I am a man of lofty goals and moderate ambition, so I've learned to take advantage of the partially complete projects I've become so good at preparing. In this case, I originally gathered these 55 gallon tanks for breeding Angels, a goal which is waiting until after I move in the next couple months. Having found them at a great bargain, I did want to test them for leaks(Hold your comments) and started filling one with water within a few days. After finding it was serviceable, I started another experiment and dropped in a cheap bag of soil I'd stabbed a few times. Shortly after doing and it occurring to me that I'd want to replace the silicone no matter what, the decision to move was finalized and these tanks weren't coming inside after all. Some weeks later, after the tannons finally cleared and I abandoned the idea of a dirt filled display tank, another experiment came to mind.
I'd seen the idea of a water bridge as built by the Youtuber The King of DIY, Joey, made of acrylic and proposed as a way to filter two tanks with one canister or sump. How far could that go? I had five tanks and some spare cash, so I loaded up on plumbing supplies and slapped together a PVC rig that dipped a half inch pipe into each tank and drained through a one inch pipe to the task on the right, where I stick a hefty pump on top of a song filter and fitted it with a one inch diameter spray bar that sprayed into all five tanks, even itself, breaking any bacterial film trying to grow. It worked! Well, mostly. I needed a bigger drain pipe and had to prop it up on some spare Manzanita to encourage gravity's assistance, hence the red wood and the clear hose in the background that connects the two farthest tanks for extra drainage. It only dips into the middle tank due to the house connector bending the line.
The design will be improved upon in the future when I move and do something more with these tanks, but for now I just have some Water Hyacinth and goldfish in an experiment involving water quality :)
