Airstone Question

[andre_w]

Hey guys, just joined what seems to be a wonderful marine forum due to vast member activity by the members.
Unlike some of the other forums going around this one seems to be buzzing!

Well i have a quick question about airstones...

Abit of background:
I am currently setting up a 150L/35 gallon marine tank. I havent even started cycling yet or anything because im still setting it up. I have two airstones, a canister filter, and a powerhead running in the tank at the moment. (heater + skimmer on its way soon before i add liverock)

Well last weekend i was at a LFS close to home, buying and transporting ocean water, and i was told to keep airstones in the tank in order to keep the pH form dropping..
I plan to then place the airstones inside ornaments purely for aesthetic purposes(using large bubbles, not fine micro-bubbles), because i tihnk it looks great and have always wanted ornaments with bubbles haha.

My trouble is that i went to another LFS just to have a look, and ended up speaking to a guy there who told me the exact opposite. He said the airstones would cause the pH to drop, as well as cause other problems with fish and corals.

Now im not too sure what to believe.. I have done some research and all i can find is that airstones would cause salt creep and can irritate corals. Which doesnt mind me cause i may only get one hardly coral or something, as i want the tank to be a predator tank.

What do you guys think of airstones? Anyone had any troubles or issues?
Can i keep the airstones in the tank for aesthetic reasons without causing problems?

Thanks !

[andre_w]

Bump.. Anyone ?

[Mike31154]

Well, I've been using an old school wooden air stone powered skimmer for years and my livestock is just fine. Not too many systems out there running skimmerless these days and skimmers are built to produce bubbles. No harm done to livestock, in fact quite the opposite. Whether the bubbles are in the skimmer or in your display should make no difference. Most folks prefer not to have bubbles of any sort in their display, but in the end, that's more of a personal preference I reckon. If you'd like to see some large bubbles in your predator tank I see no reason not to go for it. I'm fairly certain increasing oxygen in a marine system will tend to raise pH, not lower it. I've seen numerous threads with folks recommending opening windows or ventilating a room with a tank to counteract low pH by raising the O2 level in the house.

Edit: I also have two battery powered air pumps as backups in case of power failure. When power fails, these two pumps will kick in automatically to oxygenate the water and keep my critters alive until I figure out how to restore power or look for alternate power to run things.

[andre_w]

Thanks for your reply.

My I ask how you get the airpumps to turn on when the power dies ?
Because that is a very smart idea!

Would the airbubbles prove a problem if I decide to have corals at a later date?

Right now I'm leaning to having the airbubbles in with the ornaments.
I'll be starting a journal soon for the tank so I can get people's feedback.

Thanks !

[Mike31154]

The back ups are Penn-Plax Silent Air B11 air pumps. They run on two D Cell batteries and there's some internal circuitry with a relay that turns the pump on when it no longer senses the presence of AC power. It plugs into any wall outlet to sense the power there. There's a switch on the outside of the unit that you leave turned on when it's plugged into the wall outlet. This arms the sensing circuit or allows you to use it as a normal battery powered pump for transporting livestock when you have no power available.

Don't know about the bubbles bothering corals. I suppose it depends on bubble size & where they are in relation to the livestock. Just my opinion here though, no personal experience, although I'm sure wave action in shallow reefs in the ocean will send a certain amount of bubbles down into the water.

[andre_w]

I was told the other day that the only problem with airstones is the salt creep.

The guy at my LFS also told me that the salt on the glass can cause the light to refract, which will stunt the growth of coral and cause masses of algee growth...

Surly that can't be true ?

The airstones are in my tank now with the ornaments :D I can get a pic if people would like.

[moondoggy4]

I used to run a old school fish only tank 25 years ago with a air driven under gravel filter and salt creep was a big problem, needs to be clean regularly. Don't be afraid of bubbles I am thinking about getting a air driven skimmer for my 33 gallon tank, waiting over two months for my pump coming back from Germany I guess the economy is bad there too low bid service, (Das Boat) row boat!