nuttychick74

Hi all i have just purchased a pump and airstone for my tank today, i want it to create a bubble wall at the back of my tank, i soaked it for an hour in the water but there are only bubbles coming from 2 holes at the end where the airline is connected then nothin from the rest of the blue bar, it does look ok but i wanted bubbles all along the back of the tank, does anyone know why the bubbles are only coming from the 2 holes? Thanks x

ApolloX54

Check to make sure it is level and what kind of air pump do you have?

I have one that has to outlets so when I use just one I have to plug the other one up or else most to the air goes that way.

Nutter

Every now and again you can get stones that just don't work. Check to make sure that there is nothing blocking the air inlet. Just use a needle to have a gentle poke around in the inlet & see if you dislodge anything. Sometimes there can be a break in the stone & that can prevent air from travelling all the way along it's length. The other option is that the air pump you have isn't powerful enough to run the stone properly.
If you want a bubble wall I would get one of the flexible rubber attatchments marketed as a Bubble Wall. They are much better for achieving the effect I think your after & if they clog up it is an easy job to poke them with a pin to unblock or create new holes. They come in a variety of lengths between 1 & 5ft.

nuttychick74

Hi its just the cheapest pump they had lol it just has one end and is 5 watt power, it took me half an hour to get the airstone to stand the right way up lol so didnt really want to take it in and out x

mommybaby295

That's what I was thinking too. It happened with mine.

eiginh

Where did you get it from and how much? The tetra whisper air pumps usually do not cost over 10 bucks rated for 30 gallons.

I read your aquarium info and it says you have 1 clown loach. Clown loaches should be in groups of 6 or more but 3 can do but your tank size is way too small for them. Are you going to rehome them soon?

mommybaby295

My tetra whisper was 22 dollars. I looked around, and that seemed to be average price around here.

eiginh

That's expensive!

nuttychick74

Hi my clown loach is only very small and the guy from the fish shop said it would be ok in my size tank, i was told by a freind that they should not have sold it me on its own but the guy in shop never told me this he sold it me on its own and i also bought the 4 tiger barbs at the same time which the clown loach seems to swim around with x

eiginh

Yeah they like to school together but your loaches need buddies. Keep in mind a typical clown loach growns half an inch a year. Very slow grower perhaps thats the reason the LFS owner told you it's ok to have it in your small tank. LFS usually persuade customers to buy things even though it's not the right way, I have had my own experience and others as well.

Here's a profile for the clown loach. It states 55 for a minimum but you need at least 3 so 75 would be the minimum but they should really be in schools of 6 or 7.
http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-ClownLoach.htm

thorpbrian

Unless you know them very well and know they are honest and know what they are talking about I wouldn't trust what they say at you LFS. Research, research and more research about the fish you want to get is the way to go in the future. Most of us learned this the hard way also...

In summary:

Nutter

The others are right about the clown & the LFS. I wouldn't trust them at your LFS after being given the advice you were. As the others said clowns belong in groups of at least 3, prefarably 6. They are also a big fish, quite common for them to reach between 8-12inches.
For the airstone & pump I'm afraid that 5w rating & rated for 30gallons doesn't tell me anything. Have a look on the box & it should tell you how many litres or gallons per hour of air it will move. That is the rating I need to tell you if it is powerful enough to drive air right to the bottom of the tank. The easy way to tell if it is the pump or the stone is simply to slowly pull the stone up out of the tank while the pump is still running. If the stone starts to bubble properly when it gets closer to the surface then you need a more powerful pump. If the stone still doesn't bubble properly then you need another stone.
That's probably not what you wanted to hear but it is the easiest way to find out what the problem is so that you can fix it.

gremlin

I had the same problem you are having with a bubble wand I got. I discovered that soaking it first was actually the problem. The way I found to fix it - I took it out of the tank and let it thoroughly dry out. Then I hooked it back to the air pump and turned the pump on while the wand was out of the water. Once it was going (I could hear the hissing of the air through the stone), I slowly lowered it into place in the tank. It worked fine after that. The trick was to keep the air moving through it to keep the water out of it.

mommybaby295

cool!

nuttychick74

hi i posted yesterday as i bought airstone for my recently set up tank because i wanted a bubble wall up the back, there were only a few bubbles coming out so i took it out of the tank, i have cut my airline smaller and blown in the stone and put it back in i also pricked it with a pin, now there are hundreds of bubbles coming out, the fish are enjoying swimming in them, i like how it is but is it ok for the fish can you have too much air in the tank?? Thanks x

eiginh

yes it's ok. Sometimes you will see your fishys hanging out with the bubbles. The main problem would be not having enough oxygen in your tank. I'm glad you fixed your problem

Lucy

We've merged your threads. It's only necessary to have one thread per topic.
Makes it less confusing that way.

nuttychick74

thanks guys tank looks lovely with all the bubbles at the back