# bubble wand or air stone?



## baileysup

which one makes smaller bubbles? the girl at petsmart said the bubble wand does, so that's what i purchased, but the bubbles seem to be rather large. i've never seen an air stone in action though, so i can't really tell. i thought the bubbles would be smaller than this though. i will try to take a pic. here you go


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## emc7

Both of them vary by brand. Some are finer than others.


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## baileysup

yea, i must have purchased a cheap one i guess. i have a stupid question though: must i leave the air stone on 24/7, or could i shut it off at night? i'm guessing that it would be better for the water if it ran 24/7, right? the fish seem to love it though! lol! man, do i ask a lot of questions, or what. thanks. 

come to think of it, i might shut it off before bed, cause it seems to excite the little guys (they try to surf in it or something). this way they can get the rest they need?


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## emc7

If the fish don't need the oxygen (say you have enough water movement with filtration) you can turn it off as long as you don't let water go down the hose to the pump. Either put it above the tank or use a one-way check valve.


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## baileysup

so i stopped in at "3 Fish 4 Fish" (my LFS) today to pick up a gang valve for the air pump. she handed me the valve, and i then asked her if she knew of anything that would give me many very fine bubbles, instead of the semi large ones i was getting from the bubble wand i had just purchased there. she then handed me this little 1 1/2" block of lime wood with an air nipple on it and said "here, try this out". i then said to her, " oh....well i kind of wanted something longer than that", and she was like, " i'm not charging you for it. if you like it, i can order you a longer one". i then said "no, i can't do that. let me pay for it", but she insisted that i take it, so i did. got home and hooked it up, and it gave me the nice tiny bubbles that i was looking for, and it's super compact! perfect for my 10 gal, where space is at a premium. i'm not even thinking about ordering a longer one, cause this one is awesome! i know it was only a $3 block of wood, but this is why i love my LFS. try going to petsmart and getting something for free.....HA! fat chance. here's a pic.


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## ilidawn

When I first tried out my bubble wand I was like "holy cow! those bubble are way bigger than I want!" but putting a clamp on the tube did wonders to slow the air flow, making the bubbles work the way I wanted.










Sorry the image is big..shrinking the pics without losing detail isn't really my strong suit lol...and dang I need to do something about that plant.


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## baileysup

yea, you must have a better bubble wand than i did, cause it didn't matter what the airflow was. if i lowered air flow, i would just get less bubbles, but they would still be big. my new block of lime wood actually responds to changes in airflow, making large bubbles to the tiniest ones you can think of, depending on how much airflow. so what are you doing with the plant? i had one just like it, but i kept losing pieces untill i just got rid of it. it wasn't rooting anyways. lol


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## grogan

I use power heads and hook the air hoses up to a small air pump with a knob valve so I can control the air flow. Works great


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## ilidawn

I think I got my wand at petsmart. Hmm, no clue about the plant. It needs cleaned and trimmed but I've been having problems with it rooting too. It's my first venture into aquarium plants so I'm not sure why they grew like wildfire at first then kinda went downhill.


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