Tech and Amusing Stuff

amazing & random MAZ on 18 Jan 2008 12:43 pm

Bridging two fish tanks

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60 Responses to “Bridging two fish tanks”

on 19 Jan 2008 at 4:32 am 1.John Chow's baby said …

wow! this is great! don’t the fishes have difficulty going up and down the bridge?
on 19 Jan 2008 at 9:54 am 2.Toon said …

Wow mate, that’s pretty cool!
Those fishes got a nicer house than I do
on 19 Jan 2008 at 11:09 am 3.bonnie said …

Maybe this is a dumb question, but how does the water fill the bridge and not overflow the tank?
on 19 Jan 2008 at 1:02 pm 4.Frank said …

bonnie, I’m pretty sure its because its actually an inclosed tank of its own, making essentially 3 enclosed tanks that LOOK connected- a nice visual illusion, but nothing more
on 20 Jan 2008 at 2:20 pm 5.Joel said …

Very nice! I love it!

I don’t think it is an optical illusion. It is doable if you are able to have a pipe or system to suck out the air out of the highest point of the bridge.

Fish need oxygen to live and they’d die if the bridge were sealed just to make an optical illusion.

My concern is more about maintenance and cleaning. How is it done? Do you have to take it apart each time or you have a pipe cleaner that long and flexible (like those used to clean drier’s pipe lines)?
on 21 Jan 2008 at 12:06 am 6.pretorious said …

Yes, they are connected. If one tank were moved higher, the other would overflow. similar concept as the Roman aqueducts.
on 22 Jan 2008 at 12:33 pm 7.Joe said …

Clearly a fake. I can smell a photoshop from a mile away. I am an expert in both photoshop and marine aquarium design, so you can trust me. I am truly embarrassed for those of you who were foolish to fall for this obvious hoax.
on 22 Jan 2008 at 1:35 pm 8.leebob said …

No fake.plenty of other tanks like this in existance
on 23 Jan 2008 at 5:44 pm 9.Shane said …

Joe is clearly a fake. I can smell a liar from a mile away. I am an expert in psychology and sociological situations, so you can trust me. I am truly embarrassed for people like Joe.
on 23 Jan 2008 at 5:45 pm 10.Shane said …

BTW, I love the photos.
on 11 Aug 2008 at 1:23 pm 11.Amanda said …

I think that is awesome! I would love to do the same when I get some fish.
The bridge works the same as filling a glass with water and bringing it out of the water half way upside down. The water will stay in the glass until it has a release. Its really very simple. I would have thought more people would have known about that one. But, hey, you learn something new every day.
Joe obviously likes to act like he knows it all, which we’re all guilty of at some point or another.
on 11 Aug 2008 at 1:27 pm 12.Amanda said …

BTW, those are some very nice looking Jack and Chiclids.
on 11 Aug 2008 at 5:02 pm 13.Michael said …

Hahaha i think the internet would be a terrible place without people like Shane, thank you and props.

But really the tank is genuine the water in the bridge is kept at equilibrium pressure (come on people my terms might be slightly off but they teach this stuff in highschool.) And the fish would have no problem getting up there because of their Swim Bladder (again highschool science) which alows fish to rise and sink at free will.
on 11 Aug 2008 at 11:18 pm 14.Kummer said …

I have never left a comment before, and don’t normally bring up that I am an engineer to help credentialize my point, but…

The thing about water is, its all about height. Shape doesn’t matter. A 6’ deep tank has the same pressure/force as any 6’ deep tank. Imagine you put the whole thing in 6’ deep Sea World type aquarium. It’s the same. You can make the aquarium any shape you want, but it would have to have the same Sea World grade construction.

