airpump vs. airfilter, need help
- Thread starter srangel
- Start date
Welcome to the tank.
I don't know exactly what you mean by air filter, but IMO what you need is a hang-over-the-back filter. It will filter particulates out of your water, provide a home for the bacteria that will break down the toxic ammonia from the fishes' waste, and aerate your water, providing oxygen for your fish. An air pump just hooks up to tubing to bubble air through something, for instance one of those tacky bubbling diver ornaments. The only way an air pump would be useful in a tank is if it were hooked up to an undergravel filter, but IMO those are way more trouble than they're worth. There's a lot better ways to care for your water than an UGF today.
Do you have any tanks already set up? Do you already have these mollies? What are they currently in? Unless they're babies, I really do think you may want to consider something bigger than a five gallon tank. Have you read the stickies in the beginner forum, and the livebearers forum? There's some good useful info there.
I don't know exactly what you mean by air filter, but IMO what you need is a hang-over-the-back filter. It will filter particulates out of your water, provide a home for the bacteria that will break down the toxic ammonia from the fishes' waste, and aerate your water, providing oxygen for your fish. An air pump just hooks up to tubing to bubble air through something, for instance one of those tacky bubbling diver ornaments. The only way an air pump would be useful in a tank is if it were hooked up to an undergravel filter, but IMO those are way more trouble than they're worth. There's a lot better ways to care for your water than an UGF today.
Do you have any tanks already set up? Do you already have these mollies? What are they currently in? Unless they're babies, I really do think you may want to consider something bigger than a five gallon tank. Have you read the stickies in the beginner forum, and the livebearers forum? There's some good useful info there.
