Air pump or power head air?

[Little_Scrapper]

I just got a power head to move some water around. The power head has one of those side port venturi things to suck air.

I am thinking I maybe dont need to use the air stone anymore and of course the air pumps are noisy. Would also be one less thing to plug in. What is the general consensus as to which is better aeration? Air Pump with airstone or power head sucking air?

Thanks,

Little_scrapper

 

[ragin_cajun]

personal preference. I hate the venturi on the power head method. The hose comes off all the time, quits sucking air. or the end of the air hose falls in the water.

I sprung for a nice quiet air pump, plugged it into a sponge filter, dropped the thing in my sump. so i have that ready for the QT tank in my closet should the need arise.

 

[BrookKeeper]

Depends on the volume of air you were moving through the airstones, but must likely the air from the power head will be enough. I have one on a downflow powehead, sucks water through a sponge filter and adds air to the water being pushed into the undergravel system. Bursts of bubbles pop out if the gravel at the back of he tank somewhat randomly, it adds a nice effect to the tank.

 

[BrookKeeper]

personal preference. I hate the venturi on the power head method. The hose comes off all the time, quits sucking air. or the end of the air hose falls in the water.

I sprung for a nice quiet air pump, plugged it into a sponge filter, dropped the thing in my sump. so i have that ready for the QT tank in my closet should the need arise.

I don't disagree with the tube falling out from time to time, but a few wraps of electrical tape on the end of the hose will snug the fit up nicely. I also run an airstone in my sump, but mainly to fluidize a larger volume of K1 than my flow alone allows, not oxygenation. Snug up that hose connection, but and you are good to go.

 

[Little_Scrapper]

Well let me ask you guys this. Do air stones even do anything that surface agitation wont? My thought is that the bubbles just don't have enough surface area to really add much to the water compared with the surface area of the tank. If I just point my power head and canister filters spray bar angled up to agitate the surface do I even need to run any air at all.

Your thought on that?

A little back ground: I used to run a open top salt water FOWLR way back in the day. Over flow to sump so I never even had air pumps. Now my kids inherited a gold fish tank that is SUPER overloaded and I am trying to get it straightened out until I can get a larger tank for them.

Little_Scrapper

 

[BrookKeeper]

Well let me ask you guys this. Do air stones even do anything that surface agitation wont? My thought is that the bubbles just don't have enough surface area to really add much to the water compared with the surface area of the tank. If I just point my power head and canister filters spray bar angled up to agitate the surface do I even need to run any air at all.

Your thought on that?

I agree with that completely, but I wasn't going to go there. I almost suggested that you aim the power head to break the surface and call it a day, but I am didn't want to aggrivate the uneducated.

 

[ragin_cajun]

Yep. I never ran an airstone in any of my tanks until I had to cycle some filter media in a trash can with no fish. That's when I bought my air pump. Then it sat on the back porch until I decided I needed a sponge filter for a QT tank, so I used the air pump for that. Surface agitation is all ya need.

 

[Little_Scrapper]

I pulled the air stone for the night and no venturi. As long as the fish aren't gasping when I get up I will leave it that way. I angled the spray bar so the surface is now rolling. I still have the small (nearly worthless) HOB filter that came with the tank. About the only good it does is the down flow keeps the surface bio skim at bay. The one and only reason I left it on

Besides, the effervescence(?) from the bubbles popping on the surface always makes a mess because everything is always wet. Those little micro drops will hop up 3-4 inches easily. And it was constant all over the surface. Cant even remove the lid without needing a pile of towels. Hell it looked like I had a tank full of champaign. lol I hate that.

 

[Wailua Boy]

I like air pumps if your are running many smaller tanks(20g or smaller), you can go buy one larger air pump with 24 outlet manifold. Once you get into larger tanks, water pumps/fluming would be more efficient.

 

[duanes]

I like venturis, although I agree with simply the surface agitation alone of water flow, that is enough for average fish.
But because I use water pumps such as Laguuna and Mag Drive that provide flow of 2000+ gph, I get separate venturi tubes to provide the air agitation, and push for my rheophillic cichlids.

I also use the separate venturi tubes some on my DIY counter current fractionators, the airline port is usually much better constructed than your average aquarium power head type.

The most annoying problem I have with venturis is that snails can get trapped in the aperture and seriously hamper flow, if they do. Regular reaming of the tube aperture with an old coat hanger remedies this.