Air Stones

[jaylam]

Who has a airstone in their saltwater tank and should I have?

 

[spadge]

I dont have one, But i was considering one too, however my LFS advised against this as my flow was sufficient and he advised i didnt want to over saturate the water with oxygen, so id be interested on peoples thoughts too.

 

[-Nemo-]

No reason to have one. I always suggest to everyone to have a powerhead dedicated to always pointing at the water surface. It is makes surface agitation which in turn, adds oxygen to the water keeping the ph up and stable.

 

[Donya]

No reason to have one.

For large tanks and those with skimmers, I agree. For skimmerless small tanks, I have to completely disagree. I currently have bublers in all my nanos and picos, and it has saved me from some bad events. I went to having them in all of my small tanks after a lack of them didn't stop some bad events.

Although strongly dependent on the type of setup, there can be some very good reasons to have a bubbler in smaller tanks (paritcularly picos), particularly cases with no skimmer and a lot of macro. Air stones (or even just a line of tubing in with no stone) are very good at stopping surface films from building up. A big macro dieoff can easily lead to a green slime over the surface that will make animals O2-deprived within a few hours in a small volume of water. Simply aiming a powerhead at the surface is not always enough to stop that from happening based on what I've seen (ditto for HOTB filter flow if it is near the waterline). Tanks with skimmers will usually get film-causing goop out of the water before it can make a film. The main downside to an airstone is that you'll have a lot more splash, which will increase evaporation and salt buildup in the immediate area.

 

[jaylam]

Thanks for the input all, I have two powerheads, skimmer and the spray bar from my external filter all move the surface area of the water very well so I guess I dont need one.

Just wanted to check because the good ole LFS tried to sell me a pump and airstones today saying "It is a must, you must have one".

 

[Donya]

Thanks for the input all, I have two powerheads, skimmer and the spray bar from my external filter all move the surface area of the water very well so I guess I dont need one.

Just wanted to check because the good ole LFS tried to sell me a pump and airstones today saying "It is a must, you must have one".

Yep, with all that stuff you should be more than set.