Do I Need An Air Stone

[garrym1983]

I have a jewel 180 and its a planted aquarium. I've just watched a YouTube video of a guy talking about water aeration. He has a planted aquarium and recommended an air stone so that the tank gets enough aeration to produce oxygen in the tank. I've always considered having an air stone purely from an aesthetic position but haven't because I've read on some websites that having a planted aquarium means you don't need one, and that it may effect the plants. What's the opinion of the forum???

Thanks

 

[Tuxyu3]

It should only affect the plants to a degree that is visible so you could always relocate the stone if you wanted. The amount of aeration needed depends on the species you are keeping.

 

[fluttermoth]

No, you don't need one, and I believe (though I'm not 100% sure, it might apply only if you're using a CO2 injection system) it's better not to have them in planted tanks as they can strip the CO2 from the water.

As long as your filter ripples the water surface that's enough for oxygenation.

 

[garrym1983]

Thought as much, thanks

I inject co2 by means of liquid carbon, does that matter?

 

[Tuxyu3]

Oh yes, like fluttermoth said, it can affect plants especially in a high-tech setup, for some reason i assumed it was low-tech.

I do think with certain plants you must have aeration (Note: That is very unlikely to be true in your case). My Dad's boss told a story of how he had a beautiful tiger barb tank and he purchased some amazing plants that gave off bubbles (oxygen), problem was he did not realise they took it all back in the dark and woke up the next day to find all his barbs suffocated to death

Not sure how true that is but it sure made me research all my plants before buying them, they can be just as bad as some fish. Sorry, that was very off topic of me.

 

[snazy]

You don't need an air stone, but you do need the surface of the water rippled for gas exchange at the surface so oxygen can go into the water, that's if the plants don't provide enough and for a heavy load of fish they may not. And as already pointed, they can draw oxygen out of the water and suffocate fish in certain cases. The point is how much air stone/water surface movement in relation to the amount of plants/type of plants/amount of fish and type of fish, so just observe if one or the other suffer and adjust. A heavy surface agitation in a non co2 tank will actually provide more CO2 rather than the opposite as surface movement does not only brings oxygen but also CO2 into the water(and all other type of dissolved gas)
The fish do love playing in bubbles though.

 

[Chad]

No, you don't need one, and I believe (though I'm not 100% sure, it might apply only if you're using a CO2 injection system) it's better not to have them in planted tanks as they can strip the CO2 from the water.

As long as your filter ripples the water surface that's enough for oxygenation.

+1

 

[raptorrex]

No, you don't need one, and I believe (though I'm not 100% sure, it might apply only if you're using a CO2 injection system) it's better not to have them in planted tanks as they can strip the CO2 from the water.

As long as your filter ripples the water surface that's enough for oxygenation.

+1

+2
however, remember plants become "overall" O2 consumers when the lights are out.

 

[minnnt]

No, you don't need one, and I believe (though I'm not 100% sure, it might apply only if you're using a CO2 injection system) it's better not to have them in planted tanks as they can strip the CO2 from the water.

As long as your filter ripples the water surface that's enough for oxygenation.

+1

+2
however, remember plants become "overall" O2 consumers when the lights are out.

+3.

 

[ColR1948]

A agree wit with all the above too, plus I noticed in a tank a while ago all the fish seem to congregate at one end, funny thing was it was the opposite end to the air stone, I switched it off to see what would happen and then the fish started using all of the tank so after that I took it out and also took them out of my other tanks.

 

[snazy]

The only time you need airstone at night as suggested above is if you inject CO2, but that's not only because there could be lack of oxygen due to the plants consuming it too, but because the concentration of CO2 can become too high for the tastes of the fish. This would happen mostly if your filter is not really rippling the surface too much as is the case in some planted tanks.
Personally, I have now a small tank that I keep some shrimp and cory fry in which I dose ferts and liquid CO2 daily. Theres a sponge filter that was rippling the surface( I thought it was enough) and it was fine for a month or so. A few days ago I noticed that after a while I turn the lights in the tank off the shrimp started going to the surface swimming upside down from time to time. I suspected there's something oxygen related going on and they did stop after I added an air stone. The tank is planted but I am guessing the growing corys/growing plants, etc.. was affecting the levels and now I am afraid to turn the airstone off although it's no good for the plants. My other tank is fine without an airstone but the water flow and surface movement is a lot better there, so it depends.