Airstone or Venturi?

[edishrimp]

Hey everyone!

Been awhile since I've had the time to post actively on this forum but i was just wondering if anyone knows if an airstone or a venturi attachement (like the Eheim power diffusor) is better for a shrimp tank? I kinda already have a canister filter that I can easily hook up the attachment to but im just wondering if theres any difference between the two? TIA!

P.S I already have a sponge filter running but ive heard that increasing oxygen content in the water could improve shrimplet survival rates

 

Edited March 31, 2020 by edishrimp

[beanbag]

The purpose of both is to make small bubbles and swirl the water around.  I have both an airstone and also an attachment that adds bubbles to my filter outlet.  I actually find the airstone more useful for two reasons:

1) When doing powdered food like Bacter AE, I turn off the filter so as not to draw the particles into the sponge.  I found that the airstone actually creates a lot of water swirling even on the far side of the tank.

2) For the same reason, if doing a H2O2 treatment where you don't want to drag water thru the filter media, the airstone is good

The advantage of the venturi-type system is that if you adjust it right, to have only a few bubbles worth of air intake per second, it can actually be nearly silent

[smicko]

as long as you have good surface movement you will have plenty of oxygen. air stones and venturi setups don't put extra oxygen in the tank as the bubbles are too big, all gas exchange happens at the surface. The only exception is if you run c02, you need no surface movement and the plants provide oxygen.

 

[edishrimp]

as long as you have good surface movement you will have plenty of oxygen. air stones and venturi setups don't put extra oxygen in the tank as the bubbles are too big, all gas exchange happens at the surface. The only exception is if you run c02, you need no surface movement and the plants provide oxygen.
 

Thanks! Decided my current setup is good enough in terms of aeration since my sponge filter is connected to an air pump cranked all the way up. The outlet of the sponge filter is also in the flow of the canister so that should help generate more surface agitation [emoji1360]


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