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Stupid Newbie question.....I have a 27 Gallon Hexagon tank. I hooked up 3 airstones through a gange valve using the RENA AIR 400. Is 3 too many? The guy at the store said generally 2 is enough. Also I got carried away with decorations and the bottom looks very busy. Is that bad in any way. I thought fish like to hide and explore. I haven't gotten the fish yet, I will pick up some Cardinal tetras and X-ray catfish this week.

Hi and Welcome to FP!
There is a famous old saying... "Beauty is in the eye
of the beholder." In terms of your question, if you like
it then enjoy.
They don't make all those various colors of gravel,
suited deep sea divers, and flopping top pirates chests
for the heck of it. Some folks absolutely love them, and
others would not even think of putting something like that
in their tanks. It's entirely up to you.

As far as the air stones are concerned, you would probably
find that three, or even two, maybe even one, running full
tilt would be too much for the tank. Hexes are usually
rather narrow but tall, and an air stone running full bore
would set up some really strong currents. Now strong
currents are not all that bad... as long as the fish have
places in the tank where there is next to no current in
which they can rest. Very high currents would give them
a place to frolic in, but they also need a place out of the
current.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

A long stone the full width of the tank can look effective if it is placed close to the back of the tank. I have just purchased one it is black and weighted also can be cut to any length. I have placed it so that the bubbles come through the val, it is about 2ins from the back of the tank.
Most stones require replacing regually but there is an expensive one which gives off fine bubbles it is a ceramic stone. I have been using the same two 4ins stones for over 17 years now

The air stones also depends on the fish in the tank some like plenty of water movement some prefer a very slow air flow, also Co2 can not be used with much air flow at all.

Decorations yes as Frank stated it is up to you personaly I have never used them I prefer the natural look. Yet if you like them use them remember some can get very dirty and off colour and require a good cleaning regually. If you use them try to keep to a theme.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Thanks Frank. I am happy I found this site. Yeah I wasnt sure what decorations I wanted so I just picked up anything I liked at the moment, but when I put them in the tank, its like "does this this look right". I got natural gravel stones, don't like the colored ones. I got one of those authentic replica 17th century ships, a castle,
a bridge, a gremlin holding a bucket which will have air come out(it has built in tube that you can hook the pump to). A fake plant, glow in the dark Anemones, a rock wall and those mini turtles. I just hope it isn't overdoing it.

The only thing you have to be carefull about with those type of decorations is that they tend to be dirt magnets.

Not only onto the actual decoration iself but if it's a hollow one (like the ship) then underneath it aswell, when you gravel vac make sure u regularly get underneath the decorations.

The problem with decorations is; the more of them you have, the more you have to clean. Some are a lot harder to clean than others and you don't want to use anything that will harm your fish either.
I use to have a big rock formation with castle ruins on top, that the fish could swim under, around and into. It had an airstone so bubbles came up thought the tower. Boy was it a pain to clean, and it needed it often. I finally gave up on it and sent it to GoodWill. Now I only, have one or two small ones that match the gravel or backdrop. In one tank, I just have three small canning jars for the crowntail betta to hang out in (he loves them, and there are air pockets at the top), which are very easy to clean.
Basically, it is up to you and how much work you want to put into it and the kind of fish you have.

Pretty much agree with everything so far, just to hit a few points. more decorations = more cleaning (not always bad but keep it in mind). Adding air at all really isn't necessary. Bubbles don't add oxygen to the water, its the air exchange at the top as the bubbles burst. Any turbulence on top, such as your filter water splashing in will do the same. Not saying its bad, just not always necessary, so do as your decorations, add what you like to see. In my 29 gallon I have two airstones that I really like and yes they do require changing, but my ten doesn't have any at all. And the pump for the 29 is the smallest I could find.

the only problem with that many air stones is that u can increase the O2 levels in the water to dangerous levels . the problem with that is the fishs gills wont work properly and cause fish deaths . U shouldnt need that many stones unless they are the smaller ones such as 1" inch stones then u shouldd be fine . Unlike if u were to hook up 3 bubble walls to the sides of the tank u could run into some problems

the only reason im sayin the O2 part referring to the water is b.c the guy i order fish from has had bad experiences with fish and to many airstones . I personally havent had a bad Experience with them . i only use a 6inch bubble wall and it does the job.

FinSand, the science does not support the idea that O2 levels can be raised to dangerous levels. Water (any liquid) can dissolve an amount of any gas, including oxygen, up to a certain point, called the equilibrium point. The concept of the equilibrium point is this: if the liquid has an amount of gas dissolved in it that is less than the equilibrium point, more gas will dissolve in the liquid, and vice versa, if the liquid has more gas dissolved in than the equilibrium point, some gas will escape from the liquid. The system will always tend toward equilibrium.

The main thing is that the equilibrium point is a strong function of temperature. Strong meaning a change of a few degrees may change the equilibrium point a few percent.

It is known that when the oxygen level in water is above 105% of the equilibrium point, it can be too much and can kill fish. The problem is that the only way to get 105% dissolved O2 in water is to take some water that is 100% O2 dissolved and warm it very, very quickly. Warm liquid holds less gas.

As above, the system will always tend toward equilibrium, so as quickly as possible that 105% warmed water will be trying to give off that excess gas as quickly as possible. And, as noted by the other posters, the bubbles popping, and the filter return enables very rapid gas exchange.

Adding bubbles alone cannot add more oxygen to the water as the system would be going against equilibrium, that is going above 100$ equilibrium. Bubbles alone cannot accomplish that. There is no driving force for more oxygen to enter the water; the driving forces are balanced since the system is at equilibrium.

Basically, it is impossible for a home aquarium to have over 100% O2 dissolved in the water, there is too much mixing, and too rapid of gas exchange at the air-water interface for it to be possible.

The only possibility is that your friend may have been using an airstone that made very small bubbles and one may have gotten stuck in the fish's gill. (Before it became understood that the bubble rises so quickly that gas exchange between bubble and water is negligible, it was very much in fashion to try to create as small of bubbles as possible) But, the airstone cannot have increased the level of O2 above 100% equilibrium, which is perfectly safe.

Bignose your post makes it sound like airstones won't increase the level of O2 in a tank instead of that we can't increase the O2 levels high enough to harm the fish. If water always stayed at a set concentration we wouldn't be able to increase co2 levels by bubbling it into tanks. Now CO2 you can increase to the point it kills fish but with oxygen it's not possible because they handle the high oxygen content fine.

sham, you are misapplying the concept of equilibirum. By introducing extra CO2, you can put extra CO2 in your water, that is true. But, you know that it wants to leave the water via the inteface. Leaves, as in, the system wants to go back towards equilibrium. In order for CO2 to be effective, you have to balance the rate of putting CO2 into the water and the rate at which it leaves, setting up a dynamic equilbirium. But, turn off the source, and the CO2 will eventually go back to its static equilbrium.

It is possible to change these concentrations. CO2 injection is a good idea. If you had pure O2 injection, you could probably get high levels of O2. But, the system will always try to go back towards equilibrium, in this case, air and water. And, if you bubble air into the water (not pure O2, or pure CO2), all you can do is bring the system towards the air-water equilibrium.