bubbles

[bigmoe21]

my dad insists, insists on having two big airstones in his tank like the ones used in freshwater tanks...i havent seen these in salt tanks so just making sure if it is ok or if it is bad?
thanks

[txstateunivreefer]

i dont see how it would be a problem the basic berlin counter current skimmers use air stones to drive them so i dont think they would cause problems other than microbubbles

[bigmoe21]

what exactly are microbubbles? because theres a bak pak on the skimmer too

[txstateunivreefer]

micro bubbles are tiny bubbles that you get sometimes from a skimmer or air stone that are so small that they inhibit the view and seem to be neutrally buoyant so they slowly go to the surface and just get in the way.

[Mr_Cool]

Someone once told me that fish are stupid, and they'll try to eat the air bubbles from an airstone. I guess this isn't good.
(Probably gives them gas or something! :bigsmile:)

I've never used one in my tank. Don't see why you couldn't have one in a sump, though, to get better oxygen exchange.

[tony]

everytime i get micro bubbles in my tank it annoys my fish, bad

i also read somewhere that it was bad for corals but i cant remember where, im guessing it was here somewhere though

[jroescher]

I would think all those bubbles rising to the surface and popping would be a major source of salt creep.

[JimD]

Its a good idea to have an alternative source of oxygen other than a skimmer, if the skimmer dies, you still have O2 getting to the tank. Sometimes surface agitation isnt enough depending on the bio-load.