Open bottom or Upside down tanks

[andresdeo]

Interesting concept. But I do have two questions.

1) How does that setup work when you need to do a PWC? The lip of the top tank has to always be below the water level of the bottom one or you'll end up with Niagra Falls in your living room, right? So what happens when you need to deliberately remove water to get the nitrAte levels down?

2) Wouldn't those tanks be a problem with homeowners/renters insurance? Granted, you don't typically have a walk-through when starting new insurance, but I would think that you invite more potential problems with that setup vs a standard tank.

I can't imagine that any rental property would allow upside-down tanks, no matter how well you try to explain it to them. Mine won't allow a tank over 55 gallons.

1) Yes the water level has to be always above the lip of the vertical tank. No problem with PWC because the gap between the top of the tank and the lip of the vertical tank is sufficient. To remoce the water from the vertical tank what I do is faurly simple introduce a tube with a floation device on the end. If you want water to be chantes into the
Horizontal tank you blow in and the water is displaced by air. What im currently trying to do is setup a permanent circulation between the two with a PowerHead or such to forget about that and do regular pwc.

2) im not sure about insurance. Im a house owner but I live in Peru, so policies here aré much different. Your agent can probably sort that out for you before hand. If you do it properly and short of an earthquake you shoukd be fine.

 

[barterking85]

yeah just make sure your vertical goes deep enough into your tank that when you do a pwc the water level isnt below the vertical tank.

for the size of the bridge i want to go 3 feet long with a 8x8 inch square bridge here is a link its almost exactly what iam gonna try first. steps are interesting but iam gonna go simple first then move on to a more elaborate bridge.

YouTube - swim thru aquarium

 

[andresdeo]

yeah just make sure your vertical goes deep enough into your tank that when you do a pwc the water level isnt below the vertical tank.

for the size of the bridge i want to go 3 feet long with a 8x8 inch square bridge here is a link its almost exactly what iam gonna try first. steps are interesting but iam gonna go simple first then move on to a more elaborate bridge.

YouTube - swim thru aquarium

3 feet, I thought you meant inches lol. Thats why I said I thought it was a bit small, but thats a nice size. I've seen that video before its really nice. I'm so tempted of buying a new tank maybe another 10 gal and have them connected let me know how it goes with yours I might be convinced.

If you like you can post your progress here and we can get more people intrested in this tecnique. I'm working on a DIY water pump from an old air pump I had laying around for the circulation I was telling you about. Hope it works if not I'll settle for the powerhead.

 

[barterking85]

i think a power head will work fantastic i will deffinatly post progress iam not starting for a little while funds are low as iam sttocking a 30 gallon right now but this is for sure my next project i have two 33 gallons in oppisite sides of my living room so if it works with the 10 gallons i will bring the 33's together and have the 33 bridge sit on top of the 10 gallon bridge so my goldfish can visit my cichlids as they pass through their own bridges

 

[andresdeo]

Haha that would be something. I know the powerhead is a given, but I had an idea to turn the air pump into a water pump by the same concept of displacement, so why not give it a try.

Do you have a thread with photos of your tanks?

 

[barterking85]

i got some in my profile in the album marked "my tanks" lol but i changed alot of stuff around iam gonna take some new pics tonight and post them

 

[barterking85]

You can have a look at my albums now they are updated just view my profile through this link the goldfish tank is being treated for fungus if your wondering about the water color
Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - ryan-peddle's Albums

 

[andresdeo]

Before & After

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Before & After

Great pic of your UD tank.

But you need to fix something, the black rim should be removed from the horizonal tank as it throws the lines off JK.

Did you figure out the flow issue with the vertical tank yet?

 

[andresdeo]

Was trying an idea with an air pump to pump water but it didnt work out. Im getting a powerhead today.

 

[barterking85]

did you get your power head yet???

 

[andresdeo]

No, not yet I spent the weekend looking around to build the stand for the 29gal and Leak testing the tank. Plus cleaning it and what so. But its on the shopping list along side a filtre for the 29gal, would it be a good idea to run that filtre for a couple of days in by 12 gal? So the bacteria buildup starts faster.

 

[barterking85]

yes for sure a great idea about a week would be great if you can wait that long actually you could put some filter media in your 12 gallon filter too and transfer it over after a week or so too. i always have extra filter media in my filters so when i get a new tank i can transfer it over.

 

[andresdeo]

Here is my upcoming proyect, it is a 27 gal tank, which will me modified to hold 6 more gal by adding an open bottom tank. The schematics are as shown in the photos as well as the original tank. I m currently getting a stand for the tank, which I might build or buy not sure yet :S . So this one is on for a long haul. Hope to be setting it up in 2 or 3 weeks time.

 

[allaboutfish]

how do you get the upside down part made?

 

[andresdeo]

how do you get the upside down part made?

There is a shop which works with glass near my house, I have the pieces made and then silicone them myself. Dont have the skills or equipment to cut it myself.

 

[allaboutfish]

awesome

 

[andresdeo]

At least thats what I did with my 10 gal, which you can see in the previous pages.

 

[SAAVE853]

OMG I love this idea!!! I already have a tank in mind that I can plumb into my main and all....sketches coming soon!

 

[andresdeo]

Good to hear that, always exciting to know a new tank is starting out there. Go ahead and post your sketch here, we can have a look at it together. Will you be cutting your own glass?