Seanh84
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2011
- Messages
- 64
Do i need a airstone or is it purely for show?
Air stone
- Thread starter Seanh84
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Impulse09
Aquarium Advice Freak
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2011
- Messages
- 397
It adds oxygen to the water. It is a good idea to get.
Scouser
Aquarium Advice Addict
Impulse09 said:
Not true really.
It creates surface agitation which in turn allows oxygen increase
It's more technical than that but I'm dripping new tetra soooo lol
BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- May 24, 2011
- Messages
- 5,011
Your Airstone Question
Hello Sean...
I tossed all the airstones in my tanks a long time ago. The little bubbles look pretty in the tank, but a good power filter will provide much more gas exchange, the process of getting oxygen into the tank and carbon dioxide out.
You don't really need the bubbles. An airstone provides a lot of bubbles, but the bubbles, even a lot of them provide very little gas exchange. The bubble has a very small surface and it rises so quickly and escapes. So, there's little or no gas exchange. The bubbles do move the water a little, so there's some benefit.
All you really need is a good power filter that has a gph (gallon per hour) rating that's roughly 6 times the volume of your tank. Don't forget to change half the water in your tank every week too.
B
Hello Sean...
I tossed all the airstones in my tanks a long time ago. The little bubbles look pretty in the tank, but a good power filter will provide much more gas exchange, the process of getting oxygen into the tank and carbon dioxide out.
You don't really need the bubbles. An airstone provides a lot of bubbles, but the bubbles, even a lot of them provide very little gas exchange. The bubble has a very small surface and it rises so quickly and escapes. So, there's little or no gas exchange. The bubbles do move the water a little, so there's some benefit.
All you really need is a good power filter that has a gph (gallon per hour) rating that's roughly 6 times the volume of your tank. Don't forget to change half the water in your tank every week too.
B
Fishguy2727
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2010
- Messages
- 2,667
You should not NEED air stones for aeration. However, if your filter EVER fails (which they all inevitably do) that little air stone can save your entire tank. Without aeration you can start losing fish in as little as a couple hours. I have seen it many times where entire tanks were saved for over a week by the air stone alone. They are a cheap and very effective backup.
Gasses cross between air and water at ANY AND ALL air-water surfaces. They do not know or care whether it is in the air over a tank or the bubbles in it, surface area is surface area. Larger bubbles have relatively less surface area but move more water, smaller bubbles create less flow but have much more surface area per volume of air. Either way aeration is greatly increased.
IMO every freshwater tank should have an air pump. Their potential to save the entire tank should be reason enough.
Gasses cross between air and water at ANY AND ALL air-water surfaces. They do not know or care whether it is in the air over a tank or the bubbles in it, surface area is surface area. Larger bubbles have relatively less surface area but move more water, smaller bubbles create less flow but have much more surface area per volume of air. Either way aeration is greatly increased.
IMO every freshwater tank should have an air pump. Their potential to save the entire tank should be reason enough.
