Adding an air stone

[Jeff]

For those that use the Ziss Never Clog Air Stone in your tank, how do you secure it to a wall? The Co-Op doesn't sell any suction cups, so I'm curious which ones I should buy.

I'm going to be revamping my tank soon, and I really want to add an air stone. But, I'd prefer if it was secured to the back wall of my tank.

Or, if you don't suction cup it, how do you keep it from the airline swaying / moving around?

Edited March 29, 2022 by Jeff

[Ken Burke]

In the house I use a sponge filter to hold it down.  😜 (3 of my. 4 tanks run at least one sponge filter and a hob.  Not much of a problem as long as you can strategically place is behind a rock or plant.

 

in my outdoor pond, I just drop it in.  They are weighted so it doesn’t move much.

[Widgets]

I use these for a bare airstone not in a sponge filter.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/air-pumps/products/airline-holder

Edited March 29, 2022 by Widgets
Stupid typos

[MarkM]

I second the coop holders.  They hold much better than other nonsense I've purchased off of amazon. 

[Flumpweesel]

they sink pretty well and stay put I only have my air line secured in the tank frame and they have not moved from where I put them. 

[Guppysnail]

I have found these to hold the airline most secure without the airline popping out of the clip. 

[Jeff]

Thanks, @Widgets! I searched for suction cups on the site, and nothing came up.

I will be adding these to my order!

[Widgets]

On 3/29/2022 at 9:45 AM, Jeff said:

Thanks, @Widgets! I searched for suction cups on the site, and nothing came up.

I will be adding these to my order!

I found them when searching for something to pad my order to get free shipping. If my order is a few dollars from free shipping, small items like this push me over the threshold to save money and get a free item too.

[Jeff]

I added the air stone tonight. Air is coming out like gangbusters.

I took out one of the discs, to try to slow down the flow; but that didn't work. Tried twisting and loosening the stone - nothing.

Is there a way to have less air come out of the stone?

[Widgets]

On 4/1/2022 at 10:36 PM, Jeff said:

I added the air stone tonight. Air is coming out like gangbusters.

I took out one of the discs, to try to slow down the flow; but that didn't work. Tried twisting and loosening the stone - nothing.

Is there a way to have less air come out of the stone?

You can cut the airline and insert a tee. Then use a short section of airline and a valve on the 3rd part of the tee. The valve will let you bleed off air to reduce the air through the stone.

You could just use a valve instead of the tee, but you will increase the pressure on the pump and may cause an early failure of the pump.

[nabokovfan87]

On 3/28/2022 at 7:48 PM, Jeff said:

Or, if you don't suction cup it, how do you keep it from the airline swaying / moving around?

I use suction cups. they are a faint blue with a white clip on them. I got them from petco or petsmart of something, they have a little tab to make them pull off.  Found them once, can't find them again.

The "airstone" itself is weighted to you don't need to secure the base. I suction cup mine to make sure the splashes aren't in the cutout of my lid and I don't have issues with the wall being splashed to death.

On 4/2/2022 at 5:17 AM, Widgets said:

You can cut the airline and insert a tee. Then use a short section of airline and a valve on the 3rd part of the tee. The valve will let you bleed off air to reduce the air through the stone.

You could just use a valve instead of the tee, but you will increase the pressure on the pump and may cause an early failure of the pump.

I would suggest always using a gang valve (the tees just never worked for me and are so poorly made they have plastic junk in the way that restricts flow. If you have to use a tee, use a metal one.

I would use a gang valve and then use a check valve to protect the pump from back pressure.

In my current setup, I have a air powered filter setup and then just use the extra feed on the gang valve and feed whatever pressure is left to an airstone without any restriction.

On 4/1/2022 at 7:36 PM, Jeff said:

Is there a way to have less air come out of the stone?

Add a check valve to protect the pump, you might need to use a smaller pump.

second to that, add another air stone as mentioned above with a T or gang valve.

another option is to add another layer of felt / metal washer to the ziss air stone and increase the pressure forcing smaller / fine bubbles.

On 3/29/2022 at 5:48 AM, Guppysnail said:

I have found these to hold the airline most secure without the airline popping out of the clip. 

this is totally them! I am going to order more now! lol

[Widgets]

On 4/4/2022 at 2:59 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I would use a gang valve and then use a check valve to protect the pump from back pressure.

The check valve will protect from water backflowing into the pump, or your floor in case an airline pops off.

The check valve will not protect the pump from high operating pressure. The pressure will actually be a little higher on the pump side of the check valve because it restricts the airflow slightly. You want to use a valve to bleed off the excess air.

