Poll: Do you run an airstone/bubbler in your system full time?

[norfolkgarden]

Airstone runs 24/7 for O2, partly due to no sump, no skimmer.
Just 2 Marineland 400's and a powerhead besides the airstone.

3 battery backup pumps plugged in and ready to turn on in a power outage.

 

[Scott Campbell]

My tank has a corner overflow and I run 3 pond-sized air pumps into the corner. There is no salt creep since the water level is so much lower in that area. Each pump raised my pH slightly more than .1 and my overall pH from below 8 to 8.3. I also use CO2 scrubbers on each air line. Overall, I am not sure it is worth the extra trouble or expense. Like most efforts in my life, each individual decision seemed reasonable until such time as I stepped back and looked at the big picture. Then it seems rather ridiculous to go to such lengths. But it is indeed effective. You just have to use a crap ton of air to make any noticeable effect in a decently-sized tank.

 

[Mordie101]

I have an air stone in my tank Incase of power outages. I’ve got a smaller tank so that’s what i use for a power failure.

 

[64Ivy]

Voted 'other' as I use them in my QT tanks only. Never in the DT.

 

[dylana407]

I run an air pump on my octopus tank because it's covered and doesn't have a sump. But not on my reef.

Pic of octopus tank please.

 

[dylana407]

No air bubbler, no skimmer. How do I know I need to add more O2?

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Pic of octopus tank please.

I don't want to derail this thread too much, as I have a thread for it here. But here are a few pictures:



Him in the corner to give you a relative idea of total size:


Here's a good transition of him going from "camo" to "I'm annoyed you're so close and that you're taking my picture":

 

[Sallstrom]

We use air bubbles in a large and deep refugium to mix the water. Works fine. Not sure it effects the pH that much, but it makes great water motion.
We've also used air bubbles to mix new saltwater when we made lot of new saltwater at work.

 

[Jesterrace]

I always thought that bubblers had no place in saltwater. To each their own though.

 

[ZoWhat]

Last time I replied to this topic....it got into a debate.....which i took the wrong way.... and I ended up getting IGNORED by a bunch of people by losing my temper and being arrogant. ;Rage

So, here I go again but a lot nicer .... I'll say what I do.... but I'm not getting into a debate/argument over my own practices. I've retired from all debates. Debates btwn two strong opinions is pointless bc neither party is gonna change their opinion. I'm learning to listen with an openmind but wont debate you when I personally see a benefit.

In my DT, I use an airstone that is ziptied to the bottom on a PH. I run the bubbles thru the PH making a TON of micro bubble. But I only do this from 12midnight to 12noon throughout the night cycle.

I've read using bubbles in the DT is only for water movement. True, but...IMO/IME
1) It also oxygenates the water to its fullest potential, especially at night when all the corals slow way down the O2 from their photosynthesis process when the light go out. But corals keep expelling CO2 at night. I believe bubbles help disperse the CO2 at night. I think of it as having the water ready full of O2 when the lights do come back on and photosynthesis kicks back in.

2) bubbles also increases pH during the night cycle, so I'm not doing this 7.80pH bottom-out at 6am. Bubbles keep me at 8.0pH at the lowest point instead of 7.80pH.

3) bubbles also helps get the organics in the DT to take a ride with the bubble to the top skimlayer of the water surface so it can easily spills-off and get to my skimmer then expelled out of the system

I've read that bubbling is harmful:
1) To fish.... air bubbles get attached to their gills and cause some sort of disease (?)... I've never seen my fish come down with this after 3yrs of bubbling. Everytime I snorkel in the ocean I see trillions of microbubbles around all the fish in nature.

2) To coral.... air bubbles get trapped under the coral as an air pocket and causes damage/death. I can see this with monti plates or chalices...but I dont have coral that would trap any airpockets. So I've never seen coral damage.

A lot of opinions say bubbling has no effect and no need in a SW tank other than the bubbles pushing water around. I respectfully disagree. I've seen differently in my own experience.


.

 

[ca1ore]

I keep a couple of battery units around just in case; but I see no point in running an air stone 24/7. So I don’t.

 

[joseserrano]

Last time I replied to this topic....it got into a debate.....which i took the wrong way.... and I ended up getting IGNORED by a bunch of people by losing my temper and being arrogant. ;Rage

So, here I go again but a lot nicer .... I'll say what I do.... but I'm not getting into a debate/argument over my own practices. I've retired from all debates. Debates btwn two strong opinions is pointless bc neither party is gonna change their opinion. I'm learning to listen with an openmind but wont debate you when I personally see a benefit.

In my DT, I use an airstone that is ziptied to the bottom on a PH. I run the bubbles thru the PH making a TON of micro bubble. But I only do this from 12midnight to 12noon throughout the night cycle.

I've read using bubbles in the DT is only for water movement. True, but...IMO/IME
1) It also oxygenates the water to its fullest potential, especially at night when all the corals slow way down the O2 from their photosynthesis process when the light go out. But corals keep expelling CO2 at night. I believe bubbles help disperse the CO2 at night. I think of it as having the water ready full of O2 when the lights do come back on and photosynthesis kicks back in.

2) bubbles also increases pH during the night cycle, so I'm not doing this 7.80pH bottom-out at 6am. Bubbles keep me at 8.0pH at the lowest point instead of 7.80pH.

