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To Bubble, Or Not To Bubble?
Badmans Tropical Fish Message Center:
Beginner freshwater : To Bubble, Or Not To Bubble?
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Chris R.
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Tuesday,
January 29, 2002 - 10:39 am
In my six gallon Eclipse set-up I recently added a bubble
wand. It makes plenty of noise and seems to freak the fish
out a bit. Is this a necessary or advisable thing to have
in such a small tank? Also, I am currently cycling a 30
gallon tank (long) with a Penguin 280 filter, should
I be thinking of buying a bubbler for this tank (it
seems like the spray bar set up on the bio wheel aerates
the tank water pretty nicely).
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jeff s
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Tuesday,
January 29, 2002 - 05:34 pm
chris..a bubble wand and depending how big it is?..is a
bit much for you little 6 gal as you said it seems to be
freakin the fish out and you are right your 280 is all you
need for your 30 gal..bubble wands look cool but unless
you really need that extra aireation they aren't needed..
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Joe
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Wednesday,
January 30, 2002 - 11:58 pm
Chris, I wanted to get a little aeration in my 5.5 gal tank,
but like you found the huge surge of bubbles from even the
smallest air pump available disrupted the entire tank and
freaked out the fish by creating an enormous current. The
solution I came up with has worked great. I bought a two-way
gang valve which is mounted on a plastic hanger so it hangs
from the side of the aquarium (gang valves in various
sizes are available at any good-sized pet store--mine came
from Petsmart). I ran the line from the air pump to
the inlet of the gang valve, and ran a line from one of
the two valves to the airstone in my tank, with this valve
fully open. The remaining valve serves as a bleeder valve.
When the air pump is running, I can adjust this second valve
to bleed off excess air and thus regulate how much air goes
to the airstone. The result is that I have a gentle flow
of bubbles for aeration that is just right for my little
tank. If the hiss from the bleeder valve bothers you, you
can attach another piece of tubing to it and direct the
bleed air back behind the aquarium or under the stand or
whatever your tank sits on. I hope my explanation makes
sense. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll see if
I can do better.
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Pandora
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Saturday,
February 02, 2002 - 10:15 am
Bubblers and bubblewands in most tanks are not necessary,
and are mostly for aesthetics. They add some oxygen to the
tank, but with a good filter that agitates the surface somewhat,
you will have good oxygen saturation anyway in the water,
even if you have a closed hood on it by diffusion through
the water surface alone (after all, the hood is not
*airtight*, I should hope). In a smaller tank,
say a 2 gallon with a betta, I recommend against it, as
some fish are disturbed by too much water motion.
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Chris R.
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Sunday,
February 03, 2002 - 09:21 am
Thanks, as usual, for all the good advice. I decided to
pull the bubbler out. Much more peaceful. Question: I have
an Oto in this six gallon tank and I read that they have
a greater need for oxygenated water. Is this true and how
can those be met with a sic gallon tank?
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