DIY Water Bridge

[iansmith]

Getting the air out is easy, just thread an air-tube and suck it out. It's amazing how much air the average humans lungs can hold.

I used that with a little fish diving-bell I was playing around with in a 10 gallon. I also want to make a bridge from plexiglass. (Click for bigger images)



I used some floating pellets to lure the fish up there. The molly learned quick.. would swim up into it whenever I walked by.

Finally going to get him some friends. Tank has cycled (and been upgraded to a 20 long) and I plan on adding some females and Bio-Spira tomorrow.

 

[test4echo]

These bridges are pretty cool. Someone could make lots 'o' moolah selling these.$$$$$$$

 

[AndrewMack]

Getting the air out is easy, just thread an air-tube and suck it out. It's amazing how much air the average humans lungs can hold.

I used that with a little fish diving-bell I was playing around with in a 10 gallon. I also want to make a bridge from plexiglass. (Click for bigger images)



I used some floating pellets to lure the fish up there. The molly learned quick.. would swim up into it whenever I walked by.

Finally going to get him some friends. Tank has cycled (and been upgraded to a 20 long) and I plan on adding some females and Bio-Spira tomorrow.

Where did you get a clear bottle like that, and the water in the bottle or bridge, does it cycle with the tank aswel or is it kinda like two diffrent sections of water? like when i do a water change , do i do a regular change, or do i have to change the water in the bottle/bridge aswel

 

[iansmith]

Where did you get a clear bottle like that, and the water in the bottle or bridge, does it cycle with the tank aswel or is it kinda like two diffrent sections of water? like when i do a water change , do i do a regular change, or do i have to change the water in the bottle/bridge aswel

The bottle is just a large, cheap plastic container of pretzels from Staples.

The bottom (the top actually) of the container is open, so the water will circulate slowly and also gets mixed up when the fish go up and down.

So you don't have to do a seperate water change for it. But if the water level gets low, it will pour out of the container until the level rises up to the mouth of it again.

I am staying away from glass for now, as having a large glass container implode would make a big mess and spray shards everywhere. Plastic at least will simply make a mess.

 

[joephys]

If you extend the pipes of water bridge down to near the bottom of each tank, that should take care of the water change problem, and infact you could change all the takes at once. Drain and fill one tank, and it should drain and fill all of them. To bad you can't vaccume all of the gravel at once....

 

[Native American]

I used that with a little fish diving-bell I was playing around with in a 10 gallon. I also want to make a bridge from plexiglass.

Hmm, would that be an ascent bell from the fish's point of view?

v/r, N-A

 

[AndrewMack]

how hard would it be to construct a water bridge out of Acrylic, using 1/4'' Glass, making the bridge 4x4x40''. How hard would it be to construct that, have it look good and not leak?

 

[chefkeith]

how hard would it be to construct a water bridge out of Acrylic, using 1/4'' Glass, making the bridge 4x4x40''. How hard would it be to construct that, have it look good and not leak?

It would be easy if you use cell-cast acrylic that has been precision cut with a triple chip saw blade or a router. Applying the acrylic solvent cement is easy when every fits together perfectly. I use Weld-on #4 and Weld-on #8 acrylic solvent cement for all my acrylic water- bridges.

I ordered my acrylic from Delvies Plastic. http://www.delviesplastics.com/ACRYLIC SHEET.htm.
They cut the acrylic to my specifications and shipped it out to me.
I e-mailed them my cut-list. I also ordered acrylic solvent cement and an applicator bottle from them.

 

[chefkeith]

How are you getting the air out...are you just sucking it out with the hose by mouth?

Yes, by the hose with my mouth.

 

[chefkeith]

If you extend the pipes of water bridge down to near the bottom of each tank, that should take care of the water change problem, and infact you could change all the takes at once. Drain and fill one tank, and it should drain and fill all of them. To bad you can't vaccume all of the gravel at once....

If you extend the pipes that low you risk emptying all your tanks at once if one tank gets busted by accident. A water-bridge is a large siphon.
The pipes should be low enough though so that you can do a 25% change to all the tanks at once.