Fish tanks and air, anybody know about it?

happyhero

chatta wrote:

also oxygen is absorbed and gases exchanged in the water by the surface tension being broken so the bubbles dont have to be from the bottom of the tank. Did that make sense???? The filter after time contains bacteria that break down the nitrates etc that the fish produce

but its not the same air circulating going through the filter so how can it do that? Are you saying the bacteria is on the surface of the filter and does that? If so why not just lay it somewhere in the tank, ie why is it on the end of a hose pumping air? Sorry if I'm being dumb here.

chatta

This is bit confusing, a filter has water pumped though it because its job is to filter out any bits in the water, it builds up good bacteria that as i said will counteract harmful wastes like nitrates. Only rinse filter in water that you take out of tank when you do a water exchange. I used to change approx 20% every month (use that to water plants). i wonder if you are talking about an airstone on end of the tubing which is different to a filter or have I missed something you said. Is the filter in a plastic box that also sends air bubbles into tank? Water goes through a filter not air.

happyhero

thats it, the air stone, I took it off the air tube because in a very short time it stops letting air out, however I think the problem is due to the strength of the air pump as even when its new if you slowly push it deeper and deeper into the tank you can get it to stop making bubbles/pumping air through the stone. But is this likely to cause any problems as without the stone it seems to work ok? But then what is the air stone for?

chatta

Morning, I am no expert here but I believe the airstone, often blue in colour was nothing more than an attractive way of having bubbles in the tank. I liked them, and your right the further down the tank the less they work. but they do cause the surface of the water to be broken up to allow the gas exchange. And not using it wont cause any harm. Hope this helps.

happyhero

cheers chatta, your a diamond. Incidently dont know what colour the airstones are tradittionaly but at my local garden centre where they have a large fishy bit, you can get them in every colour under the sun, including florescent, and in different shapes.

Lord_Gardener

We use this site to help sort out problems with our 6 gold fish:

http://www.goldfishinfo.com/

It usually has the answer!