Aeration - micro Bubbles Good or Bad

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Wellsted

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 14, 2023
Messages
5
I’ve just installed an Eheim aeration nozzle to my water outlet. I does a fantastic job of injecting air and making small waves on the surface. However, I notice that the entire tank is filled with tiny micro bubbles dancing around. The fish don’t seem to mind.

Are these any foreseeable issues with this?

What about the plants?

I do also add CO2 during the light hours.

Appreciate your guidance.

Thanks
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

It is pointless having aeration and using carbon dioxide (CO2) at the same time because the aeration drives out the excess CO2 and you are simply wasting your money and pumping CO2 into the air.

If you use CO2, you need lots of nutrients and lots of light. If you don't have these 3 things balanced, there is no point using the CO2.

There is plenty of CO2 in an aquarium and it's produced continuously by the fish and bacteria. CO2 also gets into the aquarium water via the surface. Unless your tank is full of fast growing plants and only has a few small fish, or no fish, there is no need to add supplemental carbon dioxide.

If you do use CO2, make sure you have at least 100ppm of carbonate hardness in the water to stop the pH dropping suddenly.

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Fine bubbles are bad for fish. If there are lots of tiny bubbles in the water, they can get onto the fish's gills, under the skin, around the eyes and right through the fish. Very fine/ small bubbles are bad for fish.
 
I agree with Colin, you are working with forces that are against each other. The purpose of aeration is to increase the exchange of gases which will reduce the CO2 in the water. :facepalm:

You definitely want to reduce the micro bubbles. As Colin stated, they can do much more harm to the fish than good. :(
 
Thanks Everyone - makes perfect sense

Thanks everyone for your responses. You all make perfect sense and consensus. Appreciated.

Basically there is enough CO2 without needing to inject… but if you at worst you are wasting money and at best there is no benefit.

I will adjust the injector to negate the micro bubbles.

Thanks again.
 
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