On 4/4/2022 at 2:59 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

In my current setup, I have a air powered filter setup and then just use the extra feed on the gang valve and feed whatever pressure is left to an airstone without any restriction.

The unrestricted valve feeding the airstone is what is protecting your pump from high operating pressure.

ACO also sells the suction cups.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/air-pumps/products/airline-holder

[Widgets]

To comment on the check valve a little more. The check valve is designed to allow flow in one direction and prevent flow in the other direction. If you were to blow up a balloon using a check valve, you could remove your mouth without worry about backflow; but as the balloon fills you will still be blowing against the building pressure. 

While a check valve can be placed anywhere to protect the air pump against water intrusion if the pump is ever off. A secondary protection is to prevent a siphon condition if an airline was to ever come loose. The check valve will only protect airlines on the pump side of the check valve. Because of this, it is usually recommended to place the check valve above the waterline at a place where any unprotected airlines will also remain above the water line.

Edited April 4, 2022 by Widgets
Stupid typos

[Jeff]

Since adding the air stone on Friday, some of my fish are starting to bite the dust. 

Too much oxygen apparently. Sigh. 

 

[quikv6]

Jeff....what are your water parameters and what is the stocking? I am as close to positive as possible that the extra airstone is not the problem here.

[Jeff]

 

On 4/4/2022 at 8:29 PM, quikv6 said:

Jeff....what are your water parameters and what is the stocking? I am as close to positive as possible that the extra airstone is not the problem here.

Ziss Never Clog Air Stone added Friday evening, with a Tetra Whisper pump.

4 Chili Rasboras

5 Neon Green Rasboras. I think I'm down to 4 now. 

6 Ember Tetras. A couple of Embers have perished today. 

The NO3 is high; but it's consistently 50, and I haven't never had a problem until now. It's a planted tank. Tank DOB: 4/9/20. Aqua Clear 30. 50W Cobalt heater.  EcoComplete substrate. 20% weekly water changes; just did one yesterday, in fact. 

NO3: 50

NO2: 0

GH: 150

KH: 80

Ph: 8.0

CL: 0

Ammonia: 0

Edited April 5, 2022 by Jeff

[Widgets]

Ember Tetras are listed as prefering backwater rivers with low currents and a very high amount of vegetation. It could be that the combination of the AC30 and the airstone, there is not a place that they can get out of the current.

Where is the airstone relative to the AC30 output? Maybe you could move the airstone into the outflow path to try to keep a calm area. Did you do something to reduce the airflow?

You never said why you wanted to add air. Was there a problem you were solving, or trying to prevent?

Edit:

It looks like all your stocking are found in low to moderate flow. Do they seem to be laboring more to swim or hold their position when the air is on, compared to when the air is off? The AC HOB filters have a lever on the top to divert some of the filter water to cycle through the filter again instead of drawing 100% new water from the tank. You could try using the filter outflow with that diverter.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Widgets

[Jeff]

@Widgets Airstone is opposite end of the filter. 

No reason to really add the air stone. Cory has always preached that an air stone should be in your aquarium. Just finally took the plunge. Also read that it helps your filter. 

So, move the stone to the same side as the filter? 

The Chilis seem to not be swimming closer to the top, like they normally do. Forgot to mention that. You think moving the stone will help them too?

[Widgets]

On 4/4/2022 at 9:07 PM, Jeff said:

@Widgets Airstone is opposite end of the filter. 

No reason to really add the air stone. Cory has always preached that an air stone should be in your aquarium. Just finally took the plunge. Also read that it helps your filter. 

So, move the stone to the same side as the filter? 

The Chilis seem to not be swimming closer to the top, like they normally do. Forgot to mention that. You think moving the stone will help them too?

Yes move the airstone to the same side as the filter and try reducing the flow on the airstone or the filter. Watch the fish to see if they start swimming normally again.

I think you may have created too much flow in the tank for the fish you are keeping. 

[Brandon p]

Change the whole tank and use UGF WITH AIR turned down

[Jeff]

I'm attempting to add an air stone again.

This time I purchased one of these https://www.aquariumcoop.com/collections/air-pumps/products/ziss-premium-air-valve

Is it a guess and check system, as to how much air is too much? I really tried to dial it as far down as possible, while still having a tiny stream of air coming from the air stone.

[Pepere]

On 3/28/2022 at 10:48 PM, Jeff said:

The Co-Op doesn't sell any suction cups, so I'm curious which ones I should buy.

That is a bummer.  The Co op used to sell really good suction cups…

 

The Co op has discontinued too many really good items after I have become enamored with them…

 

 

[Jeff]

@Pepere I thought they didn't, but they do. Unfortunately, they're clear.

I found some black suction cups somewhere else, to blend in with my black background.