Air Pump Or Not?

[Bluefintuna]

I use air pumps in my community fishtanks, three 36"x12"x15"H, it is purely to oxygenate the water as each tank has it's own filter, my two fry tanks on the other hand use sponge filters, home made using air pumps and this forum , so far so good I think.

Now my friend who has a 48"x24"x24"H tank has no air pump at all , he says that the surface area of the water is enough to oxygenate it. His fish seem ok, not hanging at the surface for air or anything and not a labyrinth in sight.

So my question is, can I do away with my air pumps in the community tanks? or should my friend get an air pump or is he ok without?

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I don't think you "need" an air pump in your tank. I have one in my tank but it's because I like the bubbles; I turn it off at night/when it gets dark/when I turn the tank lights on. It's normally on for about 12+ hours a day. I'd wait for someone with more knowledge than me to answer. If there isn't enough oxygen in the tank your fish will stay at teh surface trying to get oxygen from the air.

I found this topic which will be of help to you

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=62461

 

[helterskelter]

It all depends on your bio mass in the tank and/or type of fish.

If you have a large number of fish then yes you will need aeration to help agitate the surface to allow oxygen to diffuse through the surface.
Rippling water have a much larger surface area then a static surface.

If you have a few small fish that don't need much oxygen then your be fine.
and stuff like Anobantoids that can breath are from the surface again dont need any extra air.

But if your running air driven filtration then you best leaving it running all the time.

 

[Bluefintuna]

Thankyou for the advice here, dipsydoodle's link was pretty informative, I did try to see if the subject had been posted before but couldn't find the right info

Helter, the bio mass on all tanks is way low, the 3ft tanks are species tanks that I use for breeding, tank one is 12 Guppies and a few uncatchable fry the filter is an internal fluval 3+, tank two is 15 various danio and 5 pepper cory (floor cleaners), filter is a fluval 205 external, and tank three is a cory tank 15 fish and a fluval 4+ internal filter, flow rate reduced slightly cuz the corys dun seem to like a fast flow.

All these tanks are planted, Amazon Sword, java fern, java moss, cabomba and some nasty pond weed in the guppy tank cuz they jus love to eat the stuff lol.

I'm gonna try out the guppy tank first, I'll keep a close eye on the fish for a day or two just to make sure they don't start going to the surface for air, and no I'm not going to turn off the air driven filters in the fry tanks har har thats money down the pan

Thanks again folks

Nick

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

A tip for you bluefintuna if you didn't know; if you post your question and then look back at the question at the very bottom (you need to scroll down) it brings up a list of related questions which I find really useful.