Bubbles Bubbles Everywhere!

[SierraDelta]

Since setting up my 29-gallon freshwater aquarium, I've had a bubble curtain running along about half of the back of the tank. It's been running more-or-less continuously since I got the tank. Today, I unplugged for a while while I was doing some maintanence and I noticed an immediate change in both the atmosphere of the aquarium and the behavior of the fish.

The tank was less exciting, but much more peaceful to watch without the bubbles (and quieter, too, without the air pump running). The big change I noticed, though, was that the fish seemed to spread out more "evenly" throughout the tank. The rasboras, in particular, became a lot more active. I hadn't really thought about it before, but many of the fish seemed to spend most of their time on the "calm" side of the tank when the bubbler was running. I know the bubbles don't hurt anything (I've even seen the Danios playing in the bubbles from time to time), but are some fish afraid of all that commotion? I'm also wondering if it might be better for the plants to leave it off since the agitation removes some of the carbon dioxide from the water.

So what do people think? Bubbles or no bubbles? I like the way they look, but I want the fish to feel comfortable and act naturally. Also, how long can I leave the bubbler off without removing it from the tank? Will it clog up if I leave it silent for a few days? (I have a check valve on the airline tubing, so water shouldn't back up into the air pump)

 

[5teady_2012]

i Just like to have bubbles at each end of thank on slightly, not to powerful, my filter agitates the water and sends the bubbles across the surface and it looks cool, that will do me lol.

 

[rabbut]

If you are properl stocked, and are heavily planted, just take it out, as it won't be needed

If you are overstocked, or have only a few plants, remove it, but check you have enough surface movement, for gas exchange to happen correctly.


The bubler will only clog, in my experience, if it is left in light where it is likely to grow algea, so leaving it in realy depends on there it is positioned IMO.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[Revision17]

I'm not too big of a fan of bubblers. They help if you're overstocked (and you'll be able to tell, since the fish will be at the surface to get at more oxygen rich air), then bubblers are good. Supposedly the "waterfall" from power filters and having powerheads (water pumps) pointed up will oxygenate your water much better than bubblers, however I've never tried either of those ways.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Generally airstones are only good for decoration. They can help with surface movement which helps the gas exchange (if you dont add CO2 to a tank with plants in then you want a surface exchange still, the only time you want to limit it is if you add CO2 yourself).

It could be possible that some fish dont like them. They do create quite a bit of upwards waterflow so I can see why fish wouldnt want to spend a lot of time right next to them (takes a lot of effort to swim against it all the time). Other fish though love having currents to swim against (though these are normally not vertical currents).

If you like it then keep it. It wont do any harm either way, maybe turn it down a little if the fish really dont like it.