air or no air?

[Freeze_Dried_Bloodworm]

fish dont usually swim thru the bubbles

my fish love doing that,
some of them actually would sleep on airstones looks like they're getting massaged!

 

[abiddle]

I run small corner sponge filters in all my tanks. I figure the extra filtration is useful and I will have a cycled filter available in case of emergency or for a fry or new tank if needed.

 

[scubasteve06]

I run a small 50 gallon rated air pump and air stone on my 90 only, smaller tanks get enough agitation with hob filters.

 

[johnptc]

fish dont usually swim thru the bubbles).

sam does....


air lifts water from the bottom to the surface as well as breaking the surface film and finally helps keep the water saturated with O2 and releasing CO2

 

[scubasteve06]

Sam is also over 6 feet long and bubbles are probably his least worry.

 

[beno]

My tanks are heavily planted so no.

 

[invisyblegypsey]

i run an air pump in my sump

 

[Lupin]

I run one in one tank. The rest rely on vigorous surface agitation produced by my filters. I have battery-operated ones just for emergency purposes such as power outages.

 

[oscarluvr]

no air pumps, just filters and power heads

 

[cichlid2006]

no air pump. pointless if you run internal or external filters as the output tubes can be pointed at an angle to break the water surface. air pumps are fine when moving house (battery powered of course), in an emergency (battery again) or for fry. just burning more money than you need to IMO.