additional aeration?

in a salt water setup I never use airstones. a skimmer does create a great
amount of gas exchange within the aquarium so the lfs told you correct. but
if your concern is the gas exchange then point your power head (if you have
one) or any pump so that it causes surface agitation, this is the best way
to get what your after. and you don't get the salt creep like with an
airstone.

kc

wrote in message
...
Hello Everyone,

I have a 29 gallon SW tank that has been up and running for about 7 months
now. I have 2 damsels, one common clown, 1 cleaner shrimp, an astrea
snail
and a hermit crab.

My filter is a Marineland 170 filter with biowheel. The temp stays around
77 and the specific gravity is maintained at 1.023.

I finally bought a protein skimmer over the weekend (Red Sea Prizm
Skimmer).
I was very excited to get it up and running (especially when I saw all of
the gunk it skims out of the water). I hope this means I won't have to do
those 50% water changes every single week now!

Anyway, my question is this...when I bought the skimmer at the LFS, I
asked
the guy helping me if the skimmer added any additional aeration to the
tank,
and if so could I remove my airstone. He said absolutely, but I'm nervous
and wanted a second opinion. I don't want to deprive my pets of oxygen.
Do
my filter and protein skimmer provide enough aeration to the tank, or
should
I put the airstone back in?

Any advice would be appreciated...

Thanks!

Mer