# airstone in planted tank. is it a must have?



## brad138 (Apr 6, 2015)

i heard that fish tanks should have an air stone, but my plants should be releasing enough oxygen right?

*no C02 injector.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

As long as you have enough movement and the fish are not gasping, you should be fine. This is why many use the drop checker.


----------



## brad138 (Apr 6, 2015)

majerah1 said:


> As long as you have enough movement and the fish are not gasping, you should be fine. This is why many use the drop checker.


now that i look at my tank, only one side has movement. my tank has that center brace so i cant put my filter in the middle. ill look into that drop checker and see about getting a small powerhead or something.


----------



## big b (Jun 28, 2014)

What side of the tank are your plants on? On the filtered side or the non filtered side.


----------



## brad138 (Apr 6, 2015)

big b said:


> What side of the tank are your plants on? On the filtered side or the non filtered side.


both sides. the ones on the non filtered side are very green, the ones on the filtered side are a bit pale


----------



## big b (Jun 28, 2014)

I heard that plants give off oxygen during the day, and take in oxygen at night.


----------



## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

Hello brad...

As long as you have a filter system with a gph (gallon per hour) rating at least four times the volume of the tank in gallons, your tank inhabitants will be fine. Add to this a large, weekly water change and some fast growing floater plants like Hornwort and you'll be a little ahead on O2. No air stone needed.

B


----------



## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

brad138 said:


> now that i look at my tank, only one side has movement. my tank has that center brace so i cant put my filter in the middle. ill look into that drop checker and see about getting a small powerhead or something.


A drop checker tells you, with a large degree of error, the amount of CO2 in your tank. It is only useful in CO2 injected situations.



brad138 said:


> both sides. the ones on the non filtered side are very green, the ones on the filtered side are a bit pale


Interesting, do you fertilize anything either liquid or in the substrate?



big b said:


> I heard that plants give off oxygen during the day, and take in oxygen at night.


Correct.

Consider this:

You add food, this food is partially processed by your fish. What they do not process as well as their waste products needs O2 to be broken down.

Bacteria breaking this down produces some CO2 which the plants turn back to O2, but it also produces things like nitrates (which contain O2) that you remove with a water change.

The important part is that increasing surface exchange of gasses is rarely a bad thing.


*I'm using O2 as shorthand for oxygen even if it isn't a diatomic molecule in some of those situations.


----------



## brad138 (Apr 6, 2015)

jccaclimber2 said:


> Interesting, do you fertilize anything either liquid or in the substrate?


yeah. i use Seachem Flourish. liquid.


----------



## jccaclimber2 (May 6, 2012)

You might try increasing that or adding some root fertilizers if your plants look iffy. If you are trying to raise fry or keep ultra low nitrates floaters can be really handy. If you are trying to keep plants growing in the substrate I find they over-shade and starve the tank.


----------



## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Haha I missed the no co2 injection


----------



## aquatic-life (Nov 25, 2012)

you don't need an airstone if you have a planted tank,count on your filter moving the surface of the water and the most important is counting on your plants,don't worry about your plants breathing O2 and releasing CO2 at night. the rate at which they "breath" at night is likely negligible compared to the oxygen they give during the day,so you will be okay. In case you have a lot of fish and you see that your fish are spending most of the time on the surface you can add a bubbler during the night,but I doubt you will need it.


----------

