Air stones in Marine Aquariums

[Kenneth Hooper]

Why don't we use air stones in Marine aquariums like most people do in Freshwater aquariums?

My fish were looking ''not well'' a week ago and the water chemistry was off. I started to adjust the chemistry slowly but immeditely put an air hose into the display and everything seemed to perk up the following day. I saw daily improvement in the tank so I started to wonder.....
Why don't we use air stones in Marine aquariums like most people do in Freshwater aquariums?

 

[W1ngz]

Salt spray makes a mess and skimmers make them pointless.

 

[alexandra26]

In my one 75g tank, I have an underground filter and air stones with 2 powerheads. Everything in my tank is doing great.. there hasn’t been any problems! I also have a 75g with a sump, and I’m not a huge fan of that setup. I only like having a sump because I can use sand (for certain fish) and there are less bubbles... those are the only advantages in my opinion. I honestly don’t know why some saltwater aquarists refuse to have air stones in their tanks... everyone has their own opinion, I suppose

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Salt spray makes a mess and skimmers make them pointless.

This^

I have a battery powered one on hand for my QT tank (main tank has Mp10 battery backup) and whenever I use that the salt spray is pretty intense, I put cling wrap over the half of the tank where the air stone is and put a rock in the centre so that most of water drips back into the tank but that would be a real PITA if I had to do it longer than a few days.

 

[SeaSickness]

Other than aesthetics, they're really not necessary. A decent protein skimmer is much more efficient for oxygenation.

 

[AdamNC]

Skimmer plus surface ripple oxygenates the water enough. Also my planted tank doesn’t use an airstone, just the hob filter and the plants themselves.

 

[ReefStable]

Like others said, if you have a good skimmer, you don't really need them. The skimmer will add oxygen to the water. However, there are benefits to using bubbles for CO2 degassing as well as helping remove detritus from the water. The most common use in these cases are microbubble scrubbing. Though that isn't quite the same as the the decorative bubbles. You are able to use them for decoration, but the larger bubbles don't do as much for the tank.