Which Air Pump is Best Suited for your Fish Bowl

Fish require oxygen as much as they require clean and healthy surroundings, and installing any air pump your tank is not enough. You need to select the right kind of air pump for your aquarium, as the wrong pump can cause a whole range of problems. Now that we have your attention, let’s talk about certain features your ideal air pump must possess.

• It should turn over the water in the tank at least 3-4 times in an hour, so check for the pump rate.

• The head pressure should equal the distance between the pump inlet and the discharge, plus an extra foot for every 90 degree bend as
well as for every 10 feet of horizontal pipe. The head pressure of the pump should match your own calculations.

Apart from this, the most common use of air pumps is to pump water over some filtration system, be it a sponge filter or even a corner filter. Also, they are, quite often, used for decorative purposes too, with air pumps blowing bubbles through a variety of devices that range from treasure chests to deep sea divers, all placed inside the tank. Air pumps are never placed inside the tank; in fact because they are kept outside the tank, they are more powerful than fully submerged pumps.

In case you want to power your protein skimmer or your under-gravel filter with your air pump, opt for more power, but if instead you are only looking for bubble through an air stone, you can go for a relatively lesser powered air pump. Another feature of air pumps is that they can get really noisy, mainly due to their external fittings. So listen to the pump at the store before you purchase it, to avoid problems later.

Of the many different types of air pumps, the most popular are the aquarium ornament variety. These come in a number of styles, and are connected to the air pump by a tube through which the pump pushes in air. The air comes out in the form of bubbles from the ornament. The biggest advantage of this form of air pump is that they make your aquarium more personable and pleasurable to watch. But they lack power and are, hence, quite ornamental.

Another type of air pump is the air stones variety, which are simple lightweight stones, containing holes through which the air pump pushes out bubbles. Quiet similar to ornaments, air stones do not come in as wide a variety of shapes and styles. But they do come in different colors and are basically aimed at aerating the water.

Now generally, air pumps, of the air stones and aquarium ornaments variety, are not very effective in large tanks, unless you decide to build bubble walls. Even then the entire tank will not get aerated and this can lead to the growth of algae and other harmful organisms.
So before deciding on a particular air pump type, ensure that the entire tank is aerated and that the features mentioned above are accurately met. You can even add aquarium ornaments into the tank, apart from your regular aquarium air pump; this will keep the tank clean and easy on the eyes.