What type of air stone?

[dad of axle]

Hello I have an axie that likes to play in the water bubbles from the filter and I am only just learning my way through this wonderful world of axolotls and keeping them in a happy environment.

I have a sponge filter which is small and he has a habbit of plowing into it and knocking it on its side,

I have a turkey baster for cleaning up mess

I have just bought pennywort which is floating as I have a glass bottom tank because my axie is a juvenile still - though I am preparing to get some sand next week as i think he is almost ready for sand

and I have recently bought a chiller.

I am now looking at an air stone

I didnt know what they were until I did a search using wiki.

Can someone tell me what would be a good type of air stone for a 3 ft tank, with play sand as a substrate and some pennywort and a small sponge filter and soon to be Hailea Chiller ( when it arrives from ebay)

thanks in anticipation.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Any air stone will work. If the one you buy causes too much water movement then you can always by an adjustable air valve that splices into the air hose. This device will allow to to control the amount of air that leaves the stone.

 

[SirKristoff]

I would recommend a bubble bar over an air stone though, I just switched out because the little thing was so turbulent, i don't have an adjustable air pump though...

 

[Greatwtehunter]

The valves I'm refering to look like this and hook into the airline itself. At least this way you don't have to go out and buy a new air pump. With these you'll also be able to utilize more powerful pumps if need be. As you can see, they are dirt cheap but I absolutely love these little gadgets.

 

[dad of axle]

thanks guys,
Do I need a separate pump or do I attach it to the filter or chiller? I was surprised at how cheap they are compared to the cost of a chiller.:happy:

 

[dad of axle]

I bought a air bar this week and placed it in Axle's tank today. He seems to like it. This is despite the fact taht the air bar isnt producing lots of bubbles, I don't know if it takes a while for the air to work through the stone or wether I have put the check valve in back to front. I will adjust it tomorrow if the bubbles still are limited. But he likes it even with a few bubbles

 

[lollypop]

Might be that the air pump isn't strong enough. Apart from that I haven't the foggiest as the long stones never worked that well for me

 

[dad of axle]

I had the check valve inserted the wrong way around. Now the air bubbles are quite strong,I will take the advice and get a valve control to adjust the air flow. The pump is designed for this tank size but I have a glass bottom tank at the moment and the stone is vibrating on the bottom of the tank, so time for some play sand too.

 

[SirKristoff]

if the horizontal bar is too turbulent, you can always adjust the bar vertically, it cuts the water movement down significantly, at least in my 20 gallon tank it does... i preferred it to be horizontal however it was causing too much movement, and my axies liked to try and wedge themselves between it and the side of the tank haha..

 

[dad of axle]

Thanks SirKristoff, I bought two air way control valves too today they cost less than $2.00 AUD and seem to give good airflow control. Axle is adjusting to the bubbles he has been having fun in them for the last few hours. So I dont think I need to worry about him being too stressed by the current, I have kept the bar horizontal so that the bubbles go to the surface.

I also bought a Master Test Kit at long last.

I havent tested the water before now and he has been in this tank set up for the last four months so I will see what results I get from the kit.