air stone use in lightly - medium planted tanks?

[walt3]

i have a 75 gallon lightly - medium planted tank. lots of substrate, wood and rocks. i was using an airstone for some extra 02 during a ick med. situation. every one is healthy now but was wondering if i should continue due to the higher temps for my young discus of 86-88 degrees? i personally dont really like the look of bubbles in the tank as i think it takes away from the natural "amazon" look but was concerned with the reduced o2 at these temps. working with 3.4 watts per gallon of compact flourescents at the moment. was playing with diy co2 earlier and was thinking of starting again but i know the air stone would need to go for that. can i keep my medium light plants happy without co2 for slow growth? at this point my main concern is the health and happiness of my 6 young discus, not the plants. please give advise. thanks for the guidance. walt.

[DanMan]

The plants will survive. CO2 isnt required for most plants, but it does grow them all much faster. As long as your light is good, they'll do fine, a few may stall a bit.

Just keep the discus happy until things are back to norm.

[Larry Bugg]

Off the question but 3.4 wpg is not medium light. You should be able to grow most any high light plant in that. Are you having any issues with algae? That much light and DIY Co2 is a receip for diaster.

[Larry Bugg]

The plants will survive. CO2 isnt required for most plants, but it does grow them all much faster. As long as your light is good, they'll do fine, a few may stall a bit.

Just keep the discus happy until things are back to norm.

I understand you are saying additional C02 isn't required for most plants (right?). The problem is you have to have a balance of light, C02 and nutrients. Walt has high light over this tank and without the addition of C02 the system will be off balance. While the plants won't necessarily suffer it will be opening the door for algae to enter the system and will become a big issue. Either the light needs to be cut back or C02 needs to be added to keep the tank balanced and the algae away.

[walt3]

yes i am dealing with hair algae as this tank was on diy and more light earlier! disaster! diy was a pain so i guess i should cut back more light?

[Larry Bugg]

yes i am dealing with hair algae as this tank was on diy and more light earlier! disaster! diy was a pain so i guess i should cut back more light?

That is what I would do. It is very difficult to maintain adequate C02 using DIY on any tank larger than about 29 to 40 gallons. With a tank your size and that amount of light you wouldn't produce enough Co2 and it wouldn't be very consistent which is important. Here are links to pretty good explainations.

http://rexgrigg.com/co2.htm

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/plants/balanced.php

Hope this helps.

[walt3]

thanks bugman. question... if my light strips are in increments of 65 watts each how many should i turn off? when i had just one strip which was 2- 65 watts the tank looked so dark. thats just 1.7 per galllon. does that sound like enough or could i add another half light strip to get it to 2.6 watts per gallon? thanks for the help. walt. p.s.- at these lower light levels do you think i will struggle less with the curse of hair algae?

[Larry Bugg]

thanks bugman. question... if my light strips are in increments of 65 watts each how many should i turn off? when i had just one strip which was 2- 65 watts the tank looked so dark. thats just 1.7 per galllon. does that sound like enough or could i add another half light strip to get it to 2.6 watts per gallon? thanks for the help. walt. p.s.- at these lower light levels do you think i will struggle less with the curse of hair algae?

Do you have a separate switch for each bank (2 bulbs) or are all 4 on a single switch. If you have two switches then I would set one bank to run the entire photo period and have the second bank run for a shorter period. This way you have all the lights on for a viewing period and just half on the rest of the time.

[jimg]

I agree with co2 according to light,nutrients. One thing I would do is lower the temp to 82-83 no reason for 86-88 actually can cause more problems.

[walt3]

i thought i read somewhere that juveniles need the higher temps? is that wrong info? thanks. also do i need the airstone to add extra o2 or can i remove it if i dont really like the look? thanks so much, walt.

[jimg]

I like to keep air stones in all my tanks I just put them in a corner or under the outflow from the hob filter. Depending on what filters you have or how they break surface tension you may not need one. If I'm using a canister filter I use air stone for sure.
As for high temps they do not need it at all. some think it boosts their metabolism to make them eat more to grow faster, I do not buy that, they eat more and burn more with less o2 in the water. I have read many online documents from fish hatcheries that all say lower temps more o2 is the key. higher temp water has lower o2 saturation levels. there are dissolved oxygen charts online you can download to see how temp effects the o2 levels.
If you don't like the bubbles get you filter to break the surface of the water the most you can and see how your fish do.

[walt3]

thanks, i just hid it better so its not really in view now. great idea! thanks. im using a canister2217 eheim. i will lower the temp a bit as you suggest. ill slowly go down to 84 or so. thanks for the advise i really appreciate all the help from members like yourself that are free with great knowledge.:) thank you. walt.

[Apistomaster]

I like to run an air stone and especially if the main filter is a canister design as the Eheim 2217. I have several 2217's; been an Eheim guy since they came out and I have been having a hard time adjusting to using a Fluval 405 I picked up. Nice filters, both.

I pretty much keep my Discus at 84*F all their lives. However, for the treatment of some diseases I have run it up to 90*F and supplied a ton of aeration. Never for more than five days.

[Darrell Ward]

I run a two and half inch ball stone, hooked to a quarter inch air line in my 240 gal. Granted, it only has a couple of giant Java Ferns, and a ton of floating plants, but it doesn't seem to hurt anything.