Powerheads -When to use Venturi aeration?

[rusty-nail-z]

hi, i have 2 aqua clear 50's with the venturi air things on them.. Im assuming the venturi aeration is when the pump makes tons of bubbles shoot out the nozzle, as opposed to the regular water flow..
Im wondering if this is something to be used all of the time? Are there certain times to use it, etc? It definitely looks cool, and i can see how it stirs up the oxygen, i just wanna know ifs a limit on how much this feature should or could be used.

[webbstock]

In a SW setup the venturi setup is usualy only used if the powerhead is running a skimmer. For in-tank applications the venturi system is not used.

The only exception that I could imagine is if something went horribly wrong in your tank and your O2 level dropped, then the venturi might be used to intro some O2.

[drummereef]

I would recommend taking them off if you are just using the powerheads for flow int the tank. It will cause an insane amount of salt creep on your lights and other equipment. Like webbstock said, venturi style skimmers use this feature and also they are used quite a bit in freshwater aquaria. Not really desirable in saltwater. ;)

[dendro982]

For mixing saltwater ;)

[seapug]

Every bubble is a sphere of "not water" when they accumulate and collect around your rocks and corals, they create large areas of "not water". That can be problematic and irritating for creatures that need to remain underwater at all times. They are good for protien skimmers and perhaps mixing saltwater, but you don't want too many in your tank unless you have sufficient flow to keep them from collecting and accumulating in large air pockets under and between rocks. Even then, as drummereef said, you're going to get insane salt creep from billions of tiny bubbles bursting at the surface.