Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tanks and Equipment => Topic started by: Paddyc on March 08, 2016, 11:14:59 PM
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As per title, I'm wondering what those of you who have air stones/bubble tubes etc in your tank do. I have a timer for my lights but at the moment the pump for the bubbles runs all the time. Is it better for the fish to get a break from the noise of the bubbles?
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Hi Paddyc, Personally I have my bubbles come on from 12:00 till 21:00, this btw is not something I've read about somewhere, just my theory, so take with a pinch of salt!...
I do this in an attempt to provide my plants with some CO2. CO2 will build up in a tank over time as the fish respire and air bubbles function are to break the waters surface so to encourage gaseous exchange (whether that be to add or take gasses from the water dependent on the comparative concentration in the air and water) so...
In my tank therefore, CO2 builds overnight from fish respiration, drops after the lights are switched on as the plants use it during photosynthesis (generally plants will use up CO2 in a 4 hour period in this way, some keepers use x2 4 hour lighting periods for this reason) levels are then balanced with the outside air do the remainder of the day.
I hope that makes sense, just my way of doing things!
I have previously had the aeration on 24hrs and it just seemed a bit wasteful imo.
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That's a great explanation Matt, thanks for that! Do you believe your plants do better with a period of no aeration or like you say is it just a theory?
I will have live plants in my tank so I think I'll do this... :)
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Probably more just a theory... but the plants do seem to be doing a bit better, the vallis especially.
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Airstone bubblers are a complete waste of time and money so long as your tank is set up correctly, they have no beneficial effect and the pumps are usually noisy. Just another unnecessary thing for the shop to sell you. Your filter will do all the required air circulation and enable sufficient gas exchange at the surface. Keep it simple, don't use any extra equipment, chemicals etc other than those you really need. 95% of the stuff you see stacked up on the shop shelves isn't needed.
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Airstone bubblers are a complete waste of time and money ...
Whilst I agree that they're not necessary, they're neither a waste of time or money for those people that like the way they look.
:isay:
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I like it for the aesthetics, so does my daughter so I won't be getting rid of it. Some really good points that others will find useful as well, thanks guys!
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I think sometimes the fish seem to like it as well. I've had air stones in my tanks previously and noticed the fish swimming through the bubbles. Whether that's more a "swimming against the water flow" thing or the bubbles I don't know. Since removing the air stones and changing the way the spray bars on the filters are set up I still occasionally see the danios and the dwarf puffers apparently playing in the flow/bubbles created. I guess it's not a bad thing to offer the tank inhabitants some alternative entertainment. :)
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Hi I’m new to this forum but I’ve been keeping fish for about 7 years.
I have a 230L planted tank, as the plants respire, in light they take in cO2 and produce O2, when the lights go off they take in O2 and produce cO2
I have my twin air pump on a timer and it comes on at 18:50, 10 minutes before lights out at 19:00 to allow me to check that the air is working ok, the pump turns off at 09:00 when the lights come on again.
The plants seem to do well with this set up, but if you like to see bubbles, have bubbles.
:fishy1:
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As usual, each to their own. My preference is for everything to look as natural as possible, hence for me bubbles fall into the same category as "ornaments". I've painted the backs and sides (on the outside of course) of all of my tanks black so that you can't see anything through the glass behind them. Another advantage is that black internal filters are virtually invisible against the black background. Heaters are hidden behind plants and bogwood. If algae grows on my plants, wood or rocks, I just leave it, I've yet to find a natural water body that doesn't contain algae, just a part of nature. As are snails, which I leave to multiply or decline as conditions dictate. They increase until they reduce the algae and then numbers decrease again as their food supply becomes less.
You may not be surprised to learn that my garden is much the same, I leave my plants (all perennials) to fight it out among themselves, some win, some lose.
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Hi Mussoda :wave:
Welcome to the forum :)
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Welcome, Mussoda! :wave:
Totally agree with Richard re the comments about black backgrounds. I recently changed the black background to blue - in retrospect, the black was better for the very reasons Richard mentions. The blue looked better in the shop, and possibly for a decor-free tank, but black disguises the filter and heater and looked better as a background for the colourful silk plants whereas now it all looks a little too colourful (but may look less so if I gradually start replacing the silk plants with real ones).
