The Puffer Forum

This maybe a dumb? But.using the bubble option on a power head for a saltwater tank good or bad? I have a 240 gallon...8 feet by 2 by 2.....there are no covers on the two giant access points on the top....would my fish benefit from adding bubbles?

not sure about the fish.. but to you really want the salt spray / creep that goes along with it?

Bubbles are not necessary for oxygenation in properly stocked and filtered tanks. Current is absolutely required beyond really, really low stocking levels.

I never use bubblers of any sort other than in small fry tanks, and even then never in salt water.

RTR wrote:Bubbles are not necessary for oxygenation in properly stocked and filtered tanks. Current is absolutely required beyond really, really low stocking levels.

I never use bubblers of any sort other than in small fry tanks, and even then never in salt water.

Thanks for the info....just curious...

Would a puffer play with the bubbles? I was thinking of things to put in the tank to keep him from getting bored, and they have a bubbler in the tank at the LFS that I am going to get mine from. I wasn't sure, but I thought I would ask....

Yes, most love playing in bubbles.

I wonder why they like it? Do you think perhaps it's because it tickles them?

Yes, many fish seen to enjoy playing in bubble streams, definitely including puffers. Anything that promotes activity cannot be all bad, but I do hate salt spray and mineral creep. I do try hard to provide multiple different current areas to compensate for not using bubblers.

Pufferpunk wrote:Yes, most love playing in bubbles.

That's.why.I.asked....sometimes I turn on the bubble option and they all dig it...I.don't get much.salt creep....evaporation more so....but they seem to like it....didn't know.if it was.bad

My big boy loves bubbles. He just cant be gentle with the bubble block it gets battered

RTR wrote:Yes, many fish seen to enjoy playing in bubble streams, definitely including puffers. Anything that promotes activity cannot be all bad, but I do hate salt spray and mineral creep. I do try hard to provide multiple different current areas to compensate for not using bubblers.

Is the creep going to be bad in BW? I have 0 experience with either of those two. Always been FW for me. That is why I am digging this whole puffer thing. I have never been on ANY type of forum before-- (so pardon my lack of knowledge of forum etiquette if I display anything. Not trying to be a troll, I just don't know any better as of yet) and here I am, on this awesome forum, meeting tons of great people with great advice, and learning tons! It's SO much better than what I had planned on. Thus far, making the decision to rehome the fish that came with the 20 gal (gourami, bala and an upside down catfish) has been a great one.

Yeah, the creep still sucks even in light brackish. I have only one airstone in my F8 tank, and I have a glass versa-top and have to scrape it and wipe it down every week during the water change. I'm willing to do it because I don't have a monster-sized tank, but on your 240 gallon? No way -- the puffer(s) would have to find something else to play with besides bubbles!

240 gal? I only have a 20 lol. I wish I could have something that big, but heck, that would be as big as my apartment LOL

I have replaced too many glass top every other year from bubble salt and glass etching. Don't forget that for about 20 years I ran dozens of BW F-8 tanks. They were set totally without bubbles and minimum splashing. That was the absolute end of bubbling in other than strictly FW, and that only in fry tanks and snail-only tanks.

I don't like the noise either, so bubbles exist only in the tank room, never in the living areas of the house.

The old and neurotic have their little quirks.

goldielocke76 wrote:240 gal? I only have a 20 lol. I wish I could have something that big, but heck, that would be as big as my apartment LOL

Heh. I was confusing you with the OP -- he/she has a monster 240 gallon.