Aeration with an Air Pump or Only a Canister?
I’m a little confused about using an air pump for my aquarium. On one hand I read that plants use oxygen at night and but I also read that it’s usually not necessary to provide extra oxygen in a well planted aquarium. Isn’t it better use an air pump at night?
Personally I always used an air pump and I’m wondering if my fish will get enough oxygen to survive, especially at night.
These are my Aquariums Specifications:
Capacity: 40gallons,
- Airpump 802,
- Eheim Canister Filter,
Planting:
- A little java moss.
- 2 large amazons,
- Couple of stems of wisteria,
- Loose narrow leaf java fern (some are branching out little ones),
Fish:
- 2 angels,
- 2 discus,
- 1 cory,
- 1 pleco.
Can someone help me out of the dark?
Tags: Aeration using canister filter
java moss will do the job by itself no problem once you have some decent sized clumps growing. java fern and java moss can grow under just about any condition so you can just drop them in and forget about them. the same goes with any of the anubias family of plants. all the plants you mentioned are fine with extra air if you are worried about your fish.
Keep the pump on so air is always going through the water
I wouldn’t worry about the O2 level at night, however it doesn’t hurt to have the air pump on either. To make things easier, I would just leave it on all the time if you feel it needs to be on. My concern with your tank would be lighting, have you got enough? Your tank needs a minimum of 80 watts of 6700 degree fluorescent lighting.
My take is not to turn it off at all. Let it run. An air pump will not harm your plants nor your fish. It isn’t needed, but it is always nice to have the extra O2 in your tank.