# airstone and sand substrate



## CiNcO dOsE (Jun 15, 2006)

hello everyone, i decided to change to sand. and i am facing a little problem with my setup right now. im putting an airstone under the sand and it doesnt seem to be a good idea. its pretty much stirring the sand in the area. but i dont want to put it above the substrate.

does anyone here have a solution?! help please.

thanks in advance,
5:12


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## BrianNFlint (Apr 1, 2007)

You said it.. you have to put the airstone above the sand if you want one. most people dont use air stones.


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

well if its under the sand it will be throwing it all over the tank, obviously, is there anyway u can try to hide the airstone behind some decor in the tank...

or mabey place it close to the sand and put a rock in front...

other than that if ur looking for water movement, if u have an empty hob filter laying around just let it run with no media... just an extra "waterfall".

or hydor makes a underwater fan (usually used for salt water but hey if it gets surface movement...), however the fans are kind of bulky and tougher to hide.

get some small stones and clear a spot in the sand and put the stones there concelaing the airstone under the substrate

good luck dude!


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## BurgerKing (Jul 1, 2008)

thats one of the reasons i dont use sand


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## Britnick (Apr 18, 2008)

There are air rings and pads which you could sit on the sand or just slightly sunk in, which may not show. Rena does a 110m â€œBubble Discâ€


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## mittzgame (Oct 3, 2006)

When I had a bubble wand wayyy back in the day I had it stuck under the surface of the sand (about an inch or so) and the bubbles forced their way out and the sand stayed in place. The bubbles formed their path of least resistance and the sand didn't seem to get pushed around, at the time I thought it looked pretty good. Maybe try a different style airstone/bubble wand?

:thumb:


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## Beals (May 12, 2008)

we use an air store and put it just under the sand and put two rocks on either ends of it. it holds it down so it doesnt float and it doesnt blow our sand around either after a while you can sorta see the top of the stone but only if your staring right at it.. we have not had a problem with it blowing the sand around


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## CiNcO dOsE (Jun 15, 2006)

thanks for the replies.

i tired putting the airstone at different depths. left it for some time. but every single spot does the same thing, blows the sand in its area. not that it blows it like a sand storm but you can see the grains floating all over.

what i did now is, i just buried the stone half way and covered it with some gravel, although i wasnt planning on putting any gravel in the tank. but i guess it'll do.

i might post a pic later and see what you guys think.


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## CiNcO dOsE (Jun 15, 2006)

just wanna post an update guys and girls.

so i decided to put the airstone on top of the sand and just covered it with gravel. and now my airstone seems to be sinking in the sand. since it still kinda blows the sand around (bubbles coming out of the bottom of the airstone). airstone sinks and digs around itself. i left it overnight just to see and this is the result. its really annoying.

so any more suggestions?! im not giving up on it yet. might try a few more moves and then perhaps later i might just scrap the idea. but i hope not.


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## CiNcO dOsE (Jun 15, 2006)

oops double post sorry.


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