Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: Lellynelly on May 08, 2015, 08:26:14 PM
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My aerator is very noisy. Do I need it on ALL the time or can I turn it off at night?
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If you have a planted tank or a filter that disturbs the water surface and your tank isn't overly stocked you probably don't need an air pump at all. If you have lots of plants in your tank, your air pump may actually be stunting their growth by limiting the carbon dioxide in the tank.
Try turning it off one day and keep an eye on your fish. If they're gasping at the water surface, get the bubble back on quick!
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Provided there is a filter in the tank, bubbles are mainly for aesthetics. The only time an airstone can be useful is when you have to medicate the tank. A lot of meds reduce the oxygen content of the water and the bubbles help to get more oxygen dissolving by churning the water up so the surface, where gas exchange occurs, gets moved round faster.
But the filter needs to run 24/7. If your aerator is a venturi and part of the filter, you can't turn the filter off but you can disable the venturi function overnight.
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Thanks Sue and Cod. Yes I have plants and a filter pump. so it's nice to know I can turn the bubbles off overnight.
ta