If you break it up into smaller tanks, however (like Frank said) then it’s only as deep as the individual tank. Except, I would bet on 5 or 7 tanks.
And yes, if it were real, the bottom tanks would have to be sealed (though they could have air trapped in them like the pics show)
on 12 Aug 2008 at 4:12 pm 15.dechrigi said …

it’s not a fake

” If you fill a bottle with water and and raise it (upside down) out of a tub of water, no air can enter the bottle and therefore no water can escape from the bottle: hence all the water remains in the bottle … The water-bridge uses the same mechanism to keep the water inside the tunnel, except that there are two openings, neither of which allows air inside.”
cited from http://www.bio-elite.com/waterbridge.htm

btw, really nice idea!
on 17 Aug 2008 at 9:26 am 16.Alan said …

Photoshop? Seriously? I think that if some of you have the qualifications you say you do then I’d be quite worried if you were working on anything remotely important in your field of work. It’s simple highschool science.
on 17 Aug 2008 at 3:00 pm 17.Cool Photos said …

it’s not the first time I see photos of these two fish tanks, anyway how to they get up in the tunnel?
on 18 Aug 2008 at 5:44 am 18.Rene said …

First of all, this is possible without sealed tanks. The water will stay in the tube due to the air pressure on the surface of the tanks (as long as the height is not too large). The tube have to be sealed, of course.

To clean, one could close the tube at the ends, unmount it, and turn it over so that the openings are on top.

Nice idea, I think. I wonder how the fish find the way through the tube. Probably, they don’t even notice that unusual low pressure in the top of the tube.
on 18 Aug 2008 at 5:49 pm 19.billybob said …

pressure of water doesnt change very much under that little bit of depth, it only changes when you get down to like 10 meters to one extra atmosphere, so there’s not much difference in pressure
on 21 Aug 2008 at 2:21 am 20.Joque Custeau said …

This looks like it’s at a restaurant. More information as to the location and who did this. This is an idea that I always thought would be cool to do if I had more time.
on 22 Aug 2008 at 10:47 am 21.miki said …

It’s hard to see from those pictures, but it is Possible that there is a circulation pump that keeps it there.
but the first thing that one’s come to mind is: “wow, that’s brilliant”
on 24 Aug 2008 at 7:53 pm 22.danny said …

I love it that “Joe” is both an expert in photoshop and marine aquarium design! Talk about being in the right place at the right time!
LMAO

thanx a bunch Joe! lol
on 25 Aug 2008 at 3:15 pm 23.Tyler said …

Nice that “Joe” is an expert in photoshop & marine aquarium design. Unfortunate though that he doesn’t have a grasp of basic physics or hydrodynamics.

That type of design is entirely possible assuming the bridge is very well sealed. (airtight). My issue with the setup would be that as oxygen comes out of the water, it will tend to collect as a bubble at the very top of the bridge. You can see some evidence of this in one of the pictures. The only way I can think of to fix that would be to install some sort of bleeder system at the very apex.
on 28 Aug 2008 at 4:27 pm 24.God said …

And then you all realized that Joe was joking and or possibly trolling.
on 02 Sep 2008 at 8:08 pm 25.Corey said …

That’s so cool! If I EVER had the patience to keep fish, I would love to have something like this! Fun conversation piece XD
on 06 Sep 2008 at 5:04 am 26.Loup said …

That Is awesome
I have 2 fish tanks and wanted to do exaclty that for ages.
I guess i was beaten to it
on 06 Sep 2008 at 11:47 am 27.GM said …

Joes a master of the art of trolling and shame on so many of you for feeding him.

That said, if you’re thick enough to read the sentence

“I am an expert in both photoshop and marine aquarium design”

and think another human being would type it without a trace of irony then you’re probably stupid AND petty enough to argue with them.
on 07 Sep 2008 at 6:18 pm 28.william said …

Not fake. I liked it so I did a proof of concept with PVC and its not hard and works. My gold fish didn’t like the dark pipe at first but got used to it. for small fish 6 inch diameter clear pipe can be found.
on 11 Sep 2008 at 12:41 am 29.Len said …

what a great idea… the old siphoning principle. As long as both tanks are at the exact same level it works. Only thing that mystifies me (at this moment) is how you got the water up into the bridge in the first place… I’m guessing you sealed the ends, filled it then released the seals once everything was filled. Terrific concept!
on 11 Sep 2008 at 7:03 pm 30.Jake said …

