pls vote - need AIR?

[Luvi]

Dear All,

I am putting a poll here so that I may decide if I should buy the air pump for my tiny 5g tank. The 5g tank I have is from Eclipse, with Biowheel which already producing limited amount of tiny bubbles. I have only 1 baby red tail shark and a fully grown black skirt tetra. I read articles saying most catfish (does this shark goes under catfish catagory too??) needs aerated water tank. Please help me decide if I should get a small Rena Air 50 pump and the Rena Micro Bubbler (2") or Marineland Bubble Wand 4". I choose the Rena air pump becuase I have seen it in LFS which is the most quiet.

Thanks!!

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

If you don't have live plants, then I would always go with aeration, and I mean always. I like those bubble walls, and really wish I could have one in my planted tanks, but it would drive off a lot of CO2 from the water.

 

[dss2004]

That red-tail shark is an a tank that is unsuitable for his needs. The are very active fish that grow 4+ inches and need lots of room and territories to feel comfortable. I would probably guess that a 30 gallon would be the smallest a tank a red-shark could be placed in and that may even be pushing it. But as far as air pumps go if you have a good filter they are just usually used for aesthetic purposes.

 

[FroggyFox]

Your filter already produces aerated water....what bubble walls etc do is create more surface agitation and promote more gas exchange so that there is more oxygen in the water. Your biowheel probably is plenty for that 5G.

Of course if you just like the look of the bubble wall, there's no harm in adding one the noise might annoy you.

As for the red tail...he's not a catfish, but a bottom dweller. You might think about getting a larger tank for him...but I'm pretty sure thats why you mention he's a "baby" is because you know a 5 will not work for him long term.

 

[Luvi]

to Delta- I do have a Green Wenditii, 2 banana plants, and another name unknow which I just got over the weekend and didn't put in yet (so total 4 plants). So if it is a planted tank I should not get the air pump? I do not have a CO2 system though.

to dss2004- yes u are right, the shark (which is now 1.25") will probably grow big. It was love at first sight at the LFS. I thought he is just a normal cat fish when I seen him in the LFS. I asked the staff and he said ( it won't grow much bigger than this...). So I bought it in minutes and it was my mistake without researching. But guess what - I like him so much now and I will not give up. When he grows larger it gives me an excuse to get a bigger tank - Yuppe !!

to FroggyFox- Thanks, and I will get a bigger tank for the shark (See I can add to my excuse and eventually I will develope into this MTS disease *twirlysmi )

 

[FroggyFox]

Hey MTS is fun....Join the dark side

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

With live plants stay away from bubble walls then. Consider my vote to then change to "Don't need it".

 

[Valorie]

I have a similar set up in my 5g. No air and everything is doin just fine.

 

[culinaryartcook]

Normally w/ a good filter a tank is fine w/ oxygen. If you're planting then I'm with delta don't put in air b/c that will take out more co2 from the water. You don't really need co2 for a tank (of that size atleast). I went for a while with none on mine and they were fine, didn't have huge growth but lived good.

 

[twoluvcats]

i'm not sure about these tanks "with plants", but my 5g eclipse hex is PLAUGED with alge without air. It may be totally different with plants...but i was changing the water every 3 days, and STILL the tank walls would be COATED with brown algae and green spot algae...When I fisrt set up the tank, i had an airstone in it...i ran it like that for 3 months and then decided to take out the airstone...that was a mistake...the algae got BAD, its finally gotten to where I only am wiping bits off after 2 weeks with the airstone back in it. The bio-wheel acts different than on the HOB models, it does not cause the same agitation...i think that's caused by the filter design. So the hex tanks end up actually being very low current tanks...thus giving algae ample opportunity to latch on to the side of the tank and decor.

 

[culinaryartcook]

Yeah high current can mean less algae problems. What are your feeding habits twoluvcats? Sounds like you've got a large source of some nutrients for that algae.

 

[LoachDude]

Probably don't need one.

 

[twoluvcats]

What are your feeding habits twoluvcats? Sounds like you've got a large source of some nutrients for that algae.

oh, don't worry, i went down that road...all that was in there at the time was 1 male betta, and he gets 4 teeny pellets once a day. There's more fish and MORE food in there now, and less algae with the airstone. Go figure.