Aeration

[SharonW]

Was reading a book on setting up aquariums (Which granted was over 20 years old) that said aeration is very important and that tanks should all have airstones/bubble bars? Both my bigger tanks have cannister filters and the only movement the water gets is from the spray bar. Is this enough? Or should I be going nuts with ornaments that blow bubbles?

 

[packer43064]

It's enough with the spray bar. I like the look of bubbles personally so all of my tanks have a version of a airstone.

 

[iloveoscars702]

you should be fine, imo i dont like the look of fine bubbles in my tank.

 

[H]-[H]

It's enough with the spray bar. I like the look of bubbles personally so all of my tanks have a version of a airstone.

I agree.. as long as there's water movement on the surface, it should be fine..
I personally like the air bubbles as well..

 

[thewaterboy]

the spray bar is fine. as long as you break the surface tension of the water you will be fine. the spray bar should cause a disturbance or movement on the surface of the water, when this happens the surface tension is broken. i don't like air bubblers that much because they are too noisy.

 

[SharonW]

Ok thanks guys, I didn't really want bubbles in the tanks, so that's good to know

 

[screaminleeman]

Ok thanks guys, I didn't really want bubbles in the tanks, so that's good to know

One minor consideration is preparation in the event of a power outage. I sponge filters (with internal bubblers) in all of my tanks. The air pump uses pittens to nill in the way of Kilowatts, and therefore is no problem to run off of an el cheapo UPS battery backup for many hours. This kills two birds with one stone! The sponge filter serves as both a filter and airator in a power outage.

Things like Heaters, Lights and canister filters require far more electricity and special pure sine wave output, making a UPS backup system for your tank(s) each run many hundreds of dollars apiece. Food for thought!

 

[RagtopRacer]

I hope I'm not hijacking here, but I'm also setting up a brand new tanks for the 1st time in over 10 years. My salt setup from 10 years ago had had a wet-dry, protein skimmer, & a surface skimmer for the wet-dry--didn't worry about that one.

My new tank is a 46g & I have an 80gal Eheim canister filter w/media--nothing else. Do I need to add additional aeration beyond pointing the outlet nozzle in the water upwards?

 

[packer43064]

As long as there's movement on top of the water you should be fine. If the temps are way up there like 82 or above I would personally buy a air stone. Even a small one behind a plant or something is better than nothing.