DIY Aqua Bridge?

aqua001

I've seen people who connected 2 tanks together by an aqua bridge and I thought it would be cool to make one. Who here has made one and could tell me how to? Thanks!!!

ninjablackghostknife

I have thought about the same type of thing. What I was going to do is get some clear acrylic pipe and do a drill out of the tank, and do it that way. I have seen a restaurant do that...it was cool. I wished I had brought my camera for that dinner. Aqua-Bridge

aqua001

I found this link: Connect Two Aquariums : The Aquarium Bridge | The Real Owner

But how do u suck the water into the bridge? Also, I've heard the siphon effect be mentioned but could someone give me a more details explanation of what that is? Thanks!

aqua001

I know about the siphon effect now but still don't know how to put the water into the tube. Anyone?

TheShadyBird

If I were doing such a thing, this is what I would do:

-> I would place the bridge so that both ends are fully underwater
-> The I would take some airline hosing, or possibly something a bit thicker, like the hose on a gravel vac, and run it UNDER one end of the bridge, up INTO the air that is captured inside.
---->Another option is to have the hose already attached to the bridge in such a way that when submerged, the end of the hose will be as near the top of the bridge as possible. This method will also allow the bridge to be set into the water more easily, as the air trapped will be pushed out when the water rises in the individual ends.
-> NEXT is the tricky part. VERY CAREFULLY, being super sure to have a thumb ready to cover the end of the tube, I would use my mouth to suck the air out of the bridge. Such as when blowing up a balloon, you would suck out air, create a seal with your mouth, breathe, then repeat the process until all, or nearly all of the air had been removed from the cavity.
---->You can MAYBE use a vacuum to do this, by creating a seal between the nozzle of the vacuum and the end of the tube (a balloon would actually be useful here, if you think about it), but there is a HUGE risk of a) sucking water into your vacuum cleaner, which could be a very bad thing, or b) once you turn off the cleaner, which isn't airtight, unless you are ABSOLUTELY READY, air from your cleaner could be sucked into your bridge, making one heck of a mess. I'd stick to the mouth method, it is much easier to control.
---->To assist removing the air, you, or even better, an assistant, could tilt the bridge so that while both ends are still fully submerged, the air that is trapped moves to the higher end, where you can remove it more efficiently.
-> Once you have removed as much of the air as you can, BEING SURE TO KEEP THE HOSE CLOSED WITH YOUR MOUTH OR YOUR THUMB, remove the other end from your bridge. Empty the hose back into your tank, and Voila, Aquabridge.

That's how I would do it, anyway :3

aqua001

Wow... some complicated stuff! Thanks so much!!!

Barkington

I've read of someone making a similar bridge using clear PVC and using PVC endcaps that were screwed on after it was completely filled with water. They then bracketed the device in place, and proceeded to unscrew the endcaps allowing for the flow of water. As long as their is no air in the tube you'll be fine. I assume something similar can be done with a powerhead perhaps? With the input inserted into the end on one side, sucking the water from the other end out. I'm not certain this would remove 100% of the air but I'm sure it is do-able. Good luck to you! If I get my broke college kid self a decent chunk of change to start this kinda project I'll be sure to post pictures. I most definitely intend to do something similar fairly soon.

EDIT: I'm new here...wasn't paying attention to the thread I necro'd. Apologies to anyone inconvenienced by this.