Question: Air Stones

[GazerOfStars]

Air stones
My roommate recently got interested in aquatic life after he's seen me with my axies for a few weeks now, so he purchased an entire set-up on craigslist (he wants to get a puffer fish .) It came with a pump/Air stone, so I decided to try it out for a bit.

Previously I was having some trouble getting accurate Ammonia readings( the bound ammonia from the dechlorinator was showing up), but after having the air stone in there for awhile, I got what I believed to be an accurate reading. This got me excited to get one for my own tank. But I'm here to ask
1. Do you think I really need an Air stone?
2. Would it be safe for my axies? The air stone that my roomie has is a little bit longer then my index finger and pumps out quite a bit of bubbles per second(there was no knob to adjust this)
3. The side that I had the air stone on, my juvenile axolotl kept jumping into the stream of bubbles and eating a few as he went by. Fun to watch , but is this unhealthy for him?
4. I did a little research and i read something about gas diseases that aquatic pets can get if the water is too saturated with gases. Anything I should be worried about here?

Finally, any and all suggestions a size of air stone/ type of pump, etc would be greatly appreciated. Every time I attempt to change anything with my set-up I tend to stress a bit X) *Worried parent*

Thanks a bunch!

 

[iChris]

the general consensus on the forum is that axies like airstones and the bubbles they produce.

my lot are no different. they sit amongst the stream of bubbles for hours at a time and occasionally snap at them too, and as far as I know this causes no harm and is no different from your axies gulping air (most axies occasionally do this)

airstones are used to basically break up the stream of air into smaller bubbles (well duh you may say) but one bubble rising through the water pulls a small amount of water with it, so lots of tiny bubbles move even more water. this breaks the surface of the water and aids in oxygen exchange and as such the axies within the tank won't need to use their lungs as much and will rely more on their gills.

it also helps to lower the temperature of the water and to slowly circulate the water at the bottom of the tank and mix it with the water at the top and preventing "dead" spots in the tank where the water does not circulate.

I have kept my lot without a airstone before, but I prefer to use one for the above reasons.

as we all know axies don't appreciate fast moving water, so if the pump is too powerful you can get a clamp to restrict the flow of air from the pump to the stone. (I have had to do this) it's recommended that you "bleed" off excess air as restricting the flow of the pump outright can damage some models by wearing out the rubber diaphragm inside the unit and shortening the life of the pump.

as for your question about your animal possibly eating it, I think you should be fine as axies will only snap at something they think is edible. if you're concerned, you can try half burying the stone if you have a substrate or using some suckers to stick it down if you have a bare tank.

 

[GazerOfStars]

Thank you for your response

Do you think too many small bubbles would be a problem? Do more people have large bubble producing bubblers? Sorry, I've never owned one before, I don't know what Axolotls prefer.

Any my questions were about the Axie's eating the bubbles, not so much the airstone