9 replies to this topic

[Jules]

So my fiancé is whining that my big tank is making far to much noise (which I agree), after simple elimination of unplugging things, found its the aerator.

Now, if I'm running 2 large (2500 lt/hr) canisters that are guided at the surface and break the surface tension quite well and move it from one end to the other of a 7ftr, is the aerator absolutely necessary?

 

This tank is heavily stocked in terms of bio load (stingrays and large bass) and my concern is that when feeding etc, ammonia potentially rises (as 250gm of whitebait gets poured in and eaten) but is then dealt with by the filters etc.

 

Is there a real benefit? Or am I running an unnecessary thing? My other tank I don't worry as its 2 fish in 220lts with a big canister breaking the surface water vigorously.

 

Is it just as good to add an extra power head or wave maker to stir up the surface even more?

 

 

[Chopstick_mike]

Aeratoring your water is good for cooling your tank down but as far as oxygenating your water you're better of having a wave maker pointing up to the surface

[Ronny]

I believe there is a limit to how much you can actually oxygenate the water.  If your surface agitation is enough to allow maximum gas exchange, I don't think using an air stone with it will increase the amount of oxygen in the water. 

 

[Delapool]

On mine I just have the canister outlets facing up to surface (for the spray bars). Haven't noticed a problem even when tank temp is above 30C.

Wondering if O2 decrease or CO2 increase would be the problem. Guess it would be O2 decrease.

[Westie]

The fish were around before the fiancé. Nows the time to condition her to the hobby

[bigjohnnofish]

just to give you an idea of the benefit of aeration... as far as test kit goes 

 

i fill up a 400 litre water reservoir for water changes... after i fill it - i immediately test the ammonia in the water... the reading is just under , smack on , or just over 1ppm... this is at 10pm at night.... i put a large ball airstone just under the waters surface and let it bubble away... the following day at 10-11am i test the water for ammonia and the reading is zero....  so my deduction is pretty simple - in 12 hours of aeration i have aired off 1ppm of ammonia... this is beneficial for my fish... less ammonia exposure the better... and it also lowers nitrate buildup as there is less ammonia being consumed by your bacteria...

 

so aeration not only helps in gaseous tranfers but also in removing a certain amount of ammonia....

 

so IF your tank is close to maximum biofiltration then switching off your aeration could cause ammonia to spike and subsequent fish health issues.....

 

perhaps try different airstones to get a much smaller bubble which makes less noise.... or if its the air pump thats noisy swap it for a quieter one...

 

one other benefit is if your powerhead/cannister dies overnight you hopefully have time to save all the fish in the morning... by shutting off your aeration you are reducing the chances of fish survival in such an incident... 

 

also if you have large quantities of waste being produced by your fish the more oxygenated your water is - the more efficiently your beneficial bacteria work... in conjunction with good carbonate levels (kh) of course....

 

if the noise is your only negative point than i think the positive aspects far outweigh this  buy your missus some ear plugs 

[Delapool]

That's some nice points.

I found with my air pump that sitting it on a towel and inside a cupboard or box helps.

Also it used to be that if they were pumping under a lot of pressure eg kinked air line, they were noisy.

And I still remember getting shown ones where people thought they should work 'inside' the tank...

[Ageofaquariums]

I believe there is a limit to how much you can actually oxygenate the water.  If your surface agitation is enough to allow maximum gas exchange, I don't think using an air stone with it will increase the amount of oxygen in the water. 

 

 

While this is true, you can increase water oxygen with nano bubbles. I hate the misty look they create in displays personally, but interesting for mega-intense fish holding.

Things to keep in mind, canister microbe colonies strip most oxygen from water flowing through them, so important to have outputs agitating water surface to degas co2 from returning water.

 

For the OP's aquarium, a single aquael 10,000lph reef circulator would be my suggestion. Only 20watts at full power. Silent. And will agitate most of that aquariums surface area.

[Ronny]

just to give you an idea of the benefit of aeration... as far as test kit goes 

 

i fill up a 400 litre water reservoir for water changes... after i fill it - i immediately test the ammonia in the water... the reading is just under , smack on , or just over 1ppm... this is at 10pm at night.... i put a large ball airstone just under the waters surface and let it bubble away... the following day at 10-11am i test the water for ammonia and the reading is zero....  so my deduction is pretty simple - in 12 hours of aeration i have aired off 1ppm of ammonia... this is beneficial for my fish... less ammonia exposure the better... and it also lowers nitrate buildup as there is less ammonia being consumed by your bacteria...

 

so aeration not only helps in gaseous tranfers but also in removing a certain amount of ammonia....

 

 

 

 

Is this a benefit of aeration over surface agitation? 

Have you tried the same with surface agitation instead of an airstone? 
 

[bigjohnnofish]

the reservoir has had a pump circulating water within itself since i have used it... and the outlet is at the waters surface also... have done many tests with ammonia and the amount of ammonia aired off by this is negligible over 12 hours... but after 3-4 days ammonia will reach zero and also majority of chlorine is aired off also - with only smaller amounts of residual chlorine left.... but im not waiting 4 days as i have truckloads of water changing to do... so 12 hours with a large ball airstone does the trick...

im not a 100% certain with the reasoning behind why aeration works better than just surface agitation by a pump on its own - but i know it does work and i use it in my water preparation.... 10s of 1000's of catties seem to approve..... bred some pretty special catties in recent years that other people havent been able to do....