There is always at least one photoshop expert in every blog, we were just lucky enough to be graced with a fish tank expert too! What are the chances?! Anyways, as long as air does not get into the tube, all is well. If there were a crack in the top of the tube there would be one hell of a soggy mess. It’s the same principle as a dog watering dish, the type where there is a jug on top of a bowl. Again no hole, no problem, drill a hole with the smallest drill bit in the toolbox in the jug and the whole thing will empty.
on 14 Sep 2008 at 10:55 pm 31.FukJoe said …

Joe, you fuckin reTARD alll YOU can smell a mile away is your fuckin own Ego You Piece of fuckin shit
! why deprive yourself of such amazing things ?! if you need help changing your mind, Kill YOURSELF YOU FUCK!
on 21 Sep 2008 at 12:06 pm 32.nexon said …

OK, keeping it clean would be a problem: how do you filter the water in the bridge? But more important: how do you oxygenate the water in the bridge? They’ve got bubblers and plants in the tanks at each end, but nothing in the bridge. If they released a stream of bubbles into the bridge, that might work for a while — eventually it would empty the bridge and flood the tanks at each end.

Maybe the fish hold their breath when swimming in the bridge? or maybe this isn’t a sustainable tank?
on 02 Oct 2008 at 4:16 am 33.Sebastian said …

Oh really nice, I thought that you only can do this with rats

Of course it is technical complicated but fpr one evening or so it looks really good!!
on 02 Oct 2008 at 5:23 am 34.JoblessPunk said …

damn, that must be a bitch to clean.
on 13 Oct 2008 at 11:56 am 35.Ace said …

The last image is not from the same setup as the first pictures, nowhere in those is the bridge as close to the celing…
on 17 Oct 2008 at 10:46 am 36.mark said …

Today at work, for some unknown reason, the question of whether the fish would actually swim between the two fish tanks came up. While everyone was arguing the science and logic, I googled “two fish bowls connected by a tube of water” and came across this page. Amazing.
on 19 Oct 2008 at 10:26 am 37.Carol said …

That was a shocking rant about Joe. Whoever you are – get to the bathroom right this minute and get your mouth washed out with soap – or even better diluted bleach. It was patently obvious that Joe had his tongue firmly in his cheek. Is irony dead? It’s an amazing fishtank and if anything can bring a smile to our faces in these dark days then I’m all for it.
on 26 Oct 2008 at 9:17 pm 38.Joel said …

I have to agree with Joe on this one, I too am an expert at photoshop and I can clearly see these images are photoshoped, you can tell by looking at the pixels.
on 27 Oct 2008 at 4:37 pm 39.Joeseph said …

Quite right Joel, the pixels in the upper right hand corner of the screen give this clever photo away.

Trust me, I am also an expert at photoshop, and I have seen a lot of ’shops in my time.
on 28 Oct 2008 at 11:58 pm 40.Anon E. Moose said …

Successful troll was successful.
on 29 Oct 2008 at 2:12 am 41.Voyeur said …

Screw the fish. Why do the images look like they are taken from a web cam? Why, aside from that dude in the chair, are all the other patrons avoiding this thing like the plague? Do they know that their mugs are all over the internet? Oh, and hooray for stumble upon and finding some random crappy blog post from 10 months ago.
on 29 Oct 2008 at 2:49 am 42.Steve said …

Nice, Joe, Joel, and Joseph. Witty indeed
on 29 Oct 2008 at 6:47 am 43.Bigalow said …

OK I couldn’t not weigh in on this anymore. A far as this specific tank is concerned I have no idea if it real or not. That being said the Concept is very possible and is indeed prevalent in the industry. Google “upside down fish tank.” All that would be needed is a one way valve at the apex of the tube to remove the gas that accumulates there. a device called an aqua lifter could be used to remove the gas as it is produced but theoretically one could simple attach a straw and suck the air out but honestly, who does that?

Oh and to clean it, they make these things called “mag floats” its a set of magnets that has a cleaning pad on one side and a soft pad on another, you would simply have to drag the dry magnet along the outside while the wet one was inside removing algae.

