Fish And Decor

[ECCO_]

Also, Im only using one, but is there a limit on how many aerating ornaments you can use in a tank?...

 

[Torrean]

to my knowledge it's only really limited by how much water movement you want in a tank. Air pumps can be spliced into multiple ornaments so you can try out all of them and remove your least favorite until you are satisfied with the water movement and surface agitation. Also surface agitation normally cause the release of co2 and the absorption of oxygen to be more rapid. Therefore more surface agitation means less co2 which means that your plants will not be as happy. Just something to consider.

 

[ECCO_]

Im going to my petstore today, theyre having a big sale on decor, 35% off. So Ill let you guys know what I get sometime today. When I get paid at the end of the week, I plain to go back and get more.

 

[Torrean]

any reason why you don't want a more natural decor? It can be very appealing. Usually turns out cheaper too. A few pieces of chipped slat tile that you can almost get paid to cart away can make a good looking and effective cave. You can also use flower pots. coconuts, pvc tube silicone and sand/gravel, bits of stone or crystal siliconed together, the possibilities are virtually infinite. You do need to be careful with what materials you use though some are not safe.

 

[Sammie7]

to my knowledge it's only really limited by how much water movement you want in a tank. Air pumps can be spliced into multiple ornaments so you can try out all of them and remove your least favorite until you are satisfied with the water movement and surface agitation. Also surface agitation normally cause the release of co2 and the absorption of oxygen to be more rapid. Therefore more surface agitation means less co2 which means that your plants will not be as happy. Just something to consider.

The only problem would be if you were injecting CO2. If not then surface agitation might actually help bring CO2 into the water. Things in nature like to be in balance. This can be seen when looking at semi-permeable membranes. If there is more of one molecule on one side of the membrane it will try to get to get to the other side until an equlibrium is acheived. The CO2 that is greater in the atmosphere, compared to the water of a tank that does not have CO2 injection, will try to go into the water and acheive equilibrium. Thus, surface agitation in a non-CO2 injected tank can be benificial to the plants. Thats my understanding anyway.

 

[Torrean]

your right I was thinking about a tank with just fish in it for some odd reason. The plants would reduce the co2 in the water so the water would absorb co2 from the atmosphere. in a tank with more fish than plants (in relation to gas exchange) there would be more co2 in the water than oxygen so surface agitation would put more oxygen in the water.

 

[Sammie7]

I guess so. Just remember that oxygen and CO2 are independent of each other. Meaning that increasing oxygen does not decrease CO2, or vise versa. Just the same, you could have both O2 saturation and CO2 saturation at the same time.

 

[Torrean]

well saying they are independent of one another isn't exactly true, when considering the respiration of plants and animals altleast. Other than that yeah your right.