Will an air stone inside foam pop O2 bubbles and saturate seawater with oxygen?

[Reef.ductionist]

Hi I am thinking of placing an air stone that emits fine air bubbles inside a thin layer of foam sponge inside my frag tank. If I were to do so would the sponge break the air bubbles, releasing the oxygen ? Or would would the air bubbles just become split into smaller bubbles and pop at the surface? This is my question.
Thank you for reading,

 

[thejuggernaut]

That's not really how it works, bubbles breaking doesn't release oxygen. Bubbles just provide allot of surface area for the water to exchange gasses. The smaller the bubbles, the more surface area, so the more oxygen it will diffuse in to the water, while the more CO2 it will diffuse out of the water. Time also has a part to play. The longer the time the bubbles are in the water, the more time they have to diffuse gasses.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

As mentioned above, Bubbles release O2 across the air/water interface. Smaller bubbles have more surface area so can transfer O2 faster.

But I'd be a bit surprised if the foam made the bubbles smaller, and think it won't be a useful addition to a simple air stone.

Do you have a specific reason to be concerned with O2 saturation?

 

[Reef.ductionist]

Thank you both for answering my question. I want extend the amount of time a fish could be in a plastic bag without relying on pumping O2 into a bag and then just sealing the bag shut.
Cheers,
Les N.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How would an airstone be inside the bag?

 

[Reef.ductionist]

Hi there,
I was thinking of just placing the air stone inside the bag alongside the fish.

 

[Rob Top1]

Unless it's a long time, small bag and or big fish I can't think of a time were an air stone in a bag would be needed.
And if so just make it a bigger bag with more water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you mean for a short period before you close it?

However you do it, smaller bubbles will aerate the water faster, and if a sponge helps that, then that is good, but I doubt it will end in smaller bubbles.

 

[Up2no6ood]

When you fill you bag take the water from the top of the tank where it's more oxygenated, ive also heard of adding a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to the water will help increase oxygen levels, or inflating the remaining space in the with oxygen just before sealing it.

 

[Reef.ductionist]

Hi again everyone,
Ok thanks.
My thinking is if I added the airstone to an open bag it would increase the amount of time fish could stay in the bag. Of course eventually ammonia and the like would be an problem for the fish. Thanks all,
Les N
And thank you Mr. Holmes-Farley.

 

[Alzy]

Do you mean for a short period before you close it?

However you do it, smaller bubbles will aerate the water faster, and if a sponge helps that, then that is good, but I doubt it will end in smaller bubbles.

Smaller bubbles don't often mean more oxygen.


Gotta think where the air is coming from in the first place!
Also the temp of the air in and the temp of the water you want to oxygenate.
As long as the surface is disturbed then you will have oxygen exchange between water and air.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Smaller bubbles don't often mean more oxygen.


Gotta think where the air is coming from in the first place!
Also the temp of the air in and the temp of the water you want to oxygenate.
As long as the surface is disturbed then you will have oxygen exchange between water and air.

Yes, obviously one most consider if the air has normal amount of O2 in it (which almost all air will), but the transfer of O2 out of small bubbles is definitely faster than larger bubbles. I do agree that surface agitation also brings in O2, but that doesn't mean the bubbles do not also do so.