My assuming, New 25 gallon aquarium question.......?

Question

Hi, all my life whenever I saw an aquarium in someone's home, I noticed that they had a air pump running putting bubbles into the water. Now I bought my 1st brand new Tetra Care 29 25 gallon aquarium. It came with everything, the hood with light, power filter, heater and thermometer. Everything except gravel, water and fish and AIRPUMP !

I assumed all aquariums needed an airpump. So I read through the instructions. It said that the water flowing back into the tank from the power filter disturbed the water surface enough to put oxygen into the water. What do you guys think?

Do I need to go buy a airpump or not?

Answer 1

Just as with everything else in life, with each new generation that comes along, so does new and improved ways of doing things. Once upon a time, an undergravel filter and an air pump was pretty much the only option. Now, there are so many different types of filters your head can spin. A good filter that is the proper size for the tank should provide enough aeration. But, I personally choose filters that provide more gph than what the box recommends for the size of the tank because I don't feel the recommendations are sufficient enough to do a proper job. Also, a lot of filters come with a diffuser attachment that you can run a tube off of and attach a bubbler for additional aeration and, like KylieAnne said, you can never have too much oxygen in the water. So, if you wanted an air pump, you don't have to have one, but it certainly wouldn't hurt anything. And, some fish like to play in the bubbles. Another consideration is that most aquarists strongly suggest a combination filter system of at least two different types of filters, partially as a backup system, but also because each type of filter usually has its strong and weak points when it comes to the mechanical, chemical and bacterial filtration requirements.

Answer 2

Its NOT the airpump that you need. It is anything that disturbs the water and gets it mixing. What you are doing is getting greater gas exchange. What you want to get rid of is the waste the fish produce and get more oxygen into the water. I pump or filter will do this. The filter can ALSO do mechanical and biological filteration with a sponge or something in it. Go for a filter and put a sponge in it for the bacteria to grow.

Try the websites below.

Answer 3

You don't need one as long as your filter overflow disturbs the water's surface. Air pumps aren't that efficient at adding "air" to your tank. The bubbles just rise and pop at the surface. It's the amount of disturbance at the surface that's important and the filter will move more water and farther from the point where the overflow enters the tank.

The only reason to get an air pump is to power some of those decorations (the infamous man in the diving suit and the bubble belching shark head), to create a bubble wall (decorative), to gently aerate a tank with fry, or because you like the look of the bubbles.

Answer 4

You definitely do not need an air pump to maintain the oxygen level in the water. Studies have shown that there is little or no transfer of oxygen from the air bubbles to the water. What is most important is surface agitation....water falling into water, just like the power filter instructions state. I've been running successful aquariums for 30 years without ever owning an air pump.

Answer 5

It depends on the type of fishes you are keeping and the number of fishes in the tank. If the tank is a bit overcrowded , you need a airpump to provide more aeration.
If you are keeping fish who needs lots of oxygen, like goldfish, it would be good, but not necessary if your tank is big enough and not crowded.
If you are keeping fish like betta where their natural environment is still water and they are not strong swimmers , aeration both from the filter and airpump may affect its swimming. So in this case, a airpump is not a good idea.

Answer 6

aripumps are kind of useless honestly -- unless you like looking at the pretty bubbles. older filters usually ran on airpumps and people would add a bubble stone thinking the bubbles would add oxygen. oxygen acutally enters the water from a turbulant surface that your power filter should provide. when you do 20% water changes that will replenish your oxygen faster than anything else except some java moss or japanese moss balls. they will oxygenate your water better than any filter or airpump ever could.

Answer 7

I'm assuming this is one of those out of tank filters. You don't need an airstone or anything in the tank with that, they're good filters. I always do an airstone to something similar because I like the look of the bubbles and it does aerate the tank more, but it is not necessary.

Answer 8

Well many people use the one inch of fish per gallon method. This is fine provided the adult size of the fish is one inch. More conservative people use the one inch of fish per two gallons. I like to use a squared system. Using this system with your tank you could choose one of the following 25 1 inch fish 11 1.5 inch fish 6 2 inch fish 3 3 inch fish 2 4 inch fish 1 5 inch fish you could also get away with one 6 inch or one 7 inch, but that isn't really the best for the fish. 8 inch and above fish are out of the question.

Answer 9

you should buy an air pump and maybe 2 bubble stones. it'll set you back another 20 bucks or so. you just place the bubble stone under the gravel and it introduces more oxygen into the water, helpful if you pln on getting more than one fish.and it looks cool

Answer 10

Get one if you like the look of the bubbles, but otherwise, if your tank is not overstocked with fish and maintain it clean, the filter should be suffcient.