I’m surprised Joe didn’t know that…. they must not have those in Fantasytown, USA (probably somewhere in the south) flame on!
on 29 Oct 2008 at 10:57 am 44.redtoade said …

Everything important I learned watching Saturday morning cartoons.

This is a siphon.

If you watch cartoons like Sponge Bob, then you probably don’t know this. Of course the main character works at a grill… under water…

But if you watched the cartoons we did as kids, like Valley of the Dinosaurs, then you’ve seen this episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRIkyPiFbb0

About 5 minutes in the second part you can see how a siphon is placed into both tanks without air pockets…

Have fun.
on 29 Oct 2008 at 8:01 pm 45.lightsycle said …

Apparently many people don’t understand the concept of air pressure and vacuum. Rock on! I’ll bet it’s a bitch to clean…
on 30 Oct 2008 at 1:37 pm 46.Scrodo Baggins said …

As an expert of photoshop, aqua marine design, invisible touch, string theory, 80’s cartoons and beauty supplies. I can positively affirm that these are a type of mutant-hybrid fish created by Phil Collins solely for the purpose of feeling it in the air tonight… hold on.
on 30 Oct 2008 at 9:33 pm 47.lolz said …

lol @ the pixels.

It’s called high iso noise. morons. :p
on 31 Oct 2008 at 3:33 pm 48.Hans said …

It is really not a fake guys.
In dutch we call it the principle of “communicerende vaten”, I don’t know how to say it in english, but it would be something like communicating barrels or something.
I’ve seen this in office buildings, it’s not really difficult if you understand pressure and hydraulics.
on 01 Nov 2008 at 8:59 pm 49.hi said …

It is called a fish Highway I have been to the web sit it explains it all heres the link
http://www.fishighway.com/
on 06 Nov 2008 at 4:01 pm 50.Blogger Helper said …

Wow that’s so cool, I want one for myself too !
on 13 Nov 2008 at 3:16 pm 51.Lothir said …

It’s cleaned with an underwater robot cleaner :d
on 21 Nov 2008 at 8:40 pm 52.Barak said …

It’s real. Been there, done that. No tricks. Long setup (slow vacuum at topmost check valve on tube), heavy duty 3/8 inch steel cable and Allthread suspension. Check out a construction water tube level kit, it might help you to visualize the physics involved. The tanks and tubes are custom acrylic and quite thick. Must have cost a small fortune. Had to be load leveled prior to tank fill. Pure genius!
on 04 Dec 2008 at 2:00 am 53.Garett said …

It IS possibly, physically; I’m just at a loss of ideas of how you get the tube filled with water in the first place.

But here comes Barak with my answer – vacuum at the top and keep filling the tanks til it’s fill.
on 03 Jan 2009 at 8:48 pm 54.Tony said …

To bonnie and frank. next time your in the tube fill your wash cup with water, the make the open side face down. bring the cup up from the depths and watch what happens- pressure.
on 16 Jan 2009 at 4:55 pm 55.Anthony said …

This bridge is an awesome creation and inspiration. Sweet!

KUMMER: I am an engineer myself. Please don’t give us a bad name, if you really are an engineer. What you said may be clear in your mind, but you should have stopped after writing about depth vs. pressure. Putting the whole thing in a 6’ deep Sea World type aquarium is not clear at all. Would the Sea World aquarium be full or empty when this aquarium is put into it? Would this aquarium be full or empty when it’s put into the Sea World aquarium? Would this aquarium be intact when put in the Sea World aquarium, or put in there in pieces? Basically, your idea of comparison is insubtantial. It wouldn’t prove anything but the fact that this aquarium would just be in another one, unless the test was about interior and exterior pressures over the surface area of this aquarium in relation to depth while submerged in the Sea World one. Otherwise, there is no reason for doing such an action or making such a claim. The equilibrium imposed by a siphon bridge has different properties, which requires different assumptions. Why is Sea World such a big descriptor for you? In the professional world, we don’t say things have Sea World grade construction. We say that Sea World has quality and reliable aquariums made for durability. From reading your blurb, you know that there is some significance between pressure and depth….but you definitely don’t sound bright enough to call yourself an engineer. I suppose you could be a high school student or pre-engineer. To think you should use Sea World references in such a way that you did supports that. All the people in this blog know what quality, reliable and durability mean. You aren’t speaking to a bunch of elementary school kids in this blog. But, there’s always a chance that you could be older than what I think. You may be a person who lives in the basement of your parents house still and has a fascination with things like Sea Worldj, watching an extensive amount of cartoons, and playing an extensive amount of video games. If you actually are an engineer and plan on giving yourself that credit, you need to be able to appropriately communicate your thoughts in a way that your audience can understand. You also must have the proper intellect when making claims publicly about certain things….and be able to support those claims properly.

