Is My Airpump Too Powerful?

[xeno]

Hi

I have just embarked on this new hobby - it started as an intended birthday present for my son, but has become a hobby for me instead! These forums are brill and very addictive

I've just set up a new tetra aqua art aquarium - not very big at 60 litres, and am currently doing a fishless cycle. The aquarium had heater/thermostat and box filter included but no airpump. I bought my plants from my LFS yesterday and asked them whether my 60l tank would need an airpump. He advised me to get one as it would aid filtration and help the fish - fine I thought.

I asked his advice on what to buy that would be appropriate for my needs and he sold me an Interpret Airvolution AV1 (which has an air flow of 170litres/hour) and an airstone which is about 4 or 5 inches long.

I set it up and it looks very pleasant and is fairly quiet, but the surface of my aquarium is now amass with bubbles - about 80% of the surface is bubbly. I'm now wondering whether this is too much and be harmful either to the fish that I buy once cycled, or the plants that I have.

Maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily, but any help would be much appreciate

 

[doresy]

Hi

An airstone/pump is mainly for decoration and is a personal thing. I don't think you could over aireate a tank unless it causes too much turbulance for your intended fish

What the bubbling does is increase the water surface area. As it is here that the oxygen actually dissolves into the water, increasing the amount of area is a good thing. The same effect can be achieved by having your filters 'exhaust' (outlet) just below the surface to create ripples.

An airstone action can be useful when doing a fishless cycle. Some people turn up the temperature when doing a fishless cycle (85-90*) to assist bacterial growth and in doing this the oxygen levels drop so any form of adding oxygen is needed.

 

[kewskills]

well, i don't like real plants personally, and i think if you have real plants then you don't really want an air stone in the tank as you want C02 in the water for the plants. Air stones are usually not required anyway, they appear to do very little in the gaseous exchange of 02/c02, better to have a power head or have the outlet of your filter break the surface of the water.

 

[Lorna]

Buy a clamp for the airhose then you can adjust what flow you want. You can get these at the LFS in New Zealand, Im sure you could find them here. Fake plants are alot easier, I prefer them.

 

[Scotty001]

Hey xeno, i have recently bought the exact same tank, an just bought the same make airpump but i went for the smaller avmini which has an airflow od 75L per hr, to me it seems the perfect size. very quiet and the top of the tank is not covered in bubbles seems to be just the right ammount for my liking, not sure but ope this helps a little.

Scott

 

[xeno]

Thanks for the replies guys

Hey xeno, i have recently bought the exact same tank, an just bought the same make airpump but i went for the smaller avmini which has an airflow od 75L per hr, to me it seems the perfect size. very quiet and the top of the tank is not covered in bubbles seems to be just the right ammount for my liking, not sure but ope this helps a little.

Scott

Hi Scott - thanks - that's a great help. I think I will swap it for the one you have or one of a similar output. I want to keep an airstone coz the wife likes the bubbles

I did try an air regulator today, but it makes the pump sound really noisy and it moves across the floor! So it's off to my local fish shop again (I say local - it's a 20 mile round trip!)

 

[squarefish]

I tried an air pump - but found it too powerful for my small tank, it turned it into a rapid river ride! But the pump has come in useful as I bought one of the hoovers which you connect to an airpump to clean up the gravel. Just the job