im 14 and you have inspired me to get into this hobby I now owe three 10 gallon tanks for breeding and a 5 gallon tank for raising fry and a 2.5 gallon for hatching brine shrimp thank you for everything you do and keep up the good work joey
Jose Duran same, I found a 4 foot tank on the side of the road and I had a 25 litre tank and I get a free one from gumtree. The big one has all my fish and a turtle the 25L I'm breeding cray fish and my others tank is for fish breeding
Hey, i'm really enjoying your videos as i start with my new aquarium hobby (i personally come from the pond and koi hobby). one comment i have on your video is the lava rock - the problem with the lava rock is that it can very easily get clogged. when it clogs, the water simply moves around the bacteria and not through it, what that does is create a very oxygen-lacking environment for the bacteria inside the lava rock and there is a danger for the bacteria to go anaerobic, releasing dangerous chemicals for the fish. i would like to point out how ever that lava rock perform very well when they are emerged (like in a trickle filter) and not submerged. when emerged this problem does not occur as the water always passes through the rocks and there is plenty of oxygen from the atmosphere. anyways, thanks a lot for all the videos and i hope i've somewhat helped.
+The king of DIY What could be added to the Lava Rock to allow Bog plants to grow in this filter? I assume I could alter this design to fit the backside of a single tank, and act as a Bog filter for a 55 Gallon turtle tank.
Bridge siphons and lava is something widely used in aquaponics. I use aquaponic filters like this for all of my fish tanks... I use bamboo for plants though since they like to be submerged and I like the way they look.
+The king of DIY pathos plants contain a bit of poison in their leaves/stems so make sure the plants never touch the water, and greta video this filter works very well actually :)
CrestFallenMoon the issue with pothos vines is the leaves. To get sick a 6 lb house cat would have to eat 4 or 5 whole leaves. The chances of the leaves killing fish in the tank are slim to none.
I couldn't read all the comments, if already mentioned I'm sorry. I have some ideas about U shape pipe. First of all it would be better if it's made out acrylic or some kind of transparent material. Even half transparent will work in order to see if there's any bubble trapped inside. Some small bubbles won't be any problem in the beginning but they can break the siphoning later on. And if we don't want any accidental bubbles trapping inside that tube, we can add 2 more 90 degree elbow to each side. So entrance of pipe will be facing upward. It will be much safer. Also I would feel much better if they two sides of the U pipe will go a little deeper in the water. At least 4 inches under the water level. I know It's low possibility but evaporation can cause rapidly dropping in water lever especially in case of using fans for cooling. Anyways, thanks a lot for this video. I used this system over a year and works perfectly. 👍
Maybe a sponge filter on the intake end instead of mesh and extend it down to the bottom for shrimp to feed from it? (hamburg matten style?) I'm great with plants n have some huge 1s. I'll be putting my starts in this. Also making a sculpted foam background with sandfall, where the heater will be. Can't wait to transfer my fish to a bigger tank with some awesome scenery. (Got a couple small tanks, with too big of fish I had to save, off craigslist after not having a tank for awhile.) So frickin excited to start again!! Possibly do some non-accidental breeding this time. lol
Thanks Joey very impressive, but we have a problem houston!!! if the water bridge gets disrupted you will flood all the house... mybe to put a floating switch for the pump as a fail safe? or to connect a vacuum pump on top of the bridge in order to create a self primming bridge ? anyway thanks for all your fantastic stuff and inspiration!!
Victor Galvez That is a concern with any sort of overflow that requires priming as well. A float switch is a good idea. I'll see if i can get a video out on one.
hey joey,thanks alot man, im still trying to do this with my 25 gallon and 50 gallon, i already set-up my overhead/wetdry filter and using 2 inch garden hose and 2 inch elbow, using two of this for a total of 4 inches flow for the bridge, but i had no idea how much flow rate i get, and man you solve my problem you had the perfect video for me,THANKS A LOT. . .
