Do i need a Bubbler

I have a powerhead in my tank 29 gallon tank would it be wise to put in a bubbler? I also starting to see a film on top of my water is this because of not enough water movement?

 

usually a film like that is due to not enough surface water movement. it's caused (iirc) by high levels of dissolved organics.

a bubbler might help, but another way is to have the powerhead cause some surface agitation.

 

With a powerhead, that should be more then enough aeration for your tank. In fact in most tanks it's not really necessary to have a bubbler, since most of our filters will do all the aeration our tanks need. The bubbler's are usually for our enjoyment (and some fish really enjoy playing with them too). Yes there are some tanks, like a heavily planted tank for example, that will need some extra aeration. Also some people use them in combination with their filtration (i.e. under gravel filtration) so in some cases it can be needed, but I'm just talking about the typical tank environment.

As to the film on top of your water, that could be several things and it actually could be caused by too much water movement. Do you use any chemicals that have a "Slime-Coat Enhancement" in it? If so then that combined with a lot of splashing in your tank can cause a lot of bubbles to accumulate in your tank. The slime coat actually lets these bubbles exist longer because their 'skin' is now thicker then just being a bubble in water. In other cases this can be a form of an algae bloom in your tank. If you take your net, can you skI'm it off the top or does it just break apart at contact with anything? Also does it have any color to it (green, white, etc.)? It could be a number of things really, and without more info would be hard to let you know exactly what is the cause. Because it certainly could also be caused by not enough surface movement if you have your powerhead output under the surface of the water and not skimming across the top.

 

My tank is still cycling so I don't have any slime coat enhancement as of yet. Yup it totally breaks up when I run my net through it. nothing left in the net when I skI'm the surface. I has a white color to it not a real bright white just a faint white color. Only time that I see it is when the light is on.

 

See if you can aI'm your outflow of your powerhead up a bit more to churn up the surface a bit. That should stop that from happening.

 

I moved my powerhead as far to the top as I can get it. Just have to see if this works or not

 

What about a water change would that be affective?

 

What about a water change would that be affective?

It may help, but since these seem to be at the surface and not in the water itself. You would probably have to use a cup or something along those lines and carefully scoop out the surface water to not break it up. Now after you have mixed it back up into the water a bit with the powerhead, it might be easier to remove with regular water changes.

 

K I will just have to watch it and see

 

we had that same film forming in a few tanks. Since we put a little air stone in each, the film has been gone thanks to the surface agitation.

 

Is the power head dispersing C02 ??

If it isn't just open the air valve for the power head a bit. That'll beat the surface up really well. Also if you are running a temp around 80 or higher adding a bit of aeration to it won't hurt anything at all..

I was treating a fungus outbreak and had the temp up to 82 with heavy aeration... You would be surprised how well that works!! ;D

 

I think I will all go away once I do my water change hopefully I will keep yall informed.

 

I hooked my air pump to my powerhead and the bubbles where to much I think bubble everywhere so is there anyway I could hook my air pump up to it without so many bubbles. It sounded a science experiment. LOL. oh well

 

Running your air hose through a gang valve will give you flow control and you can get gang valves for multiple lines, like 4 or 5, if you have now or in the future the need to run air into multiple tanks.

 

k thanks

 

Got my bubbler back in my tank looks really good.

 

The bubbler has cleared up my film I had on the top of my water thanks for the help.

 

glad to hear you got it figured out I think a lot of tanks without enough surface agitation tend to get films similar to yours

 

glad to hear you got it figured out I think a lot of tanks without enough surface agitation tend to get films similar to yours

definitely.. it seems like it doesn't take long for a surface film to form when you don't have some aeration going.