If you ever have to put a bubble maker in...

your aquarium, be careful. Our power was off from like 3 a.m. to 12 p.m. so I put in a battery powered bubble maker. When the power turned on, I went to my aquarium to take it out and turn everything back on. I noticed some water droplets down the side of my aquarium. I opened the hood and my lights and everything inside is soaking/dripping wet. Next time, I will leave the hood open so that the evaporation of water doesn't collect on the hood. Thank God for drip loops in my wires.

 

Those air stones/pumps send up some teeny tiny droplets of water. It's more annoying than anything. I taped a rag over the top of our aquarium when we used one to help contain the water. It helped. We also have an open top hoodless aquarium so that probably helped out alot, with lights that have a splash guard.

I still think air stones are annoying. ESPECIALLY the battery powered ones. They are so loud compared to wall plug ins.

Thank god nothing bad happened from that!

 

I have the original glass covers that came with the tank and when I need to us an air stone in the tank, I have put one cover over the area where the bubbles are surfacing. This cut down greatly on the salt creep and build up on the lights.

 

I personally do not like bubble walls in saltwater tanks. The bubbles are too big to dissolve in the water to make it useable for the tank inhabitants. The micro splashes they create when they break at the water surface causes much salt creep, which can excrust on lights and cause a whole heep of corrosion problems there. Not keeping an eye on your tank's SG can lead to SG inbalance too; since the salt is no longer in the tank, when you replace with fresh topoff, you can end up with hyposalinity tank water. If you keep your SG stable and a chunk of teh salt creep falls back in the water, you can end up with a hypersalinty case, which is what happened to my friend. The salt actually landed on the face of his BTA and caused it to die. Needless to say, he got rid of his bubble wall after that. Just one experience though, take it for what it's worth anyway.

 

Remember, this is only to oxygenate the water during a power outage. Not a 24/7 pretty bubble thing, right?

 

Yes, that is the only way they should be employed is during power outages and a efficient way of replenishing dissolved oxygen lost through respiration and other processes.

 

If I may, I use a quick, simple "bubble trap" for my very small tanks as well as for use on the display tank's battery powered air pump during power outages.

An AirStone Bubble Trap

Chuck

 

Wow that's a good idea! It sure beats my rag taped to the tank to block all the nastiness those air stones create. A detachable one could easily be fabricated for a tank.

I stick an airstone in my sump as well on power outages. It just gives more peace of mind than anything, plus we have three of the battery powered guys so why not.