DIY Water Bridge

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zave2340

WWW - Wondrful Water World
Jan 31, 2005
232
0
0
38
Elmvale
OKAY

i know someone here has made one. I am looking for directions to make a water bridge. Thanks. I know there is clear PVC pipe, but is costs a arm and leg.
 

raymond_h2002

AC Members
Oct 24, 2005
42
0
0
Ever since I was a kid I've always wanted to do this across several tanks in different rooms of the house!

I wonder how water changes work in these set-ups.. Looks like the bridge has to be drained and filled every single time?
 

Hannys_Papa

AC Members
Aug 31, 2005
596
0
0
Upstate NY
Depending on your bridge setup draining and filling it every time would probably be a royal PITA.

The few times i read about water bridge setups the people had the bridges reach so low into the tanks that they could at least do a 25% water change without draining the bridge. Or they used a sump setup - where they emptied the sump in a waterchange so that the level in the bridged display tanks never lowered.

Maybe PM "chefkeith" - he has bridged tanks and could maybe tell you how he does his WCes.
 

beviking

Senior Member, Sophomoric Attitude
Feb 16, 2002
2,550
0
36
54
Syracuse, NY
I would try to install a small valve on the top of the bridge so you could open it and suck out the air, then close it when it's full of water. The threaded airline valves might be a bit small if the bridge was larger. Could try a "U" tube design to suck out the air.
 

beviking

Senior Member, Sophomoric Attitude
Feb 16, 2002
2,550
0
36
54
Syracuse, NY
:D Just note that I said "try". That's b/c I have never done it. Seems like it would work. Questionable points though are: What kind of pressure would it take to draw "X" amount of water up into a bridge "X" in size and of course, how good are your lungs ;)

FWIW...BE-Viking is how I intended it...but you're not the only one to see bevi-king. I'm not even the king of my own castle, just a slave to the aquaria :D
 

chefkeith

Loach Inspector
Aug 17, 2003
674
0
16
Detroit
I have 4 tanks connected together with water-bridges. A 190g, 95g, 90g, and 85g tanks. I've tried several methods to build the bridges. I now only use 3/8" clear cell-cast acrylic to build the bridges. I've built them with clear acrylic pipe and pvc elbows also, but I didn't care much for them.

There is a book you can buy online for $10 that tells you how to build them at
http://fishighway.com/. I bought the book and used some of the ideas to make my bridges.

For me, water changes are much easier with water-bridges because I don't have to take water out of each tank. I do about 20% water-change; that's about 100gallons. If I did a bigger change, I'd have to wait for my 50g water-heater to get warm again. I don't have to refill the bridges during each change, the openings for the bridges are about 6" from the top of the tanks.

Filling the bridges with water is easy if you have a length of 3/8" hose.
I have a video of this here-
Click here to watch waterbridge

I have pic's in my link below.
 

Sploke

resident boozehound
Staff member
Oct 20, 2005
6,797
64
75
42
South Windsor, CT
Real Name
Matt
How are you getting the air out...are you just sucking it out with the hose by mouth?
 
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