Aeration

[sam w]

I'm after some expert advice,

I have an 8ft tank with a sump with 4000lph (maybe more) flow. I also have a 2000 lph internal filter and a 3000 lph wave maker (not convinced it actually does 3000lph) any way I was told that aerating the water is not about the bubbles but the breaking of the water surface. To that end do I need an aerator at all as when the wTer flows down to the sump it goes through a spinning arm thing and gets splashed about etc.

Basically I want to know is a sump suffocentaeration for a tank?

Also while Im hear what's the guide for filtration flow rate vs. Tank size, confident i have enought but would still be interested to know

[Josh]

I ran a sump set up the same as yours for many years and never had any aeration in the tank itself, IMHO, the sump set-up was sufficient. Others may have a differing opinion to mine.

Josh

[parkesg]

Hi,

if the water from the spinning arm drops onto emersed bioballs then it should be okay as this oxygenates your water. This is the major advantage of using a spinning arm/bioball combination.

I sometimes use a airstone on my tanks just in case the pump stops that way the water is still being oxygenated, and the fish will be fine. Since your tank is so large unless it is heavily stocked you probably don't need one.

Grant

[CThompson]

If your tank is stocked heavily enough, aeration can still be required, as Grant says, bioballs will go a long way to making the requirement of extra O2 unnecessary, but without knowing your stocking rate I'd say watch the fish's gills. If they are breathing faster than normal you could need air.

Aeration is also used to move water and keep debris in suspension to be accessible to filters.

[cpfc]

Air stones and curtains aerate from the movement and breaking of the surface tension. The movement has a side benefit of breaking dead zones where the flow does not clean. This lifts debris and muck into the filter flow. I doubt you need extra aeration with the wave maker.

I'm after some expert advice,

I have an 8ft tank with a sump with 4000lph (maybe more) flow. I also have a 2000 lph internal filter and a 3000 lph wave maker (not convinced it actually does 3000lph) any way I was told that aerating the water is not about the bubbles but the breaking of the water surface. To that end do I need an aerator at all as when the wTer flows down to the sump it goes through a spinning arm thing and gets splashed about etc.

Basically I want to know is a sump suffocentaeration for a tank?

Also while Im hear what's the guide for filtration flow rate vs. Tank size, confident i have enought but would still be interested to know

[sam w]

Thanks for all the help guys,

Its an 8x2x2 with ten tapajo orange heads (5cm) and 4 rio branco (5cm) so really it pretty lightly stocked. I wont stress about the aeration then.

As an aside do you think I have plenty of filtration for the tank? I was thinking of swapping my internal 2000lph aquaone filter for two jebo 838 cannister filters I have 2x1200lph both filled with bio balls. Partly for noise reason (dont ever buy an aquaone internal filter!) and also I think it would be a better option than the internal cannister filter, look better to.

Thoughts?

[dobbin4]

Has your internal pump a adapter for a airline off it.If so then thats going to give you a lot of air, but yours is a lg tank.Remember by the water flowing down to the sump and being pumped back up your giving your water a lot of co2 as well.Depends if your wave maker is braking the surface water as well.If so then its adding air as well.Your tank is lighly stocked so i thick you have plenty of air.

[sam w]

Has your internal pump a adapter for a airline off it.If so then thats going to give you a lot of air, but yours is a lg tank.Remember by the water flowing down to the sump and being pumped back up your giving your water a lot of co2 as well.Depends if your wave maker is braking the surface water as well.If so then its adding air as well.Your tank is lighly stocked so i thick you have plenty of air.

No i took the air hose of the internasl pump to try to make it a little quieter.

[CThompson]

Thanks for all the help guys,

Its an 8x2x2 with ten tapajo orange heads (5cm) and 4 rio branco (5cm) so really it pretty lightly stocked. I wont stress about the aeration then.

As an aside do you think I have plenty of filtration for the tank? I was thinking of swapping my internal 2000lph aquaone filter for two jebo 838 cannister filters I have 2x1200lph both filled with bio balls. Partly for noise reason (dont ever buy an aquaone internal filter!) and also I think it would be a better option than the internal cannister filter, look better to.

Thoughts?

If I read that correctly you have bio balls in two cannister filters? If so, they are a poor choice and you'd do better with a bio media like Matrix inside a cannister. Bio ball should only be used in a trickle situation.

I'll let you do the math, but a tank should turn over 4-6 times per hour for their to be sufficient filtration. The type of filtration is another question, the answer to which can be very site specific and subjective.