Do I Need An Air Stone At Night?

[rms]

Hi. I'm wondering if this is necessary when my plants are quite new? My tank is small, 60l and I have around 20 plants in it. I'm running pressurised co2 and read that oxygen can get dangerously low at night. I've forgot to turn on the air pump (timer needed) a few times, but the co2 is on timer. Nothing bad seems to have happened so far so wondering if I need to turn it on for a small tank with a few plants.

 

[the_lock_man]

There's a lot of discussion about whether airstones add to the dissolved oxygen in the tank.
 
My personal view, from what little I've read on the subject, is that the bubbles have such little surface area, that not much dissolves into the water. Where it does help is by agitating the surface of the water more, which adds to the gas transfer, both oxygen in and CO2 out.

 

[rms]

There's a lot of discussion about whether airstones add to the dissolved oxygen in the tank.
 
My personal view, from what little I've read on the subject, is that the bubbles have such little surface area, that not much dissolves into the water. Where it does help is by agitating the surface of the water more, which adds to the gas transfer, both oxygen in and CO2 out.

Yes it does seem quite a contentious issue. My filter gives a reasonable surface agitation so I think I'll leave it for the time being. Thanks

 

[SO19Firearms]

My filter gives a reasonable surface agitation so I think I'll leave it for the time being. Thanks