so, most of my tanks are for river fish, and I use a combination of hang on tank filters, and bubbles to induce / simulate water flow, but how does one oxygenate a still water tank??? plants seem to give and take, depending on light... maybe the bulk of the fish that inhabit these waters are air breathers ( labyrinth fish ) ??? in the wild there is sufficient surface area, wind and waves, that take care of that, but they aren't practical in a glass box... I'm wondering if a small fan blowing across an open tank, or at the surface, would raise oxygen levels??? or perhaps an emergent plant blowing in the wind from a fan, slowly stirring the surface???
it's funny bubbles are even used... I suspect the original thought was bubbles themselves added oxygen, in the dark ages of fish keeping, though now the enlightened suggest, it's just the breaking of the surface that adds oxygen, and the bubbles themselves do very little to add oxygen to the water... bubbles are an integral part of my aquariums... they do effectively move water up a tube, in the case of sponge filters, or the old undergravel filter lift tubes...
fish like my Hillstream's spend lots of time in the bubble waterfalls, but most other fish avoid them, but reap the benefits of the flow, and oxygen, created by breaking the surface
it's funny bubbles are even used... I suspect the original thought was bubbles themselves added oxygen, in the dark ages of fish keeping, though now the enlightened suggest, it's just the breaking of the surface that adds oxygen, and the bubbles themselves do very little to add oxygen to the water... bubbles are an integral part of my aquariums... they do effectively move water up a tube, in the case of sponge filters, or the old undergravel filter lift tubes...
fish like my Hillstream's spend lots of time in the bubble waterfalls, but most other fish avoid them, but reap the benefits of the flow, and oxygen, created by breaking the surface