3) bubbles also helps get the organics in the DT to take a ride with the bubble to the top skimlayer of the water surface so it can easily spills-off and get to my skimmer then expelled out of the system

I've read that bubbling is harmful:
1) To fish.... air bubbles get attached to their gills and cause some sort of disease (?)... I've never seen my fish come down with this after 3yrs of bubbling. Everytime I snorkel in the ocean I see trillions of microbubbles around all the fish in nature.

2) To coral.... air bubbles get trapped under the coral as an air pocket and causes damage/death. I can see this with monti plates or chalices...but I dont have coral that would trap any airpockets. So I've never seen coral damage.

A lot of opinions say bubbling has no effect and no need in a SW tank other than the bubbles pushing water around. I respectfully disagree. I've seen differently in my own experience.


.

Anyone else do anything similar and have measurable results? Really cheap solution to bump up PH.

 

[Reef-junky]

No need to run an air stone. Surface agitation does gas exchange as others have stated. Most skimmers don’t use air stones these days. Also air pumps are loud.

 

[Reef-junky]

Last time I replied to this topic....it got into a debate.....which i took the wrong way.... and I ended up getting IGNORED by a bunch of people by losing my temper and being arrogant. ;Rage

So, here I go again but a lot nicer .... I'll say what I do.... but I'm not getting into a debate/argument over my own practices. I've retired from all debates. Debates btwn two strong opinions is pointless bc neither party is gonna change their opinion. I'm learning to listen with an openmind but wont debate you when I personally see a benefit.

In my DT, I use an airstone that is ziptied to the bottom on a PH. I run the bubbles thru the PH making a TON of micro bubble. But I only do this from 12midnight to 12noon throughout the night cycle.

I've read using bubbles in the DT is only for water movement. True, but...IMO/IME
1) It also oxygenates the water to its fullest potential, especially at night when all the corals slow way down the O2 from their photosynthesis process when the light go out. But corals keep expelling CO2 at night. I believe bubbles help disperse the CO2 at night. I think of it as having the water ready full of O2 when the lights do come back on and photosynthesis kicks back in.

2) bubbles also increases pH during the night cycle, so I'm not doing this 7.80pH bottom-out at 6am. Bubbles keep me at 8.0pH at the lowest point instead of 7.80pH.

3) bubbles also helps get the organics in the DT to take a ride with the bubble to the top skimlayer of the water surface so it can easily spills-off and get to my skimmer then expelled out of the system

I've read that bubbling is harmful:
1) To fish.... air bubbles get attached to their gills and cause some sort of disease (?)... I've never seen my fish come down with this after 3yrs of bubbling. Everytime I snorkel in the ocean I see trillions of microbubbles around all the fish in nature.

2) To coral.... air bubbles get trapped under the coral as an air pocket and causes damage/death. I can see this with monti plates or chalices...but I dont have coral that would trap any airpockets. So I've never seen coral damage.

A lot of opinions say bubbling has no effect and no need in a SW tank other than the bubbles pushing water around. I respectfully disagree. I've seen differently in my own experience.


.

This may have some merit to it. Adding dissolved oxygen into your system may have benefits. I have read about a few people doing this.

 

[lzrlvr]

I agree with CrabsMCjones and I do not use a protein skimmer.

 

[brandon429]

I do run a full time airstone, saltcreep doesn't occur due to a lucky fit...inner diameter press fit vs sitting on the tank lip.

inner diameter means I can blast 100 gallon airpump into one gallon and have no saltcreep at all, it funnels back down. cuts evap to an ounce or two a week, total. The salinity is more stable than any reef tank made by man without ato supports. nerf rockets can kill the system, however.



Ive always had at least one reefbowl bubbling since 01 and they're always air. very long term direct contact experiments for corals anyway.

 

[Reef-junky]

I do run a full time airstone, saltcreep doesn't occur due to a lucky fit...inner diameter press fit vs sitting on the tank lip.

inner diameter means I can blast 100 gallon airpump into one gallon and have no saltcreep at all, it funnels back down. cuts evap to an ounce or two a week, total. The salinity is more stable than any reef tank made by man without ato supports. nerf rockets can kill the system, however.



Ive always had at least one reefbowl bubbling since 01 and they're always air. very long term direct contact experiments for corals anyway.

Wow

That’s pretty cool

 

[ElectricMusic]

I made this video a while back showing what I do to add micro bubbles to my tank.

 

[Shaun Sweeney]

I run wooden air stones in each of my 140 gallon tanks but only overnight. IMHO, they have provided a small improvement to ORP

 

[Forsaken77]

In my custom sump, where there is no sock holder and I use a 7x16 drawstring bag, I have the sock chamber full of Marine Pure balls. I have a ball-bubbler under the Marine Pure just to keep movement through it so the pores don't gack up and so as little junk settles as possible.

I find a bubbler helpful in the sump where you would have build-up of detritus or right outside your sock chamber so it keeps stuff suspended for the skimmer. My skimmer is on a stand so it helps more so in this situation. There's many different sump designs and it'll be more helpful in some than others.

It also helps to even out water flow on the side areas where there isn't much current. If you have slime on your sump water, you need a bubbler or small powerhead.