# Is there such a thing as giving too much air to fish?



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

I'm guessing as long as the fish are not being air lifted out of the tank they'll get high on the oxygen. 

I have a Hagen Maxima 2 x 3500cc outlets (checked and it says 3500cc which I originally thought was 2500cc) so it's pushing 6 PSI/hr and looking to put that into a 20gal tank for a project. Nothing is in the tank right now but in a 5gal bucket with 4 x air stones I got one heck of a nice fine fizzing bubbles but just curious if there is such a thing as giving too much air to the fish.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

With your setup, I don't think it is possible.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Don't forget that air pumps don't introduce air/oxygen into the water. This is a common misconception. 

The bubbles that the airpump makes serve to break the surface of the water, thus creating more surface area between the atmosphere/water for gas exchange to occur.


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## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

so how can you get air ? if not with an airstone???

some air must get mixed into the water


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## overleaf (Feb 1, 2009)

blossom112 said:


> so how can you get air ? if not with an airstone???
> 
> some air must get mixed into the water


The gas exchange happens at the surface of the water. The airstone's job is to agitate the surface and facilitate the exchange, it doesn't oxygenate the water directly (at least not significantly enough to talk about).


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

Well, to add on a little. The bubbles do provide to some degree the dessolvation of O2 amongst other gases into the water before it reaches the surface and provide surface aggitation. Just like how plants released O2 into the water and because of the small amount of each release, the O2 is immediately dissolved. 

As the bubble travels up the water, the surface area of the sphere also allows for gas exchange. Another equivalent you can look at it is in pressurized CO2 tanks. As the CO2 bubble travels up the ladder, the bubble's surface allows for the CO2 to be dissolved into the water, hense the bubble gets smaller and smaller as it travels upwards.

but yes, as Overleaf said, it is small compared to the gas exchange that is happening at the surface.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Yes it does. An air stone does increase the amount of dissove oxygen in your tank. Doesn't matter how the process works, the end result is. If you put an air stone in a fish tank, it does increase the amount of DO (dissove Oxygen) in your fish tank.

I've never heard of a fish tank that has too much DO. But just don't over do it. If your tank is like a jacozzi, then yes I would say that would be an issue for a fish.

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## Calmer (Mar 9, 2008)

Exactly, the air does dissolve into the water but it is an insignificant amount unless the air stays in the water and better if it has water current passing over it. My co2 reactor dissolves the co2 so efficiently that the ph drops from tapwater of 7.6 to 6.6. 
I have a powerhead in my bristle nosed pleco aquarium and the air travels down a tube into the powerhead's ventura and it mists the tank with air. The tube it just at the water's surface and it takes in water and air. The plecos just love it. Here is an article that I ran across yesterday about plecos and dissolved oxygen.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanes...e=A+catfish+keepers+guide+to+dissolved+oxygen
I am not sure about plants taking a lot of oxygen during the night. With the co2 on full with a crowded tank then yes. Plants do take a bit of O2 at night but not much.


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## overleaf (Feb 1, 2009)

Zebrapl3co said:


> Yes it does. An air stone does increase the amount of dissove oxygen in your tank. Doesn't matter how the process works, the end result is.


The process is the difference between 'directly' and 'indirectly'. The oxygenation is a side effect of the surface agitation. The amount of oxygenation that occurs because the bubble is moving through the water is nearly negligible.

This is a good read: http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/airstone.html


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

As another side note, the amount of dissolved oxygen cannot be higher than concentration of atmospheric oxygen unless you are actually injecting (pure) oxygen into the tank.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Zebrapl3co said:


> I've never heard of a fish tank that has too much DO. But just don't over do it. If your tank is like a jacozzi, then yes I would say that would be an issue for a fish.


Seen it and done it LOL the fish were in love with it as well but they were clown loaches 

Most fish will get tired and stressed if there is too much water movement.


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