t-ace

i have a planted 10 gallon aquarium which has an aistone going in it. i am thinking of adding many more plants and was wondering if it would be a good idea to quit running an airstone, mainly on the basis of the gas transfer that takes place b/c of the air bubbles. i don't know if this would rob my fish of oxygen though. i would really like to take it out, but i don't want to hurt the fish. i am sure that they have adapted to the current oxygen levels in the tank.

alicem

Hi t-ace!
I would take the bubbler out. It doesn't add much oxigen and actually removes co2 that the plants could use.
Your plants will give off oxigen during photosenthesis and adding more plants would be really great.

As long as the temp isn't over 80-82 (higher temp = less oxigen) your fish should be fine.
Be sure the the return water from your filter ripples the top of the water.
The ripples break the surface allowing for co2 to escape.

Watch your fish. If they are gasping at the top, you may want to do a couple of things:
1. lower the temp to around 76-78
2. lower the water level so return water "splashes" into the aquarium

I doubt you'll have any problem, tho.
Have fun with the plants.
alicem

coffeebean

i would remove it as well. alicem has excellent information for you

Neji

I would definitely remove the air stone or bubbler as people would call it. Especially if you have fishes in there.. it will mix up the oxygen and then the fishes wouldn't be able to get much oxygen in the water. Also, if you have a high temperature in the water like over 80ºF it wouldn't be good. I did that once and my water temp was at 84ºF and it made a lot of my fishes very stressed out for a while. Although I still keep the water temperature at 84ºF and I NEVER put in an air stone diffuser... EVER!

I hope that helps

peacemaker92

Hi t-ace.

Good advice given to you right there. Good luck!

t-ace

thanks for the advice! i am going to take out the airstone when i get the new plants. i just got a new aquarium, a 29 gallon, which is going to be heavily planted right away. i am not going to use an airstone in that tank either. they are too noisy, i don't like the way it looks, and it just adds too much current to the water! i was always under the assumption that there had to be an airstone for oxygen purposes. i have also never known anyone that had live plants in their aquarium!

Butterfly

Air stones or bubblers are added to tanks to add oxygen. Mixing it up in the water doesn't make it unavailable to the fish.
Since a bubbler would help cool the water the most likely stressor of your fish was the high water temperature not the bubbler. I'm glad their fine now

t-ace - I have some type of extra aereation in all of my planted tanks and no added CO2. The key is surface movement. If the CO2 is heavier concentrated(such as a heavily stocked tank) in the tank then surface movement will cause it to gas out into the air.
If the surrounding air has more CO2 then the surface movement will actually pull Co2 in to your water in an effort to equalize co2 between the two medium . If you are adding CO2 you definately don't want any surface movement because this will cause the CO2 your adding to gas out into the air and won't benefit your tank.
Other than that if you don't like the bubbler then take it out but it won't hurt your planted tank one way or another unless your injecting CO2
Carol