My Water is Definitely Clearing...But is There Such a Thing as Too Much Oxygen?

[Osage_Winter]

Well, folks -- I believe the water may be finally settling (at least for a brief spurt) and stabilizing, as it appears to be getting clearer and clearer almost by the hour...

BUT -- something I noticed, and meant to ask a long time ago...is it remotely possible for a tank and water to be TOO oxygenated? When I look at the water from the front of the glass, it is clear that between the splashings of the two filters I'm running plus the two bubble wands in back, there is a tremendous amount of aeration in this tank and it's so bubbly, it's making the water appear to be less-than-crystal clear, if you can follow me...

Is this possible? Is there such a thing as "too much oxygen" for a tank? My goldies appear to be swimming and looking better since the water has apparently improved, but I can swear the oxygen created by all the filtration and air devices is causing a "bubbly bloom" of sorts, that's making the water appear to look a bit whispy...

Does this make sense?

 

[bluerose]

Too much aeration/oxygenation, probably not (unless you're running CO2). But you can turn off a bubble wand and see what happens.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Probably not too much oxygen, but certainly too many bubbles perhaps, if they are all breaking down into small bubbles and you have a white water effect like on a waterfall.

 

[Vircomore]

It's not possible to have too much oxygen in an aquarium unless you're feeding your airstone from a canister of pure O2, and you have an airtight lid on it... otherwise, extra oxygen just diffuses off the surface relative to how fast it's being added.

The "micro-bubbles" you're experiencing are caused by 2 things that I've seen:

1. A HOB filter that has bubbles caught under it's waterfall.

2. An airstone that has a ton of tiny holes.


#1 can be fixed by either raising or lowering the water level so that there is either no air under the HOB, or enough space under it that the water gains "clean separation" before falling back in.

#2 is easier - just bury the airstone under the substrate. This will cause the bubbles to build up bigger and float quickly to the surface to pop rather than coast around your tank.

The problem with "micro-bubbles" is that they don't have the buoyancy to overcome the flow in the tank, so they get swished around like dust instead of just surfacing.

 

[BigJim]

+1 If you've got a lot of water aeration, your cloudiness might just be bubbles. Unplug a bubble wand and see if it improves.

 

[libbyb]

I have the same problem but figured it was due to the bubbles from the stone. Here's another question though. The filter intake is just above part of the airstone strip so air bubbles get into the filter (making even more noise). But apart from that, is it a bad idea to have the extra air going to the filter?

 

[meegosh]

I know with CO2 and powerheads that it can sometimes cause damage to the impellers. The bubbles 'hitting' the impeller can cause vibrations. Any time you are dealing with motors - let alone fan blades, vibrations are a bad thing.

 

[Vircomore]

Yea, you should definitely try and move your airstone to another location away from the intake if possible.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I agree... Too many bubbles, a good possibility. Too much oxygen, not really possible without injecting pure O2. Tanks reach an equilibrium with the atmosphere where they concentration of oxygen or carbon dioxide cannot exceed that of which the atmosphere it is in contains, without an outside source such as carbon dioxide injection in a planted tank. This, of course, will be determined by the amount of surface agitation you have (but only on the part of carbon dioxide, not oxygen).

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

You don't really need an airstone unless you have an O2 problem. It just causes water to condense on your hood and grow algae over your light. I stopped using them 10 years ago. +1 on getting sucked into pump intake. Bad for impeller, filter pad should stop them from getting into the tank.

+1 on water level vs HOB output. Mine on my 10g fry tank is usually right at water level or higher, with too much evap though it can drop 1/2-3/4 down, but still does not cause microbubbles - then again, it's only a Tetra EX20.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

I do like bubbles mostly because they look cool, and they provide a bit of gentle movement in the water, plus my fish seem to like them. But I certainly agree there's no real overwhelming need to have them.

Easiest way to see if that's a problem is just switch off all the air pumps for 24 hours and see what results!

 

[jrmjrm]

Well, I've been having the cloudy water issue, too. So after reading this last night I unplugged my air pump and this morning the water was crystal clear. Nice!

 

[Osage_Winter]

Wow --

Didn't expect so much feedback from this subject; thanks everyone!

I am pleased to report that the water has definitely cleared, almost to crystal transparency! Thanks everyone for your ongoing support, tips, insight and push for that AquaClear 110 -- I think that filter DEFINITELY helped.

I'm concerned now, though, about the bubbles/O2 situation -- see, in my tank, the water level regularly evaporates, thus causing the waterfall returns of the two filters to splash in, which itself causes the "tumbling water cascade with bubbles" beneath the surface; I don't mind this, but combined with the aeration from the two bubble walls, there's a TON of movement and aeration in this tank. You don't even need to look closely to see that the water isn't completely transparent because of all the bubbles in the tank, some whispy and "floaty" which makes the water appear not crystal-clear at times/in areas...

That said, can this extreme aeration really cause damage to a filter? My bubble wands are right up against the back wall, and so their air release shoots right into the filters' intake tubes -- I didn't think this was a problem. Further, while the last poster made mention of his "cloudy water" completely going away from getting rid of an air stone, I am not sure if I had cloudy water EXACTLY from the oxygen -- what I was seeing when the tank wasn't clear was definitely a bloom of some sort. Now, the water is clear and getting clearer, but the bubbles created from the devices in the tank is causing like a whispy veil of air; I don't know how else to put it.

 

[BigJim]

As someone mentioned before, the air bubbles cause cavitation in the filter, causing vibration in the impeller. Best case is it makes a little noise. Worst case is it causes the impeller to fracture. If the bubbles are small, it shouldn't really be a problem. If the bubbles are big, picture slamming your open hand in and out of water repeatedly. That's about what your impeller blades will be doing.

 

[fort384]

It will probably shorten the life of your impeller, but I doubt if it results in catastrophic failure. A lot of people purposely inject co2 into a filter intake so the impeller chops it up and helps dissolve it into the water. Air bubbles wouldn't be much different, especially if they are small from coming out of an airstone/bubble wand.

 

[Osage_Winter]

As someone mentioned before, the air bubbles cause cavitation in the filter, causing vibration in the impeller. Best case is it makes a little noise. Worst case is it causes the impeller to fracture. If the bubbles are small, it shouldn't really be a problem. If the bubbles are big, picture slamming your open hand in and out of water repeatedly. That's about what your impeller blades will be doing.

Well, the bubble wands create a curtain of fine bubbles -- they're not really globby, big, heavy looking things...should this be OK?

I'm really concerned about the way the aeration is making the water look...you know those aquariums that are so serene and transparent in clarity? That's what I'm after -- but I can't seem to achieve it because of the turbulence in the water. Could the fluorsescent lighting be casting a "haze" within the water? This was something else I considered...

Also -- should I be keeping the water at the absolute top edge of the tank to avoid the "spilling in" effect of the filters?

 

[fort384]

Doubt that the lighting is the problem.

If you want clearer water, I would turn off the aeration. Filling the tank to the top will help too. No harm in that. Will keep the filter output from creating bubbles.

 

[Osage_Winter]

Thanks, Fort.

But I was always told that lots of aeration is essential for goldfish in particular...

 

[fort384]

Meh... keep the tank clean (PWC at least once a week) and the filter(s) running. They will be fine once the tank gets established.

 

[Osage_Winter]

But why do you feel the aeration is causing "cloudy water"?