Air stones for Bio Media

[Sturgeon]

I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this, but It dawned on me a few weeks ago to add an airstone to the Bio-media to aerate the aerobic bacteria. I'm not sure if this can be done in your canister filters, as it might fill it with air and force you to keep re priming it. I dont use a canister yet, so i have limited knowledge. However, I think it would be really beneficial in a wet/dry sump, for the media that is under the water to get aerated. This can also work on HOB filters, like whispers, AC's, and so on, providing a wanna-be wet dry system and increasing the BB, reduce cycling time, and generally maintain toxins better.
Like I said, the thought came to me a few weeks ago and jus the other day I put my thoughts to action, putting an airstone @ the bottom of the grid on a whisper filter.
What do you guys think? was it a wise idea, or was it a waste of time to do so?

 

[Sik.10a]

Bump, I been thinking and wondering the same thing.........

 

[lipadj46]

Had dual airstones in both my emperor 400 and whisper 60 HOB filters and it made my cycle go very quickly IMO. It was very noisey though. Now I just have a big canister and just the emperor with no airstones and the house is much quieter. It is a good way to boost your bio filter if you just have HOB filters. My whisper had no filter pads in it just 4 bags of bio max with airstones under them and a prefilter sponge to keep the bio max clean. With the emperors you can dremel the media containers and put the airstones right inside.

 

[True Love]

Look up a moving bed filter on youtube.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

You must be misleaded.

Oxygen doesn't come directly from the bubbles produced by the airstones. Its comes from the atmosphere and diffuse into the surface of the water. The purpose of airstone is that the bubbles it produce would agitate the water surface, increasing the total surface area, hence aiding aeration. Anything that agitates the water surface, like output of a canister would help in the diffusion of oxygen into the water.

So my answer to your question is no. It doesn't matter. I could place an airstone in my filter or in my main tank and the amount of BB and cycling time wouldn't change (significantly).

 

[lipadj46]

I look at it differently (not necessarily correctly). The bacteria is exposed directly to oxygen when they come in contact with the bubbles as they bubble through the media. Kind of like a reverse bio wheel. Not sure if this hypothesis holds water but it did seem effective (but loud). Some emperical evidence of its effectiveness is that when I took off the HOB filter with air stones and removed the airstones from my emperor and stuck the bags of seeded bio max in a canister my tank went through a fairly large "mini cycle".

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Do note that the bubbles would rise up to the surface quickly. Oxygen from the air bubbles would hardly have enough time to diffuse.
Unless your media is packed tightly and/or is able to trap bubbles in it, that would be a different story.

 

[lipadj46]

Do note that the bubbles would rise up to the surface quickly. Oxygen from the air bubbles would hardly have enough time to diffuse.
Unless your media is packed tightly and/or is able to trap bubbles in it, that would be a different story.

Yes that is the assumption, the media is packed or stacked slowing down the air bubbles and allowing them be trapped.

 

[julian270]

You must be misleaded.

Oxygen doesn't come directly from the bubbles produced by the airstones. Its comes from the atmosphere and diffuse into the surface of the water. The purpose of airstone is that the bubbles it produce would agitate the water surface, increasing the total surface area, hence aiding aeration. Anything that agitates the water surface, like output of a canister would help in the diffusion of oxygen into the water.

So my answer to your question is no. It doesn't matter. I could place an airstone in my filter or in my main tank and the amount of BB and cycling time wouldn't change (significantly).

I got one question, so if the bubbling oxygen from the stone to the surface has no effect in oxygenating the water. Then why do plant keepers use co2 coming from a diffuser to ad it to the water?

 

[lipadj46]

I got one question, so if the bubbling oxygen from the stone to the surface has no effect in oxygenating the water. Then why do plant keepers use co2 coming from a diffuser to ad it to the water?

The diffusers make tiny bubbles and the smaller the bubbles the more the surface area and more gas absorption.