Bala Sharks

[tetraqueen]

Hi just read about the oxygen levels in summer for these on CFC post.
Can we discuss this as I am getting more unsure.
Would it be better to have plants and as they are skittish would Oxygen pump be good ?

 

[andywg]

The best thing would be surface agitation. the water will dissolve but needs surface are to do it, by disturbing the surface area you achieve this. Best way is by carefully placing a powerhead or filter return. Using a wet/dry or sump system will help too.

Don't be fooled into thinking that an airstone and airpump will increase oxygen levels as beyond the slight water agitation the bubbles are not in the water long enough to allow the oxygen to dissolve from the bubble to the water.

 

[CFC]

Plants can actually have the reverse effect and lower oxygen levels at night as once the lights go out plants switch from using co2 and start using oxygento respire, because of this plants are not normally recomended for tanks with larger fish.
As Andy says the best way to get more oxygen into a tank is by water movement and in particular surface agitation, one or two powerheads with their outputs pointed towards the surface will do the job nicely.

 

[OMA]

yeah, common misconception is that photosynthesis is breathing for plants cos it's not. it's eating for plants along with nutrients taken in the roots. Plants actually need to breathe too although some (most water plants) take some all all of the oxygen from photosynthesis for themselves before discarding the rest.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Whether an airstone helps or not depends on factors like the size of the airstone in the relationship to the tank. Mine is 2/3 the length of the tank(small tank, I know) and actually creates quite a lot of surface agitation, so I imagine it does quite a bit- I certainly noticed immediate results in my fish when I installed it during the summer heatspell.