Air Diffuser vs. Air Stone

[Lennie]

Hey guys,

I hope everyone is doing well.

I've been searching for quality of life upgrade for my planted tank. As the plants get denser and I started keeping fish that enjoy higher oxygen content in the water, I've decided to add an extra air stone or air diffuser. I don't wanna worry about the oxygen content in the water. 

I am currently using only AC50 in a 33g (50cm cube). It is kinda hard to utilize an airstone in a AC50 to me, as my bag is full of media already. I've been introducing airtsone after water changes and to break some surface biofilm, if needed. The tank has no lid and is being kept at 25C, if it is gonna be related to any answers.

I have a USB air pump and a Tetra 50. Would Tetra be suitable for the below-mentioned air diffuser as well?

planning to get this one:

https://www.aquasabi.com/AQUARIO-Neo-Air-Diffusor-Curved-Special-Medium

If anyone has experience with air diffusers, are they hard to clean or do they clog to fast?

Airstones cause lots of splash in my experience, even if the pump flow rate is leveled down. My water leaves lots of white residue with each splash on top, it is kinda annoying. One of the main reasons why I don't keep a lid, it would be covered with white residue nonstop. So would air diffusers cause less splash but provide enough oxygen still?

 

Would love to hear opinions/experiences of yours! Especially regarding air diffusers.

Many thanks in advance,

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Lennie

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/22/2023 at 3:26 PM, Lennie said:

I am currently using only AC50 in a 33g (50cm cube). It is kinda hard to utilize an airstone in a AC50 to me, as my bag is full of media already. I've been introducing airtsone after water changes and to break some surface biofilm, if needed. The tank has no lid and is being kept at 25C, if it is gonna be related to any answers.

you cant just keep the airstone in the tank the whole time.

to prevent splashing maybe put it under some sort of anubias leaf or something, it will help diffuse the splashing before it hits the top, the point is getting the oxygen dissolved into the water.

On 2/22/2023 at 3:26 PM, Lennie said:

 

I have a USB air pump and a Tetra 50. Would Tetra be suitable for the below-mentioned air diffuser as well?

 

can you please explain this further, i do not understand.

[Lennie]

On 2/22/2023 at 11:34 PM, Theplatymaster said:

you cant just keep the airstone in the tank the whole time.

Why not? I've never heard such a thing before.

 

On 2/22/2023 at 11:34 PM, Theplatymaster said:

can you please explain this further, i do not understand.

If the pressure would be enough to make the air diffuser work.

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/22/2023 at 3:42 PM, Lennie said:

If the pressure would be enough to make the air diffuser work.

so the tetra 50 is an air pump?

On 2/22/2023 at 3:42 PM, Lennie said:

Why not? I've never heard such a thing before.

sorry that was supposed to be a question,

you cant just keep the airstone in the tank the whole time?

[knee]

I've used Aquario Neo co2 diffuser for additional surface agitation. It was set to turn on as co2 turns off and I only ran it during lights out and it worked pretty well. 

I prefer it better than an airstone because the bubbles are super tiny. They would clog after a few months but they're pretty easy to clean. I just put it in 50/50 water/bleach solution and run it for a few minutes or until it's clean. Then I'd run it for a few minutes in dechlorinated water. I double dosed the dechlorinator for extra caution.

Edited February 22, 2023 by knee

[Lennie]

On 2/22/2023 at 11:43 PM, knee said:

I've used Aquario Neo co2 diffuser for additional surface agitation. It was set to turn on as co2 turns off and I only ran it during lights out and it worked pretty well. 

I prefer it better than an airstone because the bubbles are super tiny. They would clog after a few months but they're pretty easy to clean. I just put it in 50/50 water/bleach solution and run it for a few minutes or until it's clean. Then I'd run it for a few minutes in dechlorinated water. I double dosed the dechlorinator for extra catotin.

Great! Thanks. I mainly want it for night time as well. But I would probably keep it on all day long as I don't dose co2 anyway.

Airstone causes so much noise and splash. Diffusers seems to have much smaller bubbles and seems to cause much less noise, but probably a less surface agitation I assume. I'm happy to hear that.

Do you think Tetra APS 50 would be enough to make it work? What have you been using yours with?

 

On 2/22/2023 at 11:43 PM, Theplatymaster said:

so the tetra 50 is an air pump?

yea Tetra APS 50

[knee]

On 2/22/2023 at 12:50 PM, Lennie said:

Do you think Tetra APS 50 would be enough to make it work? What have you been using yours with?

 

If they made one specific for air pumps then I'm assuming that it will not require as much pressure as the co2 diffuser. I had to use a stronger airpump because they didn't have the one meant as an air diffuser back then. I already forgot what airpump I used but I'm certain that I bought it from petco.

[Lennie]

Update: Air diffuser is nice but requires too often cleaning for my liking. I ended up not using the two I got after some time due to clogging and having some green spot algae growth all over it. 

