Aeration

[Jo]

call me stupid (and I'm sure that you will..) but I've had my tank running for about a month now, and apart from the death of one fish, thinkgs seem to be going ok. I'm not sure about aeration filtration devices though.

I have a Duetto multi filter and have had the aeration device open fully all the time so far. It is getting very noisy of late though and I'm not sure why...does my filter need to bubble constantly to get a good aeration in the tank, or is a good surface flow and a few bubbles sufficient...I'm confused by all the fishy jargon! )

 

[Fishy Jon]

I own a 29 gallon tank and I have no source of aeration. I haven't had a death in my tank sine an eel jumped out.

 

[njparton]

oxygen dissolves in the water through the process of gas exhange at the surface, not by forcing bubbles through it.

You can instrease the surfarce surface area (not a typo) by agetating it.

02 conc. will therefore be highest at the top of the tank and lowest at the bottom. Something to stir the water up (slowly) will be more beneficial.

 

[Dragonslair]

Again like everything else in this world, it come down to choices.
You need to ask yourself 2 questions........No I'm not going to do the Dirty Harry line... First do ya feel lucky punk!!!!...whoops sorry I said I wouldn't do the lines.. Back to seriousness 2 questions: 1. Is your tank overloaded? 2. What do you prefer?
If your tank is overloaded then you will need surface agitation to increase the surface area by which diffusion can occur. If your tank is not overloaded then you can just have a gentle water movement. Then to the second question, if the first answer is, yes, then you have no option but to aerate the the water,if your answer is,no, then the choice is yours.
Hope this has helped.
Remember aerating the water doesn't actually"pump" air bubbles into the water. The air bubbled up are aesthetic, the work is actually done on the surface of the water. As the bubbles burst on the surface, it increases the surface area of the tank, thus making the area of the tank that much bigger. Confused??

 

[Jo]

Yes...confused...but thanks for the advice...my tank isn't overloaded...yet (3 platties, 2 mollys and 6 baby mollies)...have got a surface current going now and as the bubbles were just making the filter too noisy, then I hope this will work..thanks for the advice!

 

[William]

Again like everything else in this world, it come down to choices.
You need to ask yourself 2 questions........No I'm not going to do the Dirty Harry line... First do ya feel lucky punk!!!!...whoops sorry I said I wouldn't do the lines..

Helpful and humourous what more can you want in a dragon

 

[Jo]

not to breathe fire on me, or I'llhave to jump in my fish tank and that's sure to kill my fish, aeration or no aeration!!

 

[cheirodon]

In any case, from what I've learnt here, Aeration is more for the bacteria than for the fish. I understand that a column of bubbles creates a current that spreads the better oxigenated water at the top, evenly throughout the tank, especially helping get some O2 as far down as the gravel, where bacteria thrive.

In short, fish won't dye without bubbles, but water quality will degrade quicker, much quicker

 

[njparton]

In any case, from what I've learnt here, Aeration is more for the bacteria than for the fish. I understand that a column of bubbles creates a current that spreads the better oxigenated water at the top, evenly throughout the tank, especially helping get some O2 as far down as the gravel, where bacteria thrive.

That's why although I have a Fluval external filter as my primary source of filtration, I still have a powerhead drawing water through my gravel

I recently bought an 02 test kit and although there was 8 mg/l 02 at the top of the tank near the surface, this dropped to 2 mg/l at the bottom.

Keeping your water moving (top to bottom) without too much undue current is definitely beneficial.