Exactly how To Take Care Of Aeration and Filtration in your Fish Tank
Barely like any some other form of life, fish will need oxygen. Not acquiring lungs, they breathe through their gills, “breathing” within the dissolved oxygen that is present within the water. In a small body of water, such as a home aquarium, the oxygen in that water can be depleted fairly quickly—leaving your fish gasping for air and unable to breathe. It looks like odd for a fish, but if this comes about, they will have suffocated under water.
The home aquarist keeps his fish alive by circulating the water. This can be done with only a simple air pump or power head, but nearly all systems add a filtration component to support clean the water at the very same time. We’ll take you through the different options and you can decide which method will work the greatest for you.
The quickest choice is just a small air pump and airstone. For just a couple of dollars, you can get everything you need for a small tank. Bubble “wands” or “curtains” can even be placed at the back of your tank for a more decorative effect. This setup supplies your fish with the oxygen that they need, but does nothing to remove contaminants from your tank.
The following choice is the “powerhead”. A powerhead is basically a submersible motor that is commonly mounted on the side or the back of the aquarium. It jets the water into the tank, circulating the water and adding a bit of oxygen to it by means of an attached air hose. Just like the air pump, this system does no filtration, but it does create a present and prevents a few of the sediments from settling at the bottom of your tank. Some fish thrive in a current; some prefer extra placid water, so make certain that your particular type of fish enjoys a present before you install this system.
More typical option is the simple “hang on the back” filter. This type of filter contains a small electrical motor that siphons water out of your tank and into the filter body, where it runs through a cloth or sponge filter pad, and then trickles back into the tank such as a waterfall.
On the plus side, this type of set up cleans your tank while it adds oxygen to your system, as well as establishing a place for a bacterial filter to reside. You can likewise add charcoal to the filter pouches to assist filter out odor. On the down side, some people find the trickling water to be noisier than they would like to handle. Plus, the filter pads have to be replaced on occasion, so there are maintenance expenditures to bear.
The last choice is the canister filter. This set up is fairly similar to the (HOB) filter, though extra expensive. The motor and large canister sits outside of your tank although it works similarly to the (HOB). It draws water out of your tank, runs it through the filters within the canister and then drives it back into the tank. Since the returning water does not fall into the tank, normally, the canister features an airline set up similar to the one in a powerhead to put oxygen bubbles into your system.
These filters are the most expensive option. On the bright side, they are very quiet, they are suitable for larger tanks and they don’t have to be cleaned as frequently as the regular (HOB) style. On the down side, they are much harder to clean when it's time to clean them; they fill up with the detritus from your tank as well as the only real way to get rid of its to carry the canister to a drain and pour it out.
All of these systems will do the job, so you’ll need to figure out which of these options works very best for you. Some aquarists even hire two or three choices within the exact same tank so they have a back up if one of them fails. Start with the cheapest alternative, and work your way up. Your fish will thank you!
Tags: fish aquarium, tropical fish
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