# Water Bridge !!!



## Alex123 (Jul 3, 2008)

I like to try new things and concepts and folks this is an awesome awesome idea for us NPT ppl. I have two tanks at home 10 and 20 and have these small community fishes in there. I always wanted to connect the two tanks together so that the fishes can swim between the two. I first thought maybe drilling holes and connecting them with a small bridge. That idea was shot down as it is too much trouble. Then after some search, I found the concept of siphoning and came across the "fish highway" web site and it inspired this water bridge concept. Basically it is a upside down "U' shaped siphon that allows the small fishes to go through. I found that they sell 1.25" and 1.5" U-Tube siphon on the web perfect for allowing small fishes to swim through from one tank to the other. To create circulation, a water pump can pump water from one tank to the other and the water flows back to the other tank through the u-tube which create a cycle and current all at once. That way you only need one pump for two tanks. Since NPT tanks don't need filtering...just water movements, this would be an ideal and awesome concept. Plus with 1.5" diameter tubes, it will fit the tank without modding the cover. Unfortunately my tanks are at different height level and this idea only works when the water level of the two tank is parallel or close to it. I have read that fishes don't travel back and forth too much. But that's inconclusive since only one person mentioned that and there are very limited amount people who knows about this. Imagine you have two 55 gallon tanks. Connecting them with this "water bridge" makes the tanks seem like a 110 gallon tank with the option to turn it back to two tanks in matters of seconds. Get to it people and tell me how it goes. I am thinking of raising my 10g to the height of 20g just to try this out but thought I give you guys the info ahead of time. I don't know any easy way of raising the tank right now as one sits on a small table and other on a tank stand.


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## Rusalka (Jun 11, 2008)

That sounds cool - I hope somebody on here tries it! Take pictures if you do!


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Depending on the diameter of the tube and the size of the fish, some fish became regular commuters, others I never saw in the other tank. 
I had a clear acrylic tube between a couple of 29 gallon tanks, (until the seam split) and a Gourami that barely fit would trek back and forth quite often. He had to back and turn several times to make it around the corner. Danios were also very active in moving back and forth. 

I have a similar set up now, same tanks, but am using 2" dia. PVC (not clear- budget limitations). 
Sids (Chain Loaches) and a Bristlenose Pleco were the first to make the trip, and some Guppies seem to have gone back and forth. 

The way I set it up was to stick a piece of airline tubing up one side of the PVC U and suck the air out. The tube filled very quickly. 
I am using a pump that should be moving about 60 gph. 

The other benefit is that when I do a water change or need to top off either tank I can simply hook the refill tube to one of the tanks, let the water run while I do whatever I need to in either tank, and both get filled equally.


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## Alex123 (Jul 3, 2008)

Diana, glad to hear someone actually set one up. I thought of the pvc route. It provide the flexibility of having very large pipes and it would be my route for larger bridge. However your 2" diameter pvc would actually be about 1.75 or less since the pvc pipes are pretty thick. You also need to have two 90 degree connector and glue. This 1.5" siphon is around 7-17 dollars and are clear thin plastic and come free of assembly. 

Good to hear your account of the fish behavior. I would imagine certain fish use it more frequent than others. I think there is lot's of benefit to this setup, since two tank share the same water including water change as you mentioned. I like to set one up. But I don't want to raise my 10 gallon 9 inches just to level the tank for this setup. It would look terrible with a 9 inch block on the small desk. It would be cool to setup 3 10 gallons side by side and have a different habitat in each. Then the fishes are free to roam and stay in the habitat they like the most. Say a jungle look for one, a open grassy look for another and maybe a more decorative one for the third tank. And all you still need is one pump to push the water from one end to the other end. I'm excited just thinking about it. It will be under my future plans.


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## Alex123 (Jul 3, 2008)

Ok I decided to raise my 10 gallon to close to the height of the 20 gallon tank. I have a u siphon between the two tanks. It has a 1 and a quarter inch inner diameter. I attached a pump at the left side of the 10 gallon and pump water to the right side of the 20 gallon to create a complete cycle from one end to the other end. This should create a very good circulation. I bought a 150 gph pump. I think it's too much current for my small tank. Should have gotten the 80 gph one or at least an adjustable one. I do have this plastic nostle at the end which I can adjust the diameter of the hole. I wonder if this is the same concept as the adjustable pump. Oh well, anyhow I have a tiny baby black molly getting sucked from the 20 to the 10 soon after I set this up. It was funny seeing it trying to swim back across the bridge. It tried about 10 times swimming to the top of the bridge and falling back down until it got tired and now stuck on the 10 gallon side. A few hours later, an adult guppy swam from the 10 to the 20 gallon against current. You can see it in the picture next to the siphon blue with red tail. My water is a little cloudy from the slight green water but other than that my tank is fairly free of algae.


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