Sabi

Hi,

I was wondering how do you know if you've got enough oxygen in your tank?
Tnanks...

armadillo

I don't know how to measure it, but am sure our experts will. What I do know is that I have in each of my tanks 2 filters (1 main one, one small one) + at least one airstone. If I see the water is plenty agitated at the surface, then am happy they've got enough oxygen.

Also, if your tank has a small surface (e.g. tall tanks), there is liittle surface area in contact with air at the top, I heard that lack of oxygen could be an extra issue for caution in those situations

COBettaCouple

Watch you fish, spending a lot of time near the surface can indicate a water problem but can also be a sign of too little aeration.. and we personally would feel like there wasn't enough if the surface of the water formed any film anywhere. the best way we've found to run air is through a gang valve so that we can control the flow.

Sabi

I've no idea what a gang valve is...
I was curious to know as i noticed that my 8gal having a filter + airstone produced lots more bubbles at the surface of the water and my 67gal has a bio filter(not sure what type) but sucks in air through a pipe and shoots it out... does not have much bubbles at the surface.
Nothing the matter with the fish.

armadillo

Oooo, I love a gang valve! Just bought one. Soooo handy.

COBettaCouple

a gang valve is something you run your air hose from the pump into, then run another hose from it to the airstone and you can control the flow with a knob, usually. most gang valves will let you run 1 air hose in and 2 or more out, so you can use a good pump to power multiple stones.. we have 8 running on a pump now.

armadillo

It came in very handy in my fry tank, as the flow was a little too violent for the little 'uns.

COBettaCouple

yea, and if you have fish that are agreeable to it.. you can play "where's the bubbles?" with them.

armadillo

I was playing around with my new toy (the valve) but I hadn't seen one of hte fry was playing with the bubbles. He wasn't best pleased when I went from nearly nothing trickle to full blown torrent!

COBettaCouple

LOL, i guess he wouldn't be.