airstone

[Carol Shenkenberger]

"Mr Mthafuka" > wrote in message
...
> Hi, I'm new to this game so bear with me...
> I have a 20 gal tank with 2 fantails & 1 black moor. I'm about to put an
air
> stone in the tank, but should I put it on top of the gravel or buried just
> under it? Also should I put the airstone close to the filter or away from
> it. Sorry about the dumb questions, but I can't find the info anywhere.
> TIA
> Stu
>
>

[Mr Mthafuka]

Hi, I'm new to this game so bear with me...
I have a 20 gal tank with 2 fantails & 1 black moor. I'm about to put an air
stone in the tank, but should I put it on top of the gravel or buried just
under it? Also should I put the airstone close to the filter or away from
it. Sorry about the dumb questions, but I can't find the info anywhere.
TIA
Stu

[NetMax]

"Mr Mthafuka" > wrote in message
...
> Hi, I'm new to this game so bear with me...
> I have a 20 gal tank with 2 fantails & 1 black moor. I'm about to put
an air
> stone in the tank, but should I put it on top of the gravel or buried
just
> under it? Also should I put the airstone close to the filter or away
from
> it. Sorry about the dumb questions, but I can't find the info anywhere.
> TIA
> Stu

The airstone will stir the water up, and be mostly cosmetic if your
filtration is adequate. Placing it on or under the gravel is up to you.
The bubbles will collect forming less and larger bubbles if they are
pushing up around pieces of gravel. The amount of air coming out is
mostly affected by the depth of the airstone in the tank (the deeper the
stone's position, the greater water pressure the air pump must push
against).

I would put the airstone away from the filter, such that bubbles are not
getting sucked into the water filter. Some water filters do not take
kindly to air bubbles (such as older canister filters where air
entrapment can stop the water flow). Air would also reduce the water
flow through any filter, and if trapped in the filter media, reduce the
effective surface area available for filtering.

ps: Goldfish get to about 7-8 inches and are swimming food processors
putting a significant load on filter systems. You can safely overfilter
any tank holding GF by a factor of 2 or even 3, so your 20g should have a
filter designed for a 40g (or running multiple 20g filters, or having
redundant filter media etc etc). Budget about 3g per inch of GF, if not
for water volume, then at least for filtration requirements.

NetMax

[TYNK 7]

>Subject: airstone
>From: "Mr Mthafuka"
>Date: 11/26/2003 6:28 AM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>Hi, I'm new to this game so bear with me...
>I have a 20 gal tank with 2 fantails & 1 black moor. I'm about to put an air
>stone in the tank, but should I put it on top of the gravel or buried just
>under it? Also should I put the airstone close to the filter or away from
>it. Sorry about the dumb questions, but I can't find the info anywhere.
>TIA
>Stu

You can place the stone anywhere you want it.
I sure hope you have a good filter on that 20g with 2 Fantails and a Moore.
Even the minimum requirement of 10 gallons per Goldfish is cramming them in,
and you have 3.
What is your water change schedule?

[Sawtooth]

Thanks for the replies !
As for my water schedule, at the moment it's once every 2 days (25%) on the
advice of my pet shop owner 'cause theres a bit of a nitrate problem due to
my over feeding (unintentional of course). Normally it would be every 2
weeks (25%). Like I said, I haven't been doing this for long.
For the last week all 3 fishes have been mainly living at the surface,
eating bubbles. Which led me to think that there wasn't enough oxygen in the
water. Kudos to the shop keeper though, he showed me exactly how much to
feed the fish & explained all about the nitrite problem. After todays water
change & the addition of the airstone, the fish are swimming about happily
at all depths & even playing in the bubbles (at least I assume they're
playing!). Obviously I'll keep changing the water as I was told.
Thanks again.
Stu

"TYNK 7" > wrote in message
...
> >Subject: airstone
> >From: "Mr Mthafuka"
> >Date: 11/26/2003 6:28 AM Central Standard Time
> >Message-id: >
> >
> >Hi, I'm new to this game so bear with me...
> >I have a 20 gal tank with 2 fantails & 1 black moor. I'm about to put an
air
> >stone in the tank, but should I put it on top of the gravel or buried
just
> >under it? Also should I put the airstone close to the filter or away from
> >it. Sorry about the dumb questions, but I can't find the info anywhere.
> >TIA
> >Stu
>
> You can place the stone anywhere you want it.
> I sure hope you have a good filter on that 20g with 2 Fantails and a
Moore.
> Even the minimum requirement of 10 gallons per Goldfish is cramming them
in,
> and you have 3.
> What is your water change schedule?

[Dinky]

"Sawtooth" > wrote in message
...
> Thanks for the replies !
> As for my water schedule, at the moment it's once every 2 days (25%) on
the
> advice of my pet shop owner 'cause theres a bit of a nitrate problem due
to
> my over feeding (unintentional of course). Normally it would be every 2
> weeks (25%). Like I said, I haven't been doing this for long.
> For the last week all 3 fishes have been mainly living at the surface,
> eating bubbles. Which led me to think that there wasn't enough oxygen in
the
> water. Kudos to the shop keeper though, he showed me exactly how much to
> feed the fish & explained all about the nitrite problem. After todays
water
> change & the addition of the airstone, the fish are swimming about happily
> at all depths & even playing in the bubbles (at least I assume they're
> playing!). Obviously I'll keep changing the water as I was told.
> Thanks again.
> Stu


Air bubbles from an airstone will do little for oxygenating the water. Most
gas exchange happens at the surface, so directing the filter outflow, or a
powerhead to keep the surface of the tank moving will work much better than
bubbles.

[Sawtooth]

My filter keeps the surface moving nicely ta, thanks for the tip.
Stu

"Dinky" > wrote in message
news:cD8xb.234837$9E1.1276728@attbi_s52...
>
> "Sawtooth" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Thanks for the replies !
> > As for my water schedule, at the moment it's once every 2 days (25%) on
> the
> > advice of my pet shop owner 'cause theres a bit of a nitrate problem due
> to
> > my over feeding (unintentional of course). Normally it would be every 2
> > weeks (25%). Like I said, I haven't been doing this for long.
> > For the last week all 3 fishes have been mainly living at the surface,
> > eating bubbles. Which led me to think that there wasn't enough oxygen in
> the
> > water. Kudos to the shop keeper though, he showed me exactly how much to
> > feed the fish & explained all about the nitrite problem. After todays
> water
> > change & the addition of the airstone, the fish are swimming about
happily
> > at all depths & even playing in the bubbles (at least I assume they're
> > playing!). Obviously I'll keep changing the water as I was told.
> > Thanks again.
> > Stu
>
>
> Air bubbles from an airstone will do little for oxygenating the water.
Most
> gas exchange happens at the surface, so directing the filter outflow, or a
> powerhead to keep the surface of the tank moving will work much better
than
> bubbles.
>
>

[TYNK 7]

>Subject: Re: airstone
>From: "Carol Shenkenberger"
>Date: 11/24/2003 3:03 AM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>
>"Mr Mthafuka" > wrote in message
...
>> Hi, I'm new to this game so bear with me...
>> I have a 20 gal tank with 2 fantails & 1 black moor. I'm about to put an
>air
>> stone in the tank, but should I put it on top of the gravel or buried just
>> under it? Also should I put the airstone close to the filter or away from
>> it. Sorry about the dumb questions, but I can't find the info anywhere.
>> TIA
>> Stu

Carol?
You forgot to comment. = )