Do you use an airstone? Why or why not?

[notho2000]

The air stone acts as insurance against power filter failure. If a power outage occurs, many power filters do not start up properly. Surface agitation isn't present and fish with higher oxygen requirements die, taking the whole tank with them. This happened to me on several occasions when I was away on trips or even overnight. All it takes is once, losing fish that you have spent years raising. Geos are particularly prone to suffocation without a vigorous air supply. I know better now and have an air stone backup in every one of my 40 tanks. I've been in this passtime (seriously) for the better part of 50 years and my comments are paramount to take heed of.

 

[Jer]

I run sponge filters (in addition to a HOB as well as a Eheim 2180 Pro) in my main tank w/airstones inside of them. It never fails that every couple of years I get one starting to clog up so I pull them both out of the sponges and replace the filter back into the tank w/o them forgetting why I ever put them in in the first place. Then, about a day or two later when things are quiet in my living room I hear the loud bubbling of the air bubbles escaping the sponge filter riser breaking the surface tension in the tank loudly and am quickly reminded. I then pull the sponges, replace new airstones on the end and put them back in. For me, I have lots of water movement and surface agitation so the added noise isn't necessary and being as it's in a living room it's quite a nuisance. If I needed the surface agitation I would live with it but since I don't I want things much quieter. I plan to replace the stones again when I get some time in the next few days.

 

[skjl47]

I run sponge filters (in addition to a HOB as well as a Eheim 2180 Pro) in my main tank w/airstones inside of them. It never fails that every couple of years I get one starting to clog up so I pull them both out of the sponges and replace the filter back into the tank w/o them forgetting why I ever put them in in the first place. Then, about a day or two later when things are quiet in my living room I hear the loud bubbling of the air bubbles escaping the sponge filter riser breaking the surface tension in the tank loudly and am quickly reminded. I then pull the sponges, replace new airstones on the end and put them back in. For me, I have lots of water movement and surface agitation so the added noise isn't necessary and being as it's in a living room it's quite a nuisance. If I needed the surface agitation I would live with it but since I don't I want things much quieter. I plan to replace the stones again when I get some time in the next few days.

Hello; Some decades ago I needed to replace the air stone in a tank and had none. The nearest shop was 100 miles away. I found that the stone it self was not necessary. I was able to make the sponge filter work with just the open end of the air tubing and no stone. The bubbles are larger but the flow seems fine. I have not used a stone in sponge filters since that time.
Anothe way to extend the life of the stones is to put a filter in the line feeding the stones. I suspect the over time the dust in the air gets packed into the spaces of the stones and blocks the fine bubbles.

 

[Jer]

Hello; Some decades ago I needed to replace the air stone in a tank and had none. The nearest shop was 100 miles away. I found that the stone it self was not necessary. I was able to make the sponge filter work with just the open end of the air tubing and no stone. The bubbles are larger but the flow seems fine. I have not used a stone in sponge filters since that time.
Anothe way to extend the life of the stones is to put a filter in the line feeding the stones. I suspect the over time the dust in the air gets packed into the spaces of the stones and blocks the fine bubbles.

Yeah, it's running w/o the stone now and is working fine flow/filter wise but it's just loud. If I wasn't concerned about the loud noise of the bubbles breaking the surface I would for sure run w/o stones. I'll consider putting in an inline filter though, that's not a bad idea. I think I may even have some laying around somewhere that I couldn't ever figure out why I would need them. lol

 

[Simcan]

Just to tie this up from an OP perspective, I have ordered pumps, tubing and airstones (went with the Eheim diffuser) and will have these running on my tanks henceforward.

 

[abaddown]

I have not historically used airstones in my tanks...just canister filtration with the return agitating the surface which seems to create sufficient gas exchange. But I have lately been considering whether I should add a big airstone with a powerful air pump so I would appreciate those of you who have an opinion on this sharing in this thread.

depends on your stocking density...dissolved oxygen is oft times the limiting factor for the nitrification cycle at high stocking densities, the importance of bio-filter surface area is less than the importance of sufficient dissolved oxygen for the nitrifying bacteria.


In fact I would go so far as to say that in MOST tanks that have substrate and wood/rocks there is no need for a dedicated bio-filter. Aerate, provide sufficient mechanical filtration, and call it a day. I use my canister filter only for mechanical filtration (which is what canister filters do best anyways).

 

[baji]

I use airstone in a spong filter with big pump for my single oranda tank... To me it saves power...

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