What you said below also helps solidify your lack of intelligence, accidental confidence, misuse of the word engineer, and lack of humility (you should remain humble and listen to your mentors and professors until you gain some more aptitude in speaking out as an engineer).
This is pretty obvious: “If you break it up into smaller tanks, however (like Frank said) then it’s only as deep as the individual tank.”
Why on earth would there be such small individual tanks: “Except, I would bet on 5 or 7 tanks.”

I highly recommend that you take my advice. Embarrassing yourself as an engineer because you immaturely/falsely use the title to back up your claims, and make unintelligent public claims, is detrimental to your career advancement and opportunity, employer judgement, and your place in the engineering community among fellow engineers. A shunned engineer is just a person with thoughts.

FUKJOE: You seem to have a lot of hatred. People don’t like haters as much as you don’t like Joe. Please try and change as your hate is very unhealthy to yourself and the people around you. It will get you into undesirable trouble.

CAROL: If a tank such as this is one of the only things that “brings a smile to your face in these dark days”, I’m sorry about your spiritual loss. You definitely need to find some unmaterialistic substance in your life if you are to ever fully enjoy it. How you deal with temporary dark days is huge judgement of your will and character. A fish tank like this shouldn’t be your calm in the storm.
on 24 Feb 2009 at 1:28 pm 56.JL said …

Dear Anthony,

LOL. have u re-read what u have written? bashing everyone like that. u must be one frustrated soul of an engineer. it is great entertainment, but please go get a life.

However, I do agree it is a great aquarium!
on 03 Mar 2009 at 11:53 am 57.Badger said …

Awsome! How did you do that?! I want one!!!
on 06 Apr 2009 at 7:38 pm 58.Amanda S said …

I dont usually comment, but after reading through so much info I had to say thanks
on 21 Sep 2009 at 10:31 pm 59.redman said …

Wow, i love the idea and really wanted one till i saw the many comments and realized it might attract the many sad bastards to MY house. I am a layabout druggo with 9 weeks of an engineering degree, half a batchelor of science (Industrial Maths and Computer modelling), i have a pirate copy of photo shop, have caught, kept and eaten many fish and can tug it hard enough to come in as many colours as joe,joel,joseph or any of his alter egos, or that of any other of the many other tuggers to grace this thread.
It is therefore that i suggest we form a brains trust of all the experts, a summit or world forum, a think tank of epic proportions and together we may help each other understand the complex workings of A DRINKING STRAW. In particular the incredibly peculiar effect on the level of fluids (as seen in a cross sectional photo with sufficient uncorrupted pixels) created by the application of a vacuum… read SUCKING. We should consider also, are drinking straws real, or just a clever application running in the background of our childrens minds creating the illusion that supersize is worth the extra investment. If this is so, then is the extra cost of manufacture of these straws with up to five or seven compartments really sustainable in a world that needs to come to terms with its rampant consumer greed. Perhaps it would be better to supply our children with simple hollow tube drinking straws and leave the rest to their imagination. As for the relevance of air pressure i think it is obvious from this thread that many of us are feeling pressured enough in these DARK DAYS.
on 27 Nov 2009 at 4:52 pm 60.pligg.com said …

Tech and Amusing Stuff » Bridging two fish tanks…

I wonder if this will really work…. hmmmmm…