Extra air

[The scruff]

Has anyone any thoughts on when the water enters the fish tank or sump, is it better to have a strong heavy stream that penetrates air down into the water, or creating a lot of splashing or fine sheets of water that create bubbles on the surface, obviously this would be one of those aspects that everyone would tinker with but unless you have some sort of DO meter it is hard to know.
Cheers Scruff

[Pugo]

You need to take care when adding air to the sump as it is possible to cause you pump problems if it starts sucking air. Watering bars are alway good in the fish tank. depending on the size of the tank a stream of water can also be helpful. Never enough DO in the water for me. It is helpful to plants and fish. But if the water entering the fish tank is to strong you fish will expend a great deal of energy trying no to be blown around the tank which could slow there growth.

[The scruff]

The first and third are with a 45 degree elbow on an angle at the end of a 50 mm outlet from the moving bed filter and the second is just straight out. The fourth is the inlet to the ft its just a mix of pipe fittings, I drilled some small holes in the top of the tee and also at the top part of the elbow . It seems to make a lot of air bubbles and makes a great gurgling sound. I used a venturi first of all but it restricted the flow, this seems to do a better job and no restriction.Thanks Pugo did not realise the pump would be affected ,but it makes sense.
Scruff




Pic_0427_005.jpgPic_0427_006.jpgPic_0428_012.jpgPic_0428_016.jpg

[GaryD]

Hi,

...obviously this would be one of those aspects that everyone would tinker with but unless you have some sort of DO meter it is hard to know.

A good DO meter costs plenty of money......too much to justify the purchase if you're just running a small backyard system. My approach is to ensure that there's plenty of air going in.....while doing what I can to reduce those things that place a demand on dissolved oxygen levels. I'll usually have air happening at several points in a system......typically that means air stones in the fish tank, air driving the moving bed bio-filter and possibly even a small trickle filter.

An air pump is a good back up in the event of a failed water pump.

Gary