drstadtmauer

Hi - this is my first post. I have a 12g freshwater community tank with no real plants. I have an appropriate size air pump feeding a flexible bubble stick producing a "wall" of bubbles on the back wall. The tank has a number of (nice) fake plants and all of them are covered with little bubbles. The tank is about 3 weeks old (started with bio-spira) and the fish all seem happy and healthy and my multi-test dipstick always comes out just about perfect. Is there a potential problem here with too much aeration or is that impossible in a non-planted tank? Thanks so much!

pistorta

There is no such thing as too much aeration in a non-planted or even planted tank, as live plants utilize oxygen during the night cycle. The only drawback to aeration of a planted tank is that it drives off CO2 quicker.

The only time aeration is bad is when transporting fish in a small container as it allows the water to become toxic, quicker.

This is my understanding so if I'm wrong, someone please let me know.

melawii

actually a bubble wall doesnt make as much aeration as you think... it's nice too look at and you see lots of bubbles but it surface aggitation that creates the most oxygen. If you ran a small pump to shoot water along the surface from one end to the other in say a 30g, or ran a HUGE bubble wall stick at the rear of the tank, it would actually be the small pump that would produce more O2 since there is more happening at the surface tension point. never the less, bubble walls are very attractive when done right and do provide O2, but I don't think you have anything to worry about with over-oxygenating your fish

drstadtmauer

Thanks!

Dino

Welcome to Fishlore!!

Butterfly

Welcome to fishlore!!
Actually bubblers, bubblewalls etc don't bleed C02 off unless your are running CO2.
Through Osmosis CO2 will go to where the least concentration is in an effort to equalize the concentration. So if you have a little surface aggitation you may actually be pulling CO2 in from the atmosphere because the water concentration will usually be lower than the air.
Now if your running CO2 injection surface air would bleed CO2 off.
Carol

Chief_waterchanger

There is also a saturation point for oxygen in the water, which means the water can physically only hold so much oxygen before it is "full". I don't know right off hand of any situations where even saturation point oxygen would be bad for fish or plants.

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore! glad to see you looking out for your fish.

nmwierman1977

Welcome to Fishlore!! Natalie

armadillo

Actually you can. It's caused oxygen supersaturation. It can cause what's known as air bubble disease, which means that air bubbles form inside the fish (including eyes and organs) and will cause great pain. You know you're oversaturated if small bubbles stick to the fish and ornaments. One thing that generally causes oversaturation is a filter outlet that lets in air from the outside. So I just switch mine on at night, when the plants release CO2, and I switch if off in the morning.

Butterfly

I really don't think bubblers, bubble walls etc are in any danger of causing oxygen saturation or gas bubble disease in our aquaria for the simple reason that the oxygen through osmosis would move to the less oxygenated air around the aquarium.
If liquid oxygen were mixed in the aquarium, or pure oxygen were injected in an effort to raise the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) then it would have to be monitored closely. But
a situation that would come closer to affecting us... when filling an aquarium for the first time(especially if using cold water) little bubbles form on the sides of the tank and on decor. This is super saturation , this is why it needs to set for about 24 hrs after filling to out gas (let some of the oxygen cross into the air )
Heres some more info:
http://www.thekrib.com/Diseases/gas-bubble.html
Carol

armadillo

That's true, Carol. The more risky things are not to disturb the water enough after putting it in (since it comes from higher pressure in the tap) and filters that take air in directly from the outside. Just watch out if you see lots of tiny bubbles sticking to stuff.

Butterfly

Theres not too much chance of us having too much oxygen in our aquariums I have one of these and it is designed to add oxygen to the water and have never had a problem. Since our aquariums are not sealed just the simple things we do are not going to add enough oxygen to be concerned as excess will cross into the air around us.
http://www.petsolutions.com/default....07400&SID=NXTG
Carol

Chief_waterchanger

Those tons of tiny bubbles that come after waterchanges are not something to worry about for any reason. We have them show up in EVERYone of our tanks after we change the water and go on with business as usual.

You could seriously put a line from an oxygen tank into your aquarium on full blast and other than making a mess with splashing water all you would accomplish is possibly reaching saturation point. Once water has its saturation point of anything it will not hold more, it will bleed off the surface as quick as it needs to.

Super saturation is a problem when it comes to nitrogen, but not a saturation in the water, it is a saturation in the human body. It causes a disorder known as 'bends' for divers who are too deep and come up to the surface to quickly.

Butterfly

I found some really interesting information
http://www.happykoi.co.za/Articles/4...%20disease.htm
last paragraph states bubblers could not add enough o2 to be a problem.
Although the whole article is very interesting.
Below is quoted from
http://www.petsparade.co.uk/articles/?a=11

The recommended minimum dissolved oxygen requirements are as follows:

Cold water fish - 6 mg per litre
Tropical freshwater - 5 mg per litre
Tropical marine - 5 mg per litre

It is worth bearing in mind these values are minimum requirements for healthy growth, tissue repair and reproduction.
hope this helps
carol

Dino

Supersaturation requires pressure.

This problem can be encountered for the very short period of time it takes the oxygen coming from a high pressure environment ( well/ city pipes) to de-gas thru the water and into the air.

In almost 30 years of fishkeeping using a well, I have never had any problems from this.

armadillo

I mean tiny bubbles that continue to stick. Not just after a water change.

Indeed, I've never heard of a problem from an airstone/wand. I was referring to the type of filter that blows air from the outside in the form of tiny bubbles that stick to absolutely everything permanently. They're really annoying.

LetDiceFly

I am a science nut. I can guarantee you that there is no way to supersaturate oxygen (or anything else) in an aquarium. As mentioned above, pressure (or drastic changes to such things as temperature) is generally required to achieve supersaturation. But in an open system such as an aquarium, any movement at all on the surface will immediately release all the oxygen above the saturation point.