Problem with too much aeration in aquarium?

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BassetsForBrown

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 2, 2012
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Boston
I recently was given a 30-60 gallon tetra whisper air pump. I am currently running two of the same in my 90g tank, could adding this third one have any negative effect? The tubes from my current two are joined together and are linked to an air stone buried under a very large rock, the combined output looks very nice. I tried it with the third one also and it looks even better, but I don't want to keep it there if it might hurt something. Thx

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unless you are trying to grow plants its hard to over oxygenate your tank as the excess will just bubble up and rise out of the water. Id say your ok
 
Only thing I'd be worried about is trying to push too much air through one stone. I'd think the added resistance on the airpump bladder would shorten its life, especially as it clogs over time.
 
Aeration is achieved by breaking the surface, so with or without the air stone won't change the aeration rate. Air stone will gradually get clogged over time, increasing back pressure to and shortening the life of the the air pump. The only advantage of an air stone is that it adds resistance and can prevent accidental siphoning in power outage. Not many people follow the instruction and realize that improper hook up of an air pump is vulnerable to automatic siphoning flooding. I do not use air pump except in my fry tank as any power filter will aerate the water.
 
rmkblades said:
Aren't the air bubbles breaking the surface as they escape out of the tank???
Click to expand...

I think he's saying that the water movement created by a powered filter alone is generally enough to break the surface of the water, and that the addition of an airstone is therefore not needed in most cases.
 
I understood what he was saying, lol. It also depends on where you have your outlet...to low or not pointed correctly = no surface agitation. But to say that air stones serve no use for aeration is not correct. And no, you are not going to kill/hurt your fish with three air pumps...
 
What I am saying is that you can use an air pump to bubble up without an air stone, like hooking to an ornament. The rising bubbles will still move the water and break the surface, just not as fine as coming out of an air stone. Environmental engineers have already conducted the research, and found that finer bubbles don't increase the aeration, just increase clogging. Most people use an air pump to drive a sponge filter without an air stone. Bubbling up without an air stone uses least amount of energy and you can get more out of your air pump. However, not having resistance from an air stone increases the chance of automatic siphoning, if the air pump is located below the water surface in a power outage or the air tube breaks loose and drops below the water surface.
 
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