Venturi On Or Off?

[aerofish999]

Hello
I have a Interpet PF 2 filter. 60 litre tank
When the venturi is on the tank fills with small bubbles, i know this is good aeration but do the fish enjoy it? i have the flow direction pointing to the surface, loads of bubbles on top. Whats the best position for the direction flow? and is it beneficial to be on all the time or do the fish need a break from it? eg at night?
Sorry if these are silly questions, i just want them to be happy!

 

[Wills]

Aeration is always a good thing IMO. As long as you have good surface agitation the bubbles dont do much other than add more agitation but if its quite "wavey" you should be okay. What fish do you have? Some need higher oxygen than others, also do you have live plants as they suck use air a lot at night (or so Im told sure a plant expert will be able to clarify or prove me wrong)

Wills

 

[aerofish999]

i have 4 rosey teras and 2 new mollies. and yes 4 live plants.
the fine bubbles are reaching the bottom of the tank and plenty of large bubbles and a good wave on top.

 

[Wills]

If its irritating you try to find a point where the bubbles are still active but the noise is okay. But if you were worried it was bad its def a good thing I think. If the tanks in a bedroom I can completely sympathize my first tank was in my room and I had this blue light that let out massive bubbles around every 2 mins and it used to wake me up all the time lol.

 

[aerofish999]

yeah its in my room but not bothering me at all is just wanted to make sure wasnt too strong or annoying for the fish
Also my tank has daylight and moon light bulbs, shuold lights be completly off at night??

 

[Wills]

Ah right yeah it wont be doing anything bad for the fish Again the lights are upto you, the moon lights are usually used as a way for you to see nocturnal fish, but since you dont have any its upto you haha

 

[TheConstantGrower]

I run massive ammounts of air through my water, i just do it in the sump in the fluid bed filter, just tons and tons and tons of aeration and mobile media. Using air stones in a tank is beneficial in a lot of areas, but caution must also be taken.

The air filter sucks in anything in the air around it, and disperses it in micro bubble form to your tank.
Things like smoke, and heavy oils in the air (fragrances) can dither into your water.

Adding air to the tank reduces the tank temperature as you are adding presumptuously cooler air. This is normally negligible, but with the amount of aeration i do it drops the whole FBF temp about 10 degrees!

Using the venturi on a power head is a great way of adding air direct, aim it anywhere you choose, if the bubbles are huge and annoying (which most venturi's are) switch it up for an air-stone and pump.

As for if your flow is bothering your fish? Some fish (shoaling fish) like to ride in the fast currents other fish, like angels or even bettas will often seek the calmer places in the tank. So what are your fish?

-TGC

EDIT- The moonlight - Get your fish on a good schedule with the daylights. Fish dont always enjoy super bright blue light at night, can be just as intense as actinic bulbs sometimes. And as was said somewhere else on the forums. Run the moonlights during the period when your still up and hanging around the tank, AFTER the daylights are off, but then turn if off when you go to bed so that the fish can have their dark, after all the moon isn't out every night in every body of water

 

[aerofish999]

Thank you for all the replies this site is great!
I have 4 Rosey Tetras and 2 Mollies at the moment
I have the blue light in the evening then turn off completely at night
I guess i will have the bubbles blasting again if its good for them Them seem ok
I hadnt thought of an air stone, do the run off a separate pump? Any suggestions for a good one?

Thank you very much again

David

 

[TheConstantGrower]

The cheaper the better in my opinion, every airstone will break down over time, even the 30 dollar "super amazing" ones. So go online and find those cheap white tube ones that are 5 for a dollar or something like that. I use whisper air pumps, they aren't the strongest but they last longer than Rio (in my experience) and are almost 100% silent. At my local petco (ew, petco, i know) they are only 15 dollars for the pump and 3 dollars for the airstones. Online im sure you could do better.

Found these real fast, the 6 pack is 4 dollars, overpriced, but you'll spend that in petrol getting to the lfs (where i am anyways its 45 minutes to the nearest!)

I change out my airstones monthly, i don't even have to, its just part of my routine.

And heres the whisper pump

I know they all look the same but this is the whisper 40, (for 40usg) and its $10.99

The 60 is almost 20 dollars but really steps it up, far stronger pump and has dual outlets, these are what i use.

Always use the sillicone flexable tubing, i know they all say "flexable" but what they mean to say is:

"hey if you use this cheap clear stuff it will kink on you all the time and youll hate it!"


Again tubing is cheap, 3 - 5 dollars.


The smaller whisper pumps are as low as 7 dollars so if you did this whole thing right you could get the whole air setup on the cheap for $15 - $20.

Good luck

-TGC