Do You Need An Air Pump?

[mishka83]

Hi folks,

Just wondering if an air pump is necessary?

I think the bubbles look nice but aren't they bad for real plants?

 

[StandbySetting]

Not necessary, plants don't need them and they're not bad for plants, but if you are injecting CO2 then it will gas off quicker with the surface being continually disturbed.

 

[ATK!!!]

What sort of tank do you have, what size etc... Not that it really matters, you dont need one and some fish may get scared by the bubbles and it makes it look less natural if your going for that sort of thing! Anyway its your choice

 

[KittyKat]

Only if there is not enough surface movement produced by filters, etc.

 

[mishka83]

ok great i won't bother then

 

[jaylam]

Only if there is not enough surface movement produced by filters, etc.

+1

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Mishka.
An air pump is for decorative purposes only unless you are using old fashioned filters that are air driven. I do run some of my tanks that way so for me an air pump on those tanks is a necessity but most people use either internal or external filters that run on electricity so for them an air pump is not at all needed.

 

[mishka83]

is it ok to position it below the tank?

is it ok to use one of you're having real plants?

 

[StandbySetting]

is it ok to position it below the tank?

is it ok to use one of you're having real plants?

Yes it is okay to position it below the tank, but make sure you invest in a one way valve, it will prevent water from back siphoning into the pump and as you well know electricity and water don't tend to mix very well...

It's fine to use if you have real plants, but if you're injecting CO2 this will gas off because of the extra surface agitation.

 

[mishka83]

"gas off" haha!!!

no i'm not injecting any CO2, just looking for easy to grow plants.

 

[OldMan47]

If you are not using artificial sources of CO2, the air pump will actually help by bringing the slight trace of CO2 in the room air into contact with the water.

 

[SlimboyFat]

I'm an old fashioned guy that started keeping fish when air powered under gravel filters where the norm. As you had to have a pump it seemed daft not to get one with an extra nozzle and use it for an air stone / curtain.

Although I now no longer use the pump to power the filters, a fish tank without an air stone just doesn't look right to me so I still have a dual pump with a disc type stone at one end of the tank and a curtain at the other (behind the plants so the bubbles look like the are rising from the plants).

But, as others have said it now personal preference...

 

[Mikaila31]

yep entirely preference. I run natural planted tanks and a wall of bubbles IMO is the most unnatural thing you can have in a tank.

 

[OldMan47]

I am going to agree with SlimboyFat.
I find the air stone a necessary decoration in many of my tanks. It does not remove the fact that those tanks do not need an air stone, but I also grew up in an era when air powered filters were the norm and a tank without bubbles somehow seems wrong. I run about half of my tanks with air bubbles and the other half without them. As I progress and learn in this hobby, I am finding that air powered filters are still my favorites. That means that more and more often you will see bubbles in my tanks, even though I know that a nicely sized canister filter can do far more than an air powered box filter or sponge filter to clean up a tank.
Like Mikaila, I run a few of my tanks on the Walstad NPT approach, but I cannot say that I agree that there is something unnatural about air bubbles. The NPT approach is all about using intense lighting and a soil-like substrate. It does not in any way imitate a natural environment where water flows may be very slow and the water's CO2 concentration will vary widely from day time to night time. On the contrary, a well aerated NPT better resembles available nutrients in the real world than a tank with poor water circulation.
This is one of my NPT tanks.