filter. That way you could use one tank as the intake and one for the exhaust side of the filter creating a "sealed" system and not having to worry about loosing the water preasure in the fish bridge. Just my opinion, who knows, I maybe wrong.

Though a good idea, over time this will cause problems if left unnatended.

-If your bridge is lower than your filter intake:
--If you let the water evaporate to such a level that the filter intake draws air, your filter can overheat

-If you bridge is higher than your filter intake
--If the water level evaporates to such a level that the bridge fails, your filter will drain one tank, and make the other overflow...

 

[Lord Zogat]

[This is a great idea, I have 2 - 10gal tanks sitting side by side under one of my 55gal. I think a way to prevent a syphoning problem if the power goes out would be to use a cannister filter syster instead of a over the back type filter. That way you could use one tank as the intake and one for the exhaust side of the filter creating a "sealed" system and not having to worry about loosing the water preasure in the fish bridge. Just my opinion, who knows, I maybe wrong.[/color]

Remember, if the power goes out, the filter stops sucking water from the one tank to the other, therefor the level does not change in either tank. The levels would always remain balanced. The only time you have to worry about the syphon causing an overflow is if one tank is mounted higher than the other. the water will always backflow into the lower of the two tanks until it balances or the bridge fails.

Another way to prevent an overflow if the bridge fails, is to work a small spout into the top frame of a tank such that its just lower than the frame itself at the tank top. That way if the bridge fails, the water would pump into the one tank until the filter sucks air. If the extra water pumped is enough to fill the tank, the overflow spout could direct the water into an emergency container.

Same principle as a over flow hole in your bathroom sink!

There are many ways you could get around failure issues.

 

[Lord Zogat]

Anyone else have a waterbridge or Water Tower, please post pics so we can all see?

 

[PaPeRo]

Haha cool idea and nice custom work too. I look forward to seeing fish travel over the bridge.

 

[jgray152]

So whats the point of bridging? So the 2 tanks have the same water as each other? so the fish can go from one tank to another?

 

[Lord Zogat]

So whats the point of bridging? So the 2 tanks have the same water as each other? so the fish can go from one tank to another?

Thats pretty much it, also it looks cool to see them travel from one side to the other. Its actually fairly simple to do if you have access to the plexi glass, a scroll saw and can get some clear acrylic tubing which is becoming more common on ebay.

 

[Lord Zogat]

They have used the bridge! I will get some better pics when I catch the sneaky buggers crossing over. I was suprised to find I already have baby midnight platy.

I have since covered the bridge in white so the next few pics show up better.

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Kitty just discovered there are fishies in the tanks....meow

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A few of a Danio using the bridge.

 

[zoekin8yg]

That is so cool! Congrats!

 

[Lord Zogat]

Hoorayyy!!! Cool!

So I'm curious...do the fish prefer one tank over the other? Or do they swap homes regularly?

So far since they have only been in for a day or two, if they use the bridge its appears to be pure luck and for exploring. They have not yet figured out that they can go back and forth at any time. The fish will go to the other tank and then stay there and not venture back into the tube again until again they happen to swim in it.

Hopefully over time they will realise its a bridge from one tank to the next and use it much more often.

There have been several that have crossed back and forth at one point or another usually when I am not here.

I have also sunk a small 6 inch by 1 inch square clear acrylic square tube into the tank, they are curious and may eventually play by swiming through it.

The Danios are a great addition to the tank, they zip around and add some action and get along well with the Platy.

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Looks like Mommy Midnight Platy went for a peek! The paper is wrapped aropund the tube for now to make taking pictures easier.

 

[Lord Zogat]

Ah Ha! I finally caught some other fish in the bridge and the newly installed tower.

Here are the tanks with the bridge and Tower. The tower is very easily removed, and a plug covers the hole. I placed a hose at the top of the tower, you simply suck the air out or until the water is at the level you want then plug the hose. In the event that it needs to be drained quickly with out disturbing the water, you pull the plug, the water drops a few cm every second until the tower is empty.

And here is the tower and a Platy in it. The Danios were in it too but not as good of a picture.