Do I Need The Airstone, Or Can I Take It Out?

I stuck an airstone with a sponge over it in my tank to try to make more area for beneficial bacteria to populate, but it's not a proper sponge filter because there's no uptake tube.

I have a Tetra 3-stage filter that came with the Aquaculture 10-gallon tank kit I bought, but in addition to the cartridges that came with it I added a foam sleeve to cover the intake, put a spare filter cartridge over the outflow as a baffle, and added polyester fiber and Fluval ceramic rings inside the filter.

Is it okay to take out the airstone and sponge, or should I leave at least the airstone in the tank? I don't like the way it looks.

I have a betta, a mystery snail and 8 small shrimp in there, live plants, and it's currently cycling with Tetra Safestart and some decorations (driftwood, coconut fiber, plants) from an established tank.

 

I stuck an airstone with a sponge over it in my tank to try to make more area for beneficial bacteria to populate, but it's not a proper sponge filter because there's no uptake tube.

I have a Tetra 3-stage filter that came with the Aquaculture 10-gallon tank kit I bought, but in addition to the cartridges that came with it I added a foam sleeve to cover the intake, put a spare filter cartridge over the outflow as a baffle, and added polyester fiber and Fluval ceramic rings inside the filter.

Is it okay to take out the airstone and sponge, or should I leave at least the airstone in the tank? I don't like the way it looks.

I have a betta, a mystery snail and 8 small shrimp in there, live plants, and it's currently cycling with Tetra Safestart and some decorations (driftwood, coconut fiber, plants) from an established tank.

Hello al...

You're right. You don't have a sponge filter. There's nothing drawing in the water and trapping floating debris. You do have a small oxygen source with water flowing through the sponge and this will sustain a small bacteria colony. I don't think it's enough to keep it in the tank. If you want, you can remove the sponge piece and allow the water bubbles to flow better and that will add a bit of oxygen to the tank water. Air stones don't really do much though. A standard sponge filter would do a better job of both filtration and aeration.

Old

 

Agree, the filter is a great place to gather algae and bits of debris for your shrimp in the early stages of the tank but after the tank is established I would just take it out. Or you can put the tube on it and have a second filter for back up for a hospital tank or if your regular filter goes out. If you don't like the way it looks, I'm with you on that one, put it in the corner where it's out of sight.

 

In addition to what has already been said, since a betta can breathe oxygen directly from the air due to their labrynth organ, an airstone itself really doesn't provide any additional benefit to the betta in terms of providing oxygen. If you are comcerned about enough oxygen for the shrimp then perhaps keep it in, but it depends on whether your filter is creating enough water disturbance or not.

 

In addition to what has already been said, since a betta can breathe oxygen directly from the air due to their labrynth organ, an airstone itself really doesn't provide any additional benefit to the betta in terms of providing oxygen. If you are comcerned about enough oxygen for the shrimp then perhaps keep it in, but it depends on whether your filter is creating enough water disturbance or not.

And hopefully you change your water often enough that there is enough oxygen in there that your shrimp are not using it all before the next water change.

 

I wouldn't have an airstone in a betta tank. When I had one in mine, he swam over the bubbles and they flipped his one gill plate up. I had to take him out of the tank and massage it back down for him because he was going ballistic. It's also just not really necessary. A lot of your bacteria will colonize on your substrate and filter.

 

Betta fish also prefer quite still water because they are not strong swimmers and strong water flow can make them stressed and sick.