 

Air stone bubble sound annoys me more than sponge filter sound personally, so I added a small sponge filter instead once the air diffuser is removed

Edited August 27, 2023 by Lennie

[JChristophersAdventures]

@Lennie Hi... just thought I would add something, although I can't call it experience... I have research this question myself, as I plan to use diffusers instead of airstones in my tanks (the 75g and 2 20g). Most manufacturers of these recommend 8 watts and up. Some will work on less, but the result will be more like an airstone. Of course, the same things apply to both... it depends on the # of independent ports, the depth of the tank(s) and the # of diffusers and/or stones you are running.

As for them getting clogged, I plan to mount mine on the sides and back of the glass, so mulm and other debris don't settle on them as readily. The only other issue is algae build up. Its actually the more expensive diffusers ($20 ea and up) that seem to get the knock for this, as they are ceramic and white... making them less porous and the algae really shows up on them and looks terrible. 

I would try something a lot cheaper just to see how it works for you. Hope that helps. Thanks.

[Lennie]

On 8/28/2023 at 1:20 AM, JChristophersAdventures said:

@Lennie Hi... just thought I would add something, although I can't call it experience... I have research this question myself, as I plan to use diffusers instead of airstones in my tanks (the 75g and 2 20g). Most manufacturers of these recommend 8 watts and up. Some will work on less, but the result will be more like an airstone. Of course, the same things apply to both... it depends on the # of independent ports, the depth of the tank(s) and the # of diffusers and/or stones you are running.

As for them getting clogged, I plan to mount mine on the sides and back of the glass, so mulm and other debris don't settle on them as readily. The only other issue is algae build up. Its actually the more expensive diffusers ($20 ea and up) that seem to get the knock for this, as they are ceramic and white... making them less porous and the algae really shows up on them and looks terrible. 

I would try something a lot cheaper just to see how it works for you. Hope that helps. Thanks.

Ive successfully used mine with Tetra aps 50s. Its 2.5 W. 

The thing is these air stone replacement air diffusers are not sold as co2 diffusers. It directly says "air diffuser". I dont think you will need 8W and above specifically. My neo air diffusers just worked fine and as they should.

http://www.aquario.co.kr/neoDiffuser/indexAir.php?

But they dont create much surface agitation and only give bubbles to a specific location. So I was directing the bubbles to the current. Im not sure how useful would it be sitting in a corner all alone. I have no oxygen test to see if it add much to the oxygen content this way.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Lennie

[TOtrees]

I have to go back to basics here... why do you think DO is low, or needs boosting? My point is that you might already have plenty of DO, and you're putting effort in where none is required. Are you seeing signs that warrant alarm? 

Also, what about a circulation pump in the tank? If it's set up in a way that it moves water horizontally just at the surface, the movement, ripples and agitation will be ideal for gas exchange, without the airstone bubble issues. 

[JChristophersAdventures]

@Lennie If I was mistaken, then sorry about that, but I gathered from your initial post that you were not necessarily wanting higher flow, but simply to make sure you had adequate air (dissolved oxygen, specifically) in the set-up. I didn't get a sense that anything was wrong, only that you were looking to make things better?

I don't have any way of knowing exactly what level of power you will need in your specific situation, only what the manufacturers say (and, yes they probably want to sell more/bigger air pumps, so we need to take their recommends with a bit of skepticism). I should also have explained that I plan to mount my diffusers near the outflow streams of a couple of HOB filters to disperse the air better. @TOtrees is right on target reminding us of the need for surface agitation and gas exchange, and you are right that it wouldn't do much good in a corner, unless you simply wanted to see bubbles there for aesthetics.

There are DO tests that are pretty cheap and easy to use, if that is a concern (or if you are just curious to know... I might be getting such a kit, just for the fun of knowing). You might consider getting a single diffuser first and testing it with your existing pump and see who that goes. Then, you might have a better idea as to whether or not you need a bigger air pump, and how much bigger... 2X, 4X... depending on how much bubbling seems good to you. If you do decide to get another air pump, the you might want to consider the various models that allow you to dial up/down the air flow similarly to adjustable flow on many filter systems.

After seeking out opinions, looking at cost versus features, I settled on getting a pump that does that... it can dial up/down all the way from 4W up to 18W. So in the future, I can power more stones/diffusers/filters in more tanks as needed without getting another/more pumps. It is also rechargeable, so its completely portable, too. Hope that helps.

Edited August 28, 2023 by JChristophersAdventures

[Lennie]

On 8/28/2023 at 3:23 PM, TOtrees said:

I have to go back to basics here... why do you think DO is low, or needs boosting? My point is that you might already have plenty of DO, and you're putting effort in where none is required. Are you seeing signs that warrant alarm? 

Also, what about a circulation pump in the tank? If it's set up in a way that it moves water horizontally just at the surface, the movement, ripples and agitation will be ideal for gas exchange, without the airstone bubble issues. 

My tanks reach quite high temps during summertime sometimes. I also plant my tanks heavily (which consume oxygen during nighttime) and I love to use kinda dense layer of frogbit in one of those two tanks.  My tanks are usually slightly overstocked too. So yea, I would love to support the oxygen content just in case. Not to mention I keep some species like borneo suckers that enjoy higher oxygen content