I would like to suggest adding a normally closed float switch (not too expensive on amazon) and setting it up to open the circuit therefore turning OFF the pump if the water goes down by a certain level. for instance if the siphon (bridge) gets blocked up or any other pipe gets blocked it would cause one tank to empty completely and flood your house by the amount that was drained. i would also recommend putting the suction pipe not too close to the bottom of the tank so as in case of the float switch not working it would be a full proof way to guarantee that it would only drain a certain % of the tank so your fish would survive till you got home to top up the tank :)
In addition to Pothos, you could grow quite a few emersed, low light loving aquarium plants. Java fern and Anubias might work as well. Umbrella plant also loves wet feet. The creeping jenny sold in garden centers grows well in a wet environment, too but might need a little more light. The trouble with Pothos is that, if it likes your conditions, it can easily send out vines ten to twenty feet long. Nice if you have the room for it.
I set up my 29 gallon tall and my 20 gallon tall so there's like 4" difference in water level between the two aquariums, that is because the pump in the 20 gallon is sending the water to the 29 gallon just a little bit faster than the 4 pvc utubes return it back from the 29 gallon to the 20. I think it turns over around 8 times per hour, with a couple Florida Flag fish and many plants. Your filter is awesome. I might have to make one like that for bog plants, then again, that might really need a float switch. I had just put one of them sponge filters on the pump input. Anyhow, I've left enough of a water margin so if one tube losses its priming, the water level will only rise to within an 1" of overflowing. I need to set up a float switch to turn off the pump if a second tube starts to lose flow. I did see your video on auto top off, showing the relays and sockets, but my pump is like 18 watts, and I think the switch you showed was only for 10 watts, leaving me wondering what relays/sockets to get for a 50 watt switch that I found.
This certainly looks like an interesting idea, especially if you wanted them to be the same parameters for raising fry in one of them. Currently digging around old videos looking for a way to do a few large divided betta tanks on the same filter.
I am working on big project where going to build three stand where can hold 75 gallon on top and 40 gallon breeder on the bottom. I am going to call it a cubical tank system. Question I have is there way to make fish bridge that can go from the 75 down to the 40 gallon? Keep up the good work. I jealous of you Asian Arowana. I have wanted one for long time . But I am very low income. So I cannot afford tank for one. You helped me in allot of ways. I cant tell how much I appreciate your videos and podcasts.
Would this work just as well using an under tank sump? Using an overflow from one tank to the sump, then using a pump in the sump to push water back into the other tank?
Cool video!, I'm just doing some research on ram pumps- but they've seem to make a big mess have you ever heard of any type if a water pump that runs without electricity?
nice, I did almost the same thing but in single large tanks with my 110 gallon and 1000 gallon stock tanks. The different is, I can buy the foam filter pad in bulk at fabric stores at least 3 -5 time cheaper than any pet store whether local or online, and there are time when they have 75% off too. The lava rock is very cheap at construction/gardening materials whole sale store; I'm a bit lucky with 1 of the aquascapeonline's dealership is not so far away so I can go there and buy lava rock for very cheap, let say I loaded a 100lb bag and they charged me just over 5 US dollars(they go for $110 per yard which I guess that 1 yard is about a ton). if I ever have tank with large canopy to cover the over head filter I will rather do these cheap filer as they are cheap, easy to maintain, and can be even more effective than the expensive and can be leak canister filter or the wet/dry sump.
cool. I had no idea that you did this. I did this a couple of years back for my two side by side tanks, probably the only difference was that i used a Tupperware container instead of a planter box. It was probably the most effective setup i have ever made. Keep making cool Videos!
Hoping you an answer me a question . What are the chances of the vacuum breaking and the tank your return is in overflowing. Thank you in advance if you reply
Awesome project, if I had two tanks of different heights would this work? Would I need to bring the tank with shorter height upto the height of the taller tank? A bit of physics and siphoning it’s hurting my brain
I'm considering daisy chaining a bunch of shrimp tanks but adding in filter media on each bridge to keep the shrimp in their own tanks, ill then have a spare tank for the pump to sit in and push the water to the top before it comes back down
Nice project, I was thinking about adopting this solution. The only problem I see is, what happen if the water bridge gets occluded by air or something else? One tank will drain and the other overflows? Is there any solution for this?
Not sure if you'll ever see this, but i made this, but the tank that the water is coming out of is like 3 inches lower, but doesn't get lower than that.
Excellent! 30 years ago I built a 240 gallon 2'x2'x8' tank. At the time Pratt Lambert had a water proof paint. I used a medium blue; black is much better. Ours was a salt water tank. During the week young sons would study the life histories of our local California fish. Determine the best bait, local and what size hook to use.. We had a variety of specimens, including two one foot leopard sharks as well as starfish, sea urchins and a little octopus, until the small bass ate him.
