Jan 11, 2021
How To Get The Best Aeration In Your Fish Tank
Aeration is the movement of air through water, roots, and soil. Aeration is very essential to the health and wellbeing of your fish, shrimp, plants, and tank mates. Everything needs oxygen one way, shape, or form if you are living. It’s important to understand aeration to better care for your aquarium. This is why we are going to discuss some crucial mistakes beginners, and some pros make with tending to their aquariums.
Originally Published On aquariumme.com
Without the constant flow of your water aeration will not take place as needed to maintain the proper health, and well-being of your plants, fish, and tank mates.
To get the best aeration in your aquarium you will have to use a combination of plants, a filter, and an aquarium water pump. The plants are essential to convert co2 into oxygen. At night the air pump will benefit the plants and beneficial bacteria allowing the co2 to escape allowing them to breathe at night. A filter is also essential as it provides a current to allow the exchange of co2 and oxygen to happen faster.
4 Things To Eliminate With Good Aeration
- Poor Aeration
- Dead Spots
- Oil Film
- Poor Longevity
Air Pumps Are Not Oxygen
Air pumps allow forced oxygen to enter the aquarium which is very good for your fish. The air pump allows good aeration that is similar to a fan on you in a hot room. This is how your fish feel with the Air Pump turned on.
Dead Spots
Air Pumps do much more than just allow more of a current of airflow into your tank, they also get rid of stagnant dead spots. I’m sure you have seen gravel get more piled up in a few spots, fish poop, and fish food remnants in your tank. They build up around the dead spots which is another reason why good aeration is super important.
How to keep CO2 levels / PH down at night for your plants.
At night your plants and beneficial algae will not be producing oxygen at night. This is why having the air pump at night is essential. It’s recommended to wait an hour or 2 after your light shuts off to turn on your air pump so that the PH levels will not lower or raise too exponentially to damage your plants and shrimp.
Oil Film
Having good aeration will keep oil film at bay. Oil film is this layer that appears at the top of your aquarium when your water is stagnant. It’s annoying for us to see so as an added benefit, having the air pump on will eliminate the issue.
How To Increase The Overall Longevity Of Your Fish Tank.
Our main focus as fish keepers is to provide the best life for our aquarium inhabitants. That’s why we always learn more but also because the aquarium hobby is very fun as well. Longevity is very important to us since we plan to do this for a very long time.
Maintaining good maintenance on your aquarium, keeping up with good aeration, and sticking to proper feedings will keep the longevity of your aquarium to the absolute max.
No Oxygen
When the power goes out what happens when there is no aeration in your tank. That would not be good for your aquarium which is why we are going to discuss that. When this happens it’s important to have a backup air pump or water stone to keep your aquarium properly aerated.
When you go away it’s important to remember these measures to keep your aquarium happy, and healthy as well. The good thing about micro USB air pumps is that they are ready to go in a pinch, operate out of a cell phone battery charger, and are super quiet as well.
Can there be too much Aeration?
Yes, there can be so much aeration that fish have to fight the amount of current. The fish can be injured and also the beneficial bacteria, and plants can be injured so it’s best not to have too much aeration.
You can tell when you have enough aeration because your fish will tell you. They will act very comfortable with the amount of airflow and not act off. Fish very similar to Koi fish enjoy the current to be very very powerful so they can stretch and move along the current. Most of the freshwater aquarium fish do not want that high air current so having the airflow at a very comfortable level will be ideally what you want.
Conclusion
Everything needs to breathe so our fish aren’t any different. Having the best aeration principles in mind you should have a better understanding of how aeration will benefit your tank. The water stones and air pump are essential to the survival of your fish, plants, and tank mates.
