Penthouse apartment for fish

[ThePBM]

seriously, instead of talking about cups in the bathtub, here's a much easier way to grasp the concept in a way we're all familiar with.

Gravel vacs. When you gravel vac your tank, you've got a siphon going. tank up on one level, bucket or such down lower. water is flowing from your tank to the bucket, no air bubbles in there.
Imagine both ends of your gravel vac were kept under water. Now, if you were to just lift the bucket up so that it is higher up than your tank, the siphon will reverse itself and water will flow from bucket to tank.
Logically, there is a point where if you put your bucket on the same level as your tank, the siphon pauses and water doesn't move either way.
Finally, imagine your gravel vac tube was much bigger- big enough for fish to swim through. That's a waterbridge.

 

[StevePerry]

The answer to how it all works is G-14 classified. They keep these answers hidden in secret little thing called "books". If you can find one of these "books", you understand how this works.

 

[svvad]

There may also be too much pressure in the penthouse for the fish. Don't know... try it and let us know

 

[dapryce]

There is already a patented Penthouse out there. Quit similar to you illistration. Fish go to the top with no problem and as far a circulation that again is no problem. One of the advantages of having this type of set up is that it will also give your fish some emergency water if your tank should aquire a leak while you are on vacation. "Murphy's Law". I am the one that has patented this and it should be on the market within the year. I do not want to post a photo of it for obvious reasons but it is good news to know that great minds think alike. Dave

 

[PolkGLI]

If it's patented, then why the problem with showing pictures of the design?

 

[UncleNos]

If it's patented, then why the problem with showing pictures of the design?

 

[shinypenny]

There is already a patented Penthouse out there. Quit similar to you illistration. Fish go to the top with no problem and as far a circulation that again is no problem. One of the advantages of having this type of set up is that it will also give your fish some emergency water if your tank should aquire a leak while you are on vacation. "Murphy's Law". I am the one that has patented this and it should be on the market within the year. I do not want to post a photo of it for obvious reasons but it is good news to know that great minds think alike. Dave

The problem is that if your tank leaks then the water level in the main tank will drop below the level of the pipe from the penthouse/water bridge. This will cause air to get into the penthouse so the water will drain out into the tank. Seen as the tank has a crack this will soon be emptied too, and we are left with the same problem.

Basically, if your tank cracks and you don't spot it quickly, you're screwed either with or without the penthouse.

 

[dapryce]

I lost my pictures when my hard drive got the blue screen of death. But the best way I can discribe it is quit simple. take a piece of 4" pvc (clear or not) and cut a hole in the bottom side of it about 2" around. Go to a hardware or any store that sells lamp parts. Get a glass globe that is usually used for swag lamps that is about 4" at the openning. Cut the lengtn of pvc the length of your aquarium including the globe. Put adheisive, bath tub caulk usually works well because you do not have to buy a whole tube of polyurathane calk for this job. let dry for 24 hours. To fill the penthouse with water just submerce it into your tank and tip up the bottom untill all the air is out of it. Then just set it up in your tank making sure that it is on a good solid surface. The fish will ussually start using in in a short time. Make sure that your tank is solid cause this is a little top heavy and in the patented version (the one I am discribing now is just the prototype) has an anchor system to make it more stable. As far a the rescue water thing that is more for when the water evaperates below the level of the hole the water will kind of bubble out airiating the water as it does so. I know this would be a strange senario but it does happen. Thank you for your comments and as soon as I can I will put in pictures of the finished product when it is ready for market.. Dave

 

[Druu]

Still no pics? I liked the water bridge, but fail to see why a fish would go into a "penthouse" which is just a cube of water with a slightly lower oxygen content..

 

[AJordan]

I think there was a thread with the very same topic posted on Aquaria Central... I built a fish bridge in about 30 seconds to link two 10g. I know its not quite the same but here is a pic...

The red lines outline the tank (this was a crappy basement phone pic). The blue arrows show the direction of water flow. The yellow circle shows the entrance to the bridge. The fish in the two tanks were apistos, Celestial Pearl Danios (or whatever they are being called these days) and some oto cats. The bridge was used frequently. It may be ugly, but its use as a feasability test for me was a success.