Water Bridge and a separate Air-lift Pump

[14litre]

Background:

I have 2 standalone small tanks with a sponge filter each.

I have made this Water Bridge and Air-driven Pump to "join" both tanks together.
The objective of this is to circulate the water between these 2 tanks so that both have the same water parameter.

1. Water Bridge construction

I didn't invent this. Apparently this concept has been around for some time (after some googling) and different people did it different ways.
I had mine done almost the same way as felix_fx2, who is actually the person giving me this idea along with all the setup information.

Here's how I did mine:

Materials you need (the clear tube is about 1m long, 20mm diameter):


Material (zoomed into the transparency level of the bend):


Equipment you need (a small handsaw and a piece of sandpaper):


Cutting the tube to size and post-washing:


Joining all up (without glue):


Lights, Camera, Action!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIv_Q45Hwpw[/URL]

Close up view:


Full tank view:


2. Air-lift pump

I didn't invent this either.
Huge thanks to chefmichel from Instructables:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Non-...ts-water-pump/

Materials you need
- 1 clear tube which is about 1m long also, 18 mm diamter
- 1 air-pump tube
- 2 90-degree bend connectors
- 2 suction clip
- 1 sponge

Cut the sponge to fit into the connector
(the left one is the one we are going to use. This is not the final cut, I have actually cut it to a smaller size (reduce the diameter) so that it fits better into the connector)


Slot the sponge through the air-pump tube, then insert the tube through the connector so that it is extending about 1-2 inch out.


Push the sponge into the connector
(the sponge should be bigger (near to 2 times) than the connector, so that it can be squeezed and tugged nicely into the connector)


Join all the pieces together
(I was too adventurous in this picture, as in I have made a long tube (right) as an attempt for the water to flow all the way down into the other tank (below water surface). it ends up with "BLOP BLOP BLOP" when all the air bubbles gush out. So I have cut this shorter as seen in the next picture.


Construction completed - Front view


Back view


Side view


and here's a video to show the flowrate:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWnFwO77uQ0

FAQ:

Q. Why don't you use an external canister filter (or something else) instead of the air-driven pump to circulte the water?
A. The main concern is the possibility of water overflowing from the other tank.
I have received numerous warning from a few bros here.

e.g. water goes out from Tank A, then into the filter, then goes back to Tank B, and finally B to A via the bridge;
Tank A > Filter > Tank B > Bridge > Tank A
Special care should be taken, to juggle the water going from the Filter to Tank B,
if the water going into Tank B is faster than the water going from the Bridge to Tank A,
then you are likely to see water overflowing from Tank B.

I didn't want to take chance, so I have chosen this air-lift pump concept, which will generate very little water flow that can be easily managed by the water bridge.

Q. What is the benefit of the water bridge? I have a couple more questions to ask.
A. Check out this website, http://www.bio-elite.co.za/waterbridge.htm it has a lot of FAQ on water bridge.

Q. Why did you choose 20mm as the Water Bridge?
A. I wanted 40mm but it cost more and it also does'nt look good with that size. 20mm looks just nice (appearance) for me.

Q. Why did you choose 18mm as the air-driven pump?
A. I wanted to get 10mm, which is supposed to be more efficient (as I learnt from that Instructables guide) in generating the water flow given its smaller diameter. But 18mm is the smallest size (clear type) I can find.

Q. I have used/seen other similar design. Can I share it here?
A. Sure! Please please, please share it with us so that we can learn together.

References:

Past threads
Water Bridge (earlier ver)
Canister Filter positioning
Canister Filter extension
Flow switch
1 filter for 2 tanks

Kudos kudos kudos (for all your advice, knowledge sharing, encouragement, or in a way or another):
felix_fx2, billy83, AhVy, tetrakid, alvinchan80, Draka, diazman, Shadow, mukyo, BFG, astro, good boy.

[14litre]

Mods, please help me to move this to the DIY Project. I created it wrongly in this Equipment main section. Thank you.

[felix_fx2]

Nice write up.
You seem to be enjoy this alot

Will put a request to shift it to DIY section.

[14litre]

Nice write up.
You seem to be enjoy this alot

Will put a request to shift it to DIY section.

hehe.. Thank you.

ya, I like DIY stuff. I have been reading around in the Net and there are always interesting things that caught my eyes but the finished product tend to miss the information on building it. So I will try my best to provide every (if not most) information for the things I diy-ed on.

[felix_fx2]

hehe.. Thank you.

ya, I like DIY stuff. I have been reading around in the Net and there are always interesting things that caught my eyes but the finished product tend to miss the information on building it. So I will try my best to provide every (if not most) information for the things I diy-ed on.

In future i will give you more unique ideas and how to search fast for them using google.

[14litre]

In future i will give you more unique ideas and how to search fast for them using google.

Wa! Thank you so much, bro.
I'm looking forward to it.
Now I'm waiting for the water parameter to stabilize between the 2 tanks.
Thinking of getting tiger prawns, I mean shrimps.
Don't know if one day the tiger shrimps will grow so big that it can be presented on the table as tiger prawns.