Bubbler Advice

[Labenator65000]

I have a 55 Malawi Cichlid tank, and I've been considering adding a bubbler just for looks. I really like the "wall of bubbles" that you see from time to time. I have not had an airstone and pump for about 25 years, and even then it was just a small 1" airstone, so I'm not sure if much, if anything, has changed in how it's done. Reviews for the long 12"+ airstones are not too good; hence my inquiry here. I'm looking for some best-practices on what to be done, from an aesthetic, functional and a practical standpoint. How does one go about doing this?

 

[fort384]

Pretty much any of the bubble walls available at LFSs work well if you have a powerful enough air pump. I haven't seen too many positive or negative reviews for any of them. They do clog up eventually, but they are cheap enough... just have to replace them every few years.

 

[ArtesiaWells]

I have a 55 Malawi Cichlid tank, and I've been considering adding a bubbler just for looks. I really like the "wall of bubbles" that you see from time to time. I have not had an airstone and pump for about 25 years, and even then it was just a small 1" airstone, so I'm not sure if much, if anything, has changed in how it's done. Reviews for the long 12"+ airstones are not too good; hence my inquiry here. I'm looking for some best-practices on what to be done, from an aesthetic, functional and a practical standpoint. How does one go about doing this?

Do yourself a favor -- because I've been down this road before all too often with the different "walls" and "wands" that quit working like clockwork -- and get a couple of the Petco 18" Bubble Bars. They are the best, and put out a ton of bubbles with the right power -- I have two of them along the wall of my tank, and one is being powered by a Rena Air 400 (EXCELLENT pump) which is "bridged" so both outputs are powering the one bar, while the other is being powered, also bridged, by a Tetra Whisper 60, which I wouldn't recommend.