Air pump

[ashm5]

I have on in my saltwater tank atm first of all do i actually need one in there cuz im not sure lol and secondly if i do would it matter if i turned it off every nyt as my mums room is right next door and it makes a heck of a noise in there thanks, ash

[unleashed]

no. you don't need it. just lots of surface movement and a bit of current

[ashm5]

ok thank you :D

[A340]

This is a very interesting question. I've never seen an actual air pump or bubbler hooked up to a SW tank other than one with a diffuser in the protein skimmer. Current and surface agitation is obvious, but is there any other reason why many (if any) SW tanks don't have air pumps/bubblers?

[cocoa_pleco]

some people have bad luck with yellow tangs and if they run a airstone they have better luck, but ive never needed a airstone

[ashm5]

why do you need airpumps in FW tanks?

[unleashed]

This is a very interesting question. I've never seen an actual air pump or bubbler hooked up to a SW tank other than one with a diffuser in the protein skimmer. Current and surface agitation is obvious, but is there any other reason why many (if any) SW tanks don't have air pumps/bubblers?

SW tanks don't use airpumps because they can produce micro bubbles which is fatal over time to many fish and inverts. The photosynthesis of algae in the tank produces enough oxygen

an air pump is needed for protein skimmers because the air bubbles lift organics and nutrients out of the water into the collection cup (nutrient export).

[cocoa_pleco]

why do you need airpumps in FW tanks?

in FW tanks you need them to oxygenate heavily stocked tanks. i run one in my 50g long because its majorly overstocked

[A340]

The diffuser in the protein pump I read about and understand, but I didn't know about the micro bubbles nor that salt water algae creating oxygen. Good to know!

[ashm5]

so really if my tanks aren't overstocked (freshwater) I don't need the air pump on 24/7, I just got my fourth fish tank n my mums suddenly decided 2 tell me i gotta get rid of sum of em cz its tkin up 2 much electricity, n i ant even got lights on them yet!
P.S sorry for drifting away from the subject of slatwater

[2manyfish]

That's a myth about the micro bubbles....ever see a reef with the waves crashing over it? Tons of bubbles, micro and otherwise. No, the micro bubbles won't hurt the fish, in fact a regular airstone or bubblewand won't put out micro bubbles. To get that you need a wooden airstone. And unless the bubbles are being trapped underneath any corals it won't bother them either. Some skimmers put out micro bubbles and the main reason people don't like it is because it makes the tank rather cloudy looking. Rather disturbing to look at. I mean a little bit of the tiny bubbles is okay but it can get out of hand. The reason most people don't use regular airstones or bubble wands is because of the salt creep it can produce. The splashing of those bubbles will spray salt over everything especially if you don't have a tight fitting lid over it. It can be quite a pain in the you-know-what to clean that all the time.
I have used bubble wands in a salt tank in the past. They do what they are supposed to do and that is disturb the waters' surface to provide good oxygen exchange. A powerhead aimed at the surface will do the same thing without the splashing effect.

HTH

[2manyfish]

I have never read of saltwater algae putting oxygen in the water. Even a big refugium with tons of macros is there mainly to reduce nitrates. Any oxygen produced would be a bonus but not something to rely on IMO. You really need to have something disturbing the water to get the needed oxygen into it.

Remember that warm water holds less oxygen than cold water and that saltwater holds less oxygen than freshwater so warm saltwater holds the least amount of oxygen!