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I know what you mean fcmf, about the blue. I had a black background (just cardboard painted very dark greens, browns and black and I thought perhaps that's why the tank appears dark. So I bought a piece of blue card from The Range, a sort of electric blue colour as I'd seen similar in the tanks at P@H. It just wasn't right with the plants etc. it seemed like my fish were in a Pixar movie! So I changed back to black. I'm trying for a natural look too, I think I have it right with the slate and substrate, however the plants need to become better established and grow. Hopefully once I sought the lighting out they'll flourish. :)
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When it comes to bubbles, it is all personal preference as it's more a visual thing. Bubbles will add oxygen to the water, but not through the bubbles themselves, but by the agitation they cause on the surface. Therefore, if you have your filter outlet agitating the water on the surface, you don't need bubbles as this will cause the gas exchange.
With regards to a planted tank, you don't want to be adding unnecessary oxygen to the water, as the plants will use up the CO2 within 4 hours of lights on, as Mussoda and Matt pointed out. In my planted tank I'm currently on a 4 hours on, 4 hours off, 4 hours on, 12 hours off schedule, but when I start CO2 injection I'll have a more normal day period of 8 hours.
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I actually shuffled my power sockets around today as I have two separate lights and obviously the pump for the bubble strip. The pump was on constantly and I had both lights (one a flourescent double tube unit, the other a remote controlled RGB LED strip) on a timer.
I have decided I want the LED on the untimed circuit so I can remotely operate it (On/Off as well as colour changes/pattern changes) as and when I like and I've piggybacked the pump plug onto the timer with the flourescent unit.
So now the bubbles only come on when the flourescent light comes on (currently set to come on at 0900 and go off at 2000) but I might tweak this to mirror what Darren_lines has done with his timings if it will benefit the plants.
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My otos seem to like playing in the bubbles in the tank they're in and I added an airstone strip to the 200l after I added the stiphs because Seriously Fish website recommends it.
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This is the replacement "Bubble Curtain" for my airstone.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281238550112?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=580282148112&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
(http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/7U4AAOxycmBSxtHr/$_35.JPG)
It produces lovely fine bubbles in a fairly even curtain and can be manipulated into any shape you like!
The only downside to it vs a traditional airstone is getting the damn thing under the gravel! You get around a half of it in, work along and the bit you previously buried jumps back up again!!! Infuriating!!!
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I've so many plants in the 200l it'd be invisible, my 12 bar sits in 2 pebbles at the back and you cant see it. Sorely tempted by ones of those though Paddy, an ebay purchase?
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Ah! added to my wish list now
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I've so many plants in the 200l it'd be invisible, my 12 bar sits in 2 pebbles at the back and you cant see it. Sorely tempted by ones of those though Paddy, an ebay purchase?
Yip, good old fleabay, I assume by 12 bar you mean 12 inch? The £4.20 one I bought is 60cm so double the length...
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Yup I did. That bubble wand would cover most of the back of my 200l, does it need weighing down?
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Yup I did. That bubble wand would cover most of the back of my 200l, does it need weighing down?
It keeps it's own weight down once submerged and empty of air, but it is more buoyant than an airstone so as I said it is a tricky thing to get buried in substrate. The flexibility of it means you push one end down and inadvertently bend it, so when you move along and push the next bit down, the far end pops back up again!
Once it is under there (I had to use my lump of bogwood to hold one end down while I buried the rest) it stays down and does not lift when the air is introduced. The bubbles it produces do vary slightly but there are no large ones that give off louder popping noises, it actually creates a bit of a "fizz" at the surface... Great product...
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I used to bury the airstone in the 200l but I used to get a build up of 'sludge' round it and it kept getting blocked which is why I dont bury them anymore.
£4.20 is cheap though so I might give it a try.
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Littlefish/Fiona: if you want to take your dwarf puffers' entertainment to the next level, you might want to consider this the R2 Fish School Kit (available via Amazon). :)
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I used to bury the airstone in the 200l but I used to get a build up of 'sludge' round it and it kept getting blocked which is why I dont bury them anymore.
£4.20 is cheap though so I might give it a try.
I'll keep a look out for this happening. The outer material is soft foamy rubber so may be less prone to sludge build-up...
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It might make it easier to clean, so I'd be very interested to know how you get on. I do have a soil substrate topped with sand in that tank though.
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Littlefish/Fiona: if you want to take your dwarf puffers' entertainment to the next level, you might want to consider this the R2 Fish School Kit (available via Amazon). :)
fcmf, I had a look on Amazon and it made me laugh :rotfl:
My only concern would be that I would set it up in the tank and the puffers would settle themselves down like spectators, with that look that says "well, go on them, what are you going to do to entertain us?"