Air stones and water flow!

[Caper]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Caper

[DutchKiwiCowboy2]

I have my airstone on the bottem right of my tank, this forces the water from my hang on filter to the left and the water goes in an anti-clockwise direction. I wanted to see if this changed if the airstone was at the opposite end, and guess what? it went clockwise.

I ended up putting it back though because it allowed the intake to work better.

[jn]

Try an experiment if you're not sure.... put something in the tank that will move depending on the flow.. like a leaf off one of your plants (if you have any.. or soemthing that will float to some degree) and put it near where you're trying to figure out the current.. let it go and see where it goes and how fast.

Do you know about undergravel filters? They use air to basically move the water around....the fact the bubbles are moving the water upwards, means that some flow is also being created as the bubbles go up. In an undergravel filter.. they use an uplift tube.. which means the bubbles HAVE to go up through the tube....lifting up the water in the process whch creates a bit of a vacuum (think if the water is rising.. it has to be making up for the pressure by moving the water somewhere else)

I'll give you an example.. I ran an airstone in a bucket once and put a fish in there.. I had to turn it down HEAPS cause it created alot of current/movement in the bucket (not just at the surface). ie: turbulence

Think too about blowing bubbles into milk or something through a straw .. you blow the bubbles downwards.. but they come back up at the top of the drink.. that means they went down the straw and came all the way back up again.. which means they had to move some of the drink around on the way up right? Air stone is the same as blowing bubbles

re: your hang on filter.. If the water DROPS (like a waterfall) from the filter into your tank then you'd be getting better aeration than if it comes out at about the same level as your tank water. But you'l still be getting som eaeration because the water at the surface will be moving some.

Hows about you tell us what your concern is? Then we can decide properly if we want to come all the way up there to the cold and kill you !!

[Simian]

I just put a canister filter on my little 2' tank, danios, Rasboras platies and angels..yes angels, love it they all play at riding the increased flow stream, they only move to the still part of the tank for a rest then they are right back at it.

[Caper]

Hows about you tell us what your concern is?

Hmmm, I guess just wondering if adding an airstone will stress some fish. I mean it's obvious by the surface movement how strong it is but I was wondering if "under" the surface does it do the same? I know I'm not describing it very good :-? :oops:

On the weekend I put in a bubble wall in with my goldies & ottos. Looking at the front of the tank I thought, what is all the "little" things? tank going cloudy? Duh, bubbles :oops:

So I sit on the couch and look in the tank (from the end) and it looks like, hmmm how to describe, a lot of turbulence??? Anyway, I put on a valve thingy and turned it down.

Then we can decide properly if we want to come all the way up there to the cold and kill you

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: You can visit anytime...but not to kill me :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: AND you could bring some summer with you!

Caper

[Caryl]

The turbulence from the airstone or bubble wall goes straight up. It does not spread out until it hits the surface. Unless you have a fish like Siamese fighters or gourami who prefer a calm environment, your fish will not mind it at all. You will even find many like to play in the bubbles.

Even if you do have those calm preferring fish, there will be places they can rest away from the bubbles, unless you have the airstone connected to a pump that is too strong and in a tank that is quite small.