Should I Get An Air Stone

[Hiya70310]

I think everytime I go into the fish store I want something. I feel like I have to leave with something. Usually it's artifical plants, can never have enough of them. Well the thing I have been looking at now are air stones. I've been doing a little web surfing and I found out they have a purpose other than just making bubbles somehow. That they add oxygen to the water for my fish. I have 3 snails that are always hanging out at the top of the tank. So according to the info i read it maybe because there isn't enough oxygen in the water. I been noticing my shrimp have been doing the same thing. They are either on the snails or on top of the heater or the filter near the water surface. Not all the time but I have notice them up there. So know my want is turning into a need. Funny how that worked out for me So now I just need find out what I need for a 20 gallon. Is there a pinned theard on this forum I can read up on it or can anyone point me in the right direction. please
thank you
dany

 

[rewlyn]

i would it only helps

p.s.i live in the country, so not many tourist

 

[Hiya70310]

awwww, too bad tourist are hilarious. Air stone huh. How do I get it to make bubbles. I sound so retarded. Anyway, I think I need some airline tubing and an air but an i'm good right???

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Hiya70310

All you need is the airstone, a length of air line tubing, and a small air pump like the one in this picture:

If your filter is moving the surface of the water, you probably don't really need an airstone, but I agree, the bubbles do look nice.

 

[Hiya70310]

Thank you dude. A small stone and air pump should give me bubble eeeerrr i mean aireation Awesome.

...what's with the cotton???

 

[rewlyn]

Thank you dude. A small stone and air pump should give me bubble eeeerrr i mean aireation Awesome.

...what's with the cotton???

when youget the airstone clear a bit of substrate so you can see the glass put the substrate on top of the air stone
this will give you bigger bubbles/better aireation

 

[Hiya70310]

Thanks will do...So I want big bubbles right???

 

[rewlyn]

bigger bubbles make bigger ripples this effect will help break down gases, this will help extract ammonia, nitrites and ntirates (unless someone knows different, im always ready to learn)

and with more oxygen in the tank your temps wont change so rapidly

 

[waterdrop]

what's with the cotton???

Its polyester fiber (aka floss or "polyfloss") and its used as the finest grade of mechanical filtration media in a filter to catch the smallest of particles. It can get full of debris pretty fast and even though it can sometimes be squeezed and re-used a few times it usually breaks down and wears out much faster than other media types. Some people say that it "polishes" the water.

Its pictured there because (back in the day) it was very common to have simple internal bubble-driven filters that had carbon in the bottom and lots of floss on top. Given what you've learned probably by now here in the beginner section I'm sure you can see why this wasn't such a good filter!

Polyfloss from the LFS is usually guaranteed to be free of any chemicals or flame-retardants etc. which is the way you want it. But if you look carefully and watch out for those chemical coatings, you can often get it much cheaper in Walmart type places for stuffing pillows!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Hiya70310]

So...I can just add this to my filter that comes with the blue carbon media Or would I have to cycle that floss

bigger bubbles make bigger ripples this effect will help break down gases, this will help extract ammonia, nitrites and ntirates (unless someone knows different, im always ready to learn)

and with more oxygen in the tank your temps wont change so rapidly

Okay...I think I got it

 

[waterdrop]

Although polyfloss will indeed harbor significant amounts of the beneficial bacteria, we don't usually "count it" as a major part of the biomedia as long as there's enough other biomedia (again, the primary biomedia types being ceramic rings, ceramic gravel, plastic "bioballs" and sponges of all types.) The answer to your question is that yes you can add it and no it doesn't have to be cycled, but I always encourage people to be careful and observant when trying different things with their filters, mainly so as not to clog them up without realizing it!

As you become a more experienced hobbyist you begin to realize how silly all these little plastic "cartridge" constructions are and how they are all about trying to regularly sell supplies and not about filtering the water and taking care of the fish! At that point you begin to look at different filters and realize how sensible the big external cannisters are with their large and simple trays to hold any type of media in quantity. The manufacturers have the advantage in that newcomers to the hobby just have no earthly idea what a filter is all about.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Hiya70310]

Thank you waterdrop your always super helpful. Now I have a question, I'm assuming you need to put the floss in something..what is that something? The filter I have allows me to add another media cartrige.
Also I went to the store today (all I could convince him to get me was a little plant ) And I saw a power head. Is that like an air stone. I think I would prefer an Air stone. Also, what is the valve that everyone brings up when talking about air stones? Will I need one of these as well. I'm about to order a small air pump, airline tubing and an air stone for a 20 gallon.
Sounds good???

 

[jonp]

A "one way valve" is a small piece of plastice that you place in the middle of the tubing somewhere between the pump and the tank. This means that air can only flow from the pump to the tank and means that if you get a power cut water cannot syphon back the other way and damage the pump ( or drain the tank if not caught soon enough ).

to show item only - never used retailer.

They only cost around £0.60 in the uk (around $1) and I personnaly use one on each extension of air pipe as it enters the tank incase my cats decide to play with the pipes whilst im out.


There are also splitter valves that allow you to split an air supply to feed either two (or more) different airstones in two tanks or say a filter as shown above and an airstone or maybe even an airstone and one of the dodgy shark things whose heads bob up and down as air is released.

basic splitter - for info only - never used retailer

splitter with flow control - never used retailer for info only.

 

[Hiya70310]

Thank you.
So can I just cut the airline tube or am I going to need more than one tube?

 

[jonp]

yep - you simply cut to the desired length with a pair of scissors/knife.