Air Stones

[TheMerovingian]

i show a couple of air stones one ebay and i thougth they'd look cool in my tank behind some stones.
is it worth getting one? what do they actually do?

i know you need an air pump to, how does that work?

 

[Blade118]

i show a couple of air stones one ebay and i thougth they'd look cool in my tank behind some stones.
is it worth getting one? what do they actually do?

Yeah they are well worth it. Provide oxygen, but also look real cool. A nice large one 12" at the back looks IMBA! (amazing)

 

[Efren]

yup-- it helps diffuse air in the water--
and cool effect as well.

 

[8inary]

IMO they are worth having, albeit there is an arguement at present that air bubbles do nothing to put oxygen in the water, and that your filter outlet is best to be positioned so that it disturbs the surface of the water, which is said to put oxygen in the water.

Notwithstanding that, they do look good and I have a large one on mine, I say large it actually pushes 4000ltrs/hour, which is a lot to be fair, but I like the look, and the fish play in the bubbles also. I also think it helps circulates the water by increasing the uplift in your tank.

Here is a vid of my tank...

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLGa8d9L1SY

 

[NonstickRon]

A bubble wall strip will definitely "disturb the surface" of your tank. I put one in yesterday that stretches all the way across the back of my 10 gallon. Looks great. The fish seem to like it, I had to turn the valve down a bit though, at full blast the uplift was really stirring up my tank a little too much. I dropped some flakes in and it was like a hurricane. lol

I added it to increase oxygenation due to mid to upper 80s temps in my office building over the weekend.

One thing I'm personally curious about is how the sand at the bottom of my tank would react if I buried the bubble tube.

 

[TheMerovingian]

IMO they are worth having, albeit there is an arguement at present that air bubbles do nothing to put oxygen in the water, and that your filter outlet is best to be positioned so that it disturbs the surface of the water, which is said to put oxygen in the water.

Notwithstanding that, they do look good and I have a large one on mine, I say large it actually pushes 4000ltrs/hour, which is a lot to be fair, but I like the look, and the fish play in the bubbles also. I also think it helps circulates the water by increasing the uplift in your tank.

Here is a vid of my tank...

[URL="http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLGa8d9L1SY"]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLGa8d9L1SY[/URL]

omg!
big....tank....


so how do i set it up?

 

[Nick16]

get an airstone!

 

[8inary]

Ron, I favour putting airstones under sand/gravel etc. If you look in the vid - I posted above, the airstones/aircurtains are under the coralsand. I have also just set up another tank with blue lobsters/crayfish in, I used sand in that and have an airstone under the sand.

With my big tank, I have to be careful as if I have it on full blast, it turns into a snowglobe.

In sand however it will be ok depending on how much air is going into it.

First you need an airpump, these vary in size so get one suitable for your tank, you then need some airpipe, this goes from the pump to the airstone/curtain in your tank, then as aforementioned, an airstone/curtain, connect them all up and away ye go

 

[NonstickRon]

Ron, I favour putting airstones under sand/gravel etc. If you look in the vid - I posted above, the airstones/aircurtains are under the coralsand. I have also just set up another tank with blue lobsters/crayfish in, I used sand in that and have an airstone under the sand.

With my big tank, I have to be careful as if I have it on full blast, it turns into a snowglobe.

In sand however it will be ok depending on how much air is going into it.

First you need an airpump, these vary in size so get one suitable for your tank, you then need some airpipe, this goes from the pump to the airstone/curtain in your tank, then as aforementioned, an airstone/curtain, connect them all up and away ye go

Could you explain the point to all the different sizes? Why do bigger tanks require more powerful airpumps? I'm using a 20 gallon air pump on my 10 gallon tank cause I figured more is better but it really doesn't seem to make any sense to me.

Hm...play sand is a lot finer than coral sand isn't it? I was afraid it would stir the sand all up if I buried it.

 

[paul_219]

They well needed u need to have it in your tank.

 

[8inary]

Hi Ron, bigger tanks may require bigger airpumps because (sorry if this sounds basic) if you were to stick a small pump in a 1000ltr tank, it will look like a fish fart, however if you wack a decent sized one you will get a pretty nice effect and some good surface disturbance. You would not however stick such a pump on a small tank, it would pretty much empty the tank.

The one in my vid, is pushing around 4000ltrs/hour however what you do not see, is that I have a hospital/treatment tank under the unit, and I have an airstone in that, as the pump I have, pushes out 4000ltrs/hour whether you want it or not, so some purging may happen under the unit under the tank to equalize the amount going into the main tank...so in effect, mine is doing two tanks, which is ok as this same pump I have seen in fish shops, running all their tanks!

Also, I would imagine your airpump is ok to have under the sand, I have one similar in yet another tank I have, which has sand in it, not coralsand like my main tank, it looks good also. Why not install a blue tube light to give your bubbles a blue look.

Hi Paul, not sure what your comment means?

 

[TheMerovingian]

lmao
" fish fart "
that is cracking me up!!!

 

[OldMan47]

The best way I have found to size an air pump is to decide what I will have in my tank and then look for one designed to move enough air for that many stones or other features. I'd rather get a pump designed to move enough air for 5 standard air stones at my tank's depth than one that advertises 1000 l/hr of capacity without telling me how much equipment it will run at what depth. Even a large air compressor like you might use in a work shop for powering tools will put out a lot less air at higher pressures. The little vibrating pumps we use in aquariums are very much affected by the depth of the water.

 

[Ficious]

a shot of mine...i think its 10 inches long

 

[alysonpeaches]

a shot of mine...i think its 10 inches long

Thats a big one ficious!

You can get one from Wilkinsons thats about 6 inch for something like a quid. Thats what I use in two of my tanks. If you get a long one your pump needs to be powerful enough to send bubbles all the way along it.