Air Stone Question

[SCORPIOCUPCAKE]

Should my newly purchased air stone be switched on 24/7 ?

Thanks !!

 

[tenke56]

Yes.

 

[ox5477]

I would leave it going 24/7. The fish need to breath just as much at night as they do during the day so I would keep the gas exchange going 24/7

 

[andywg]

Air stones genrally do next to nothing for dissolved oxygen levels, so it is up to you when you want it on.

 

[Rooster]

Its a VERY common misconception that air pumps, and whatever are connected to them, add "oxygen" to the water - THEY DO NOT !!!!
Its movement of water at the surface that important... so if you have a power filter, there is no need whatsoever to even have an airstone.
If however, the airpump/stone is driving your fitration - then you must leave it running all the time.

 

[SCORPIOCUPCAKE]

Its a VERY common misconception that air pumps, and whatever are connected to them, add "oxygen" to the water - THEY DO NOT !!!!
Its movement of water at the surface that important... so if you have a power filter, there is no need whatsoever to even have an airstone.
If however, the airpump/stone is driving your fitration - then you must leave it running all the time.

My filter does not cause any movement of the water whatsoever. I will leave it on then, thanks again for all replies.

S
x

 

[Rooster]

Its a VERY common misconception that air pumps, and whatever are connected to them, add "oxygen" to the water - THEY DO NOT !!!!
Its movement of water at the surface that important... so if you have a power filter, there is no need whatsoever to even have an airstone.
If however, the airpump/stone is driving your fitration - then you must leave it running all the time.

My filter does not cause any movement of the water whatsoever. I will leave it on then, thanks again for all replies.

S
x

MMMMMmmmm, it should !

 

[Sea Turtle]

yup

 

[OldMan47]

How can the filter not cause water movement cupcake? Is it running? It need not cause surface disturbances to help the air exchange. It just needs to prevent the water column from stagnating to help with oxygenzation.

 

[SCORPIOCUPCAKE]

How can the filter not cause water movement cupcake? Is it running? It need not cause surface disturbances to help the air exchange. It just needs to prevent the water column from stagnating to help with oxygenzation.

It is running yes, sorry I misunderstood, to clarify, it doesnt cause surface agitation. I was advised by a member on here that an air stone was advisable so I went and got one as having some water probs, wanted to try to cover all angles to get it right. So much conflicting info though, its awfully confusing for a newbie who cares for her fish but gets differing advice and opinion at every corner

I will continue to do my best ! ( and lurk on here !)

 

[Athena]

Hi - as a few others have already said, an air stone doesn't oxygenate the water (I know, I thought the same thing when I first started) but helps disperse gases. Makes sense when you think about it as all the little bubbles go upward in one direction and disperse at the top, so how can the air be going into the tank water for the fish to breathe? A good filter will also do the same job but some people like to have both, especially if the tank is on the large size but not big enough to warrant having two filters.

If your filter is fully submerged in the water then it will usually run silently and you won't see much water movement going on (but if you put your finger in front of the filter outlet you will feel the water gushing out and you can tell there are under-currents because when you put food in it will flow towards the direction of the filter). Some people have their filters set at water level, rather than fully submerged and, in that case, you will see and hear water movement. The noise can be a bit irritating after a while which is why a lot of people have them fully submerged. They work fine, either way.

If your filter is working ok then there is absolutely no need to have your air stone plugged in 24/7 unless you really want to. Bear in mind, also, that not all fish like a lot of turbulance in the water and too much of it can stress them out, especially if they are not particularly strong swimmers (those with fancy, flowing finnage that prefer calmer waters).

I usually put my air stone on for an hour in the morning with tank lighting before I leave for work, then they are off again until I return home in the evening. Then it is switched on, along with tank lighting for about 3 hours. It just gives the filter a helping hand and a bit of a boost at eliminating gases from the tank - plus it looks really pretty!

Hope that's helped a bit - Athena

 

[RedeyesUK]

I'm not a great fan of noisy fish tanks - they sound nice for a while, but then it gets irritating.

So what I've done is to set my filters so the outlet sits just under the water surface - this gives good movement but without the noise. It's a fairly precise setting, especially with evaporation at this time of year, but seems to work well.

I also have an airstone running - probably not needed, but I already had the pump and everything anyway - as I don't like this noise too much either, I've plugged it in to a timer socket, so it comes on at about 8AM (Just as I'm leaving for work) and switches off again at 6PM when I come home.

Well aerated (IMO), and no noise - at least, not when I'm around to hear it!

 

[rabbut]

Well, as the member that advised it, I will state why....

Air stones make a column of water raise with the bubbles to the surface. This gets the water at the bottom of the tank to the surface for gas exchange, thus getting extra oxygen into the water by bringing the oxygen depleted water to the surface to "recharge". I agree that unless it is a very deep tank, the bubbles themselves don't add to the oxygen levels in the tank; there just isn't enough contact time or surface area to do so, but the extra water movement acts to boost oxygenation simply by circulating the water to pick up oxygen, and then moving it into the rest of the tank.

Unless your filter takes water from the bottom of the tank and spits it out at the top, you dont get much circulation from bottom to top, just round and round, from my observations anyway...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Faythee]

I do not use airstones but have a couple of powerful battery ones (used for bait buckets) in case the power goes out and my filters cannot run.

Would the surface agitation from the bubbles be enough to keep my fish alive ? Scary thought. Especially with it getting to be hurricane season

 

[SCORPIOCUPCAKE]

I do not use airstones but have a couple of powerful battery ones (used for bait buckets) in case the power goes out and my filters cannot run.

Would the surface agitation from the bubbles be enough to keep my fish alive ? Scary thought. Especially with it getting to be hurricane season

Loads of helpful info as always, you guys are very wonderful ! Thanks all............... I wish everyone were as dedicated as the folk on here....