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Increasing O2

721 views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  FiremanDan 
#1 ·
Ok, so I have a question regarding O2 levels in my lightly planted tank. I'll list my setup and get that out of the way first. I have a 36g bowfront that's been running for about a month and a half. I upgraded from a 20g tall. I have the Fluval, aqua clear, 50 from the 20 running currently alongside a Fluval 206 canister. The Fluval 50 was already mature so it made the most sense to run it for a bit until the 206 could build up the bacteria. My lighting is a 24" Fluval Fresh and Plant 2.0. As the tank is still lightly planted I'm am only using Flourish Excel in place of CO2. Plants include 5 large sword plants, 3 stems of jungle Val and about 10 dwarf sag plants.

My fish seem to be constantly be shooting to the surface and sitting there for a few minutes before returning to their respective levels. I have 6 tiger barbs, 2 Denisons barbs, 5 neon tetras and 4 glow tetras. I would like to avoid using an airstone strictly because I'm not fond of the bubbles. I was wondering if a powerhead might be appropriate to increase surface agitation and in turn O2 sats. I would like to remove my HOB filter and leave the canister to pick up the slack, but am now concearned that it will harm the fish due to even less O2.

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for your responses.

Cheers,
Dan
 
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#3 ·
I have the stock return head on my canister. It is pointed up as described and does produce a fair amount of agitation in that spot, but it appears to not be enough.

Side note: I should have added that the most recent test of my water showed

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10ppm
 
#4 ·
Do you have a top on the tank? If so, remove it and make a fitted screen top using clear netting material. You will get a LOT better gas exchange without the full hood.
 
#6 ·
Some - any circulation is good. But more so if you break the surface with it to create some decent agitation. Evacuating the stale air above the water with fresh air will do the most good, even without additional power heads.
 
#7 ·
My 2 cents. I have a 46 bowfront with a glass top. The spry bar is DIY one. I use the eheim 2213 canister but for spray bar I just use a long one that returns the water evenly along the tank. This spray bar is located just below the surface in a way that produce some agitation on the surface but no noise or bubbles.
Fishes never complaint :)
Then I bought two of this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00YYIHGXS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for even more agitation . But since I started using CO2 with such a surface agitation the levelsof CO2 never went to desire level. I just pointed them lower so the produce agitation but no so much.
Conclusion: make some surface agitation with or without top,with top you still will have a layer of air that is less oxigenated than without, but agitation will solve most of that at least in may case

Bump: The link posted above is for Two power head at around 14 dollars. they have been working fine so far.
 
#9 ·
My fish were swimming to the top at all random times. My Ph has been stable since the tank was started. I've since been able to solve the issue with a couple of power heads aimed up at the surface as suggested. Everyone seems happy as ever now. Thanks for the help!!
 
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