# Tank aereation, I got an idea.



## Mechanicalleon (Mar 29, 2009)

Working on this 140 tank, I got an idea.

First, I don't want to use air stones anymore, mainly because I've foound that air bubbles are somewhat a distraction and to keek those ugly air lines out of sight.

Second, I have a new Rena xp4 filter, which I love, and it comes with a pipe of about a foot in length with holes (discharge) and I was thinking on mounting it with the holes "shooting" horizontally to break the water's tension.

Now, here's where the second half of my idea comes into play:

Somewhere along the discharge hose, I would make a tiny hole and insert an air hose connected to a pump, with a check valve (to avoid backflow) and inserted a few inches in the direction of the flow to kinda create a "vacuum", in other words, the flow of water in one direction will make the air coming from the air pump flow better.

Opinions on this set up?


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## JIM (May 27, 2009)

*I think thats a sound idea  that Spray bar concept has been around for a long time, and works quite well at what it was designed to do, The other part of your idea, Venturi injection of air is used on a lot of powerheads, and also accomplishes what it is designed to do and that is to inject air bubbles into the water stream, which for one increases the power of the stream somewhat, and also adds some to the oxygen being added to the water, the short contact time however doesnt allow for supersaturation of oxygen but certainly cant hurt. *


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## Oldman (May 25, 2009)

With the Rena spray bar, I get good gas exchange by simply running the spray bar a couple of inches below the surface with a very slight tilt upwards. The flow from the holes in the spray bar stir the water surface and gas exchange takes place. Bubbles are for decoration, not aeration. Good water flow near the surface prevents stratification which is all you really need for great oxygen content. It is easy to understand if you look at the surface area of a bubble and then look at the surface area of your tank. Which will give a greater gas exchange surface? Unless you run an air pump with so many bubbles the fish have trouble swimming anywhere in the tank, the bubbles can't even come close to being as good as the water surface itself for gas exchange. Bubbles do have a beneficial effect by mixing the water and preventing that same startification so a strong flow like you get from your canister is a definite boon.


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