Can you do 3 or 4 tanks the same way? Ie four 10 gallons side by side, with a plant across them all. Would you have an outflow for each tank. Or just one with bridges attaching them all?
Old video, but would this work for heating multiple tanks? I have 5 x 10gal right beside each other, and I’m looking for an easy way to have them all heated with just one heater (to save power and outlet space). Looking for a cheap, convenient way to do this without power tools or drilling D:
do the tanks have to be the same size or can I do this with a 10 gallon and a 5 gallon? and can you make a video on how to filter 2 tanks on top of each other with one filter for cheap?
Hey Joey, I got a question if you get new fish from the store how long do you quarantine them in a different tank and how do you know it is okay to join the others?
Hi joey, i have 2 20g tank, im planning to make this bridge,will i change my powerhead or the existing powerhead is already enough for both of the tank?ty
Hi Joey. Can you filter more than two tanks with one filter? I have four 20 gallon aquariums I want to connect with the same pipe method you use. Using one large external filter for all 4. One end I would have the flow and the far end return. Would this work? I'm not a fan of sponge filters and have no space for a sump. These tanks will all be very low stocking mainly plants.
Can this work with a unlimited amount of 10 gallon tanks? or at some number the tanks will stop passing water between each other? would love to know! Thanks Joey!
yes, safe for filter and safe for inside aquarium. Ive made caves etc using it and attached plants to it. I see costly rocks sold at pet stores and they are just larger bits of lava rock which can also get at garden supplies for cheap.
Joey I need help.... picked up a 150 gal glass tank, but the concrete floor is uneven! Tried shims but the tank still sprung a leak. It's resealed now but I don't know what to do about the floor.
Would there be any benefit to having the pump and the outlet pipe further away from each other? It'd use a little more piping, I know, but I can't see it being a problem unless back-pressure might overwork the pump or something.
awesome and useful. thanks Joey (+kingofdiy)! this really couldn't have come at a better time. quick question, could this also be used for more than two aquariums? thanks again!
Brother, I know its an old video, i got some questions on drum filtration with media can you advise? If you have any video on that pls give me link,my doubt is ' if I turn off the pump would the water flow back to the pond?! And if , how to avoid them?
That is so simple and obvious, yet I’m sure few people have thought of this. I instantly want a second tank for shrimp now and already have an external filter.
how if the aquarium is in up n down side? i want to build 2 or more aquarium with up n down side but just use 1 water filter. do you have idea how to amake it happen? tell me please n thank you.
so if the water bridge was to lose it's siphon (and it will) the water would just get pumped into the other tank and on to the floor? I would drill the tanks and use tubing or at least raise the pump so it will run dry before the other tank overflows.
A little late in the game for this one, but I found it very interesting. I breed Bettas and I find myself doing constant water changes on 1/2 gallon beanie boxes. Is there a way to modify this to work for multiple smaller containers? It would be very nice to be able to heat and filter them in one localized area. I currently heat with heat tape and do 90% water changes every other day. Hoping you have an answer to make Betta breeding and keeping easier. :)
Could you do a series of the bridges between all the beanie boxes. You could heat the water in the sump filter. You could maybe also have it setup so the water changes are done just in the sump filter.
Sure. There's no reason this water bridge concept couldn't be chained together between a large number of smaller tanks to put them all on one big sump filter. It would be good for the fish by giving them a larger effective volume of water (not as good as giving them more actual room, but take what you can get), and easier on you by making the water parameters identical in every tank, so any adjustments only need to be made once on a single large volume of water, instead of many times on many very small volumes. I say go for it. I'm getting started on betta keeping and planning on creating a similar setup (although probably with a few 2.5 or 5 gallon tanks) myself pretty soon.
Could you add a weir to one side of this? Anyone can answer! i'm trying to set up a internal filter in a smaller tank and pump it back to my main tank at the same level!
Hey Joey, I been having a really hard time to figure out on what saltwater filter to use for a moray eel. Do you have any suggestions on what type of filter I should use
Can I use the water bridge idea for using two sumps on on tank? settin up my first saltwater tank, 150 gal. I have a small sump but wanted to add another 29 gal diy sump to it., how should I go about doing that?
