# Air stone?



## JFancy (Sep 4, 2011)

Is it necessary to have a n air stone or bubble wand in a mbuna tank? I plan to have a lot of tx holey rock in the tank.


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

The bubbles do not actually put oxygen in the water. Surface movement of the water does that. Of course, the bubbles will move the surface a bit, but outflow from the filter would be sufficient, if it moves across the water. HOB filters do that fine, but the output of a canister might be below the surface and not quite as efficient. To each his own on the bubbles, though.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

More flow is means more oxygen, and is, IMO, good. But you can do without. I never run a wand when I can run a sponge filter instead.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

every tank i have is aerated...i make sure that there is plenty of surface movement....all of my tanks have sponge filters...some don't currently use airstones ; but will be getting them soon...smaller bubbles are better because they have a greater overall surface area and will expell a greater amount of co2 at the surface of the water....thusly allowing for greater absorbtion of o2...


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## kduncan (Jul 12, 2010)

Can the air stone or bubble wand be placed in the sump and effectively oxygenate the water? Or does it need to be in the display tank? I would assume since it is one body of water (albeit connected by plumbing) that it can be placed in the sump. Am I correct in this thinking?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

That sounds correct to me. As long as you have a decent flow rate to get the oxygenated water into the tank.


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