Adding a Water bridge

[Rob909]

Depending on how low your bridge goes into the tanks, the second you syphon water out and the water level goes below your bridge, you will lose the prime in the bridge. This will cause all the water to rush out and you’ll just have to prime it again once the tank is filled back up.
You’ll want to keep any bubblers away from the bridge as well because enough air traveling into it will also break the prime.
I’ve never tried out a water bridge but i use HOB overflow boxes which use the same concept. I believe the only time you’ll have to worry about an overflow is if your bridge holds more water than what your tank can catch if your prime ever breaks. If you kept the prime with an aqua lifter pump, you really wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Drill an air line sized hole in the highest part of the bridge, secure some air line inside that hole, and connect it to the intake of the aqua lifter. The output of the aqua lifter will have an air line feeding back into the tank. Any bubbles trapped in the bridge will be pulled out with the aqua lifter and sent back into the display.
Not necessary, but a fail safe. And you can’t put a price on peace of mind.

 

[Malte81]

Hi,

i had this Kind of System at my old Tank.
I used the pipes as an overflow from my Main Tank to my sump.
The sump was on the same level as the tank.
The System only works when you have different water levels in your Tanks.
Like the Return pipe on one tank and the filter inlet pipe on the other tank.
Both Tanks connected with the overflow pipes.
Otherwise you dont have any water Exchange between your Tanks.
To get the flow in the pipes startet i had glued some very small pipes in the top off the pipes.
There i connected a 6mm air hose with a valve.
I sucked the air out of the pipes over the 6mm air hose, closed the valve and started the pump.

Best regards Malte

 

[j-lor]

Depending on how low your bridge goes into the tanks, the second you syphon water out and the water level goes below your bridge, you will lose the prime in the bridge. This will cause all the water to rush out and you’ll just have to prime it again once the tank is filled back up.
You’ll want to keep any bubblers away from the bridge as well because enough air traveling into it will also break the prime.
I’ve never tried out a water bridge but i use HOB overflow boxes which use the same concept. I believe the only time you’ll have to worry about an overflow is if your bridge holds more water than what your tank can catch if your prime ever breaks. If you kept the prime with an aqua lifter pump, you really wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Drill an air line sized hole in the highest part of the bridge, secure some air line inside that hole, and connect it to the intake of the aqua lifter. The output of the aqua lifter will have an air line feeding back into the tank. Any bubbles trapped in the bridge will be pulled out with the aqua lifter and sent back into the display.
Not necessary, but a fail safe. And you can’t put a price on peace of mind.

Thx.