brogdenelian Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Hi All, I need some good, solid advice. I have a 6ft 540l display tank with a mixture of around 25 mbuna & peacocks. I've had the tank running for 5-6 years and I've always used an airpump and stone. I think the time has come to ditch the air pump to provide a more natural looking environment. I use a Fluval FX5 canisterfilter and have the outlets pointed upwatd to provide some surface agitation. My question is...if I remove the air pump and air stone, Will my fish be OK? I've read that as long as you have surface agitation the fish will be fine, but with over $500 worth of fish in the tank I'm not prepared to take an uneducated punt. I was considering purchasing a small wavemaker like the JVP-110 to point at the surface to assist with the agitation. I would love any advice. Cheers Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucem Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Agitating the water surface will do the trick. Ditch the air stone unless you like bubbles i have two filters on my tanks just in case one fails. An internal filter might be an appropriate second choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 The airstone is only oxygenating your water through the agitation of the waters surface (creating a larger surface area for the oxygen to diffuse into the water through), there isn't (or very very little) diffusion of oxygen into the water through the bubbles traveling through the water column to the surface from the airstone. So in short, no you do not need an airstone if your other means of filtration are creating enough surface agitation/movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noxious_nasties Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 In a 540L I'd think you could potentially stock around 100 small-medium adult size cichlids as a point of reference for when an airstone would become critical to remove CO2 and replenish O2. The air not only adds oxygen, it keeps your pH high. The effect of air diffusion is not the same as agitation either because an air stone physically pushes oxygenated air into the water, which has an increased contact time with the water and Alex mentioned, gives a higher surface area for exchange. This is a much more effective means of transferring oxygen, then simply mixing the water with a pump because of the difference in surface area provided by the bubbles is much higher and yes it will have a much greater impact on your DO levels. For your stocking level I'd say you can get away without it, but it is a good safety measure when your doing water changes and stop the pumps/canisters. It can also help if there is a fish death, which rapidly consumes oxygen and induces an ammonia spike. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brogdenelian Posted July 12, 2016 Author Share Posted July 12, 2016 Wow...solid advice guys. Much appreciated! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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