# Air pump



## kkiloh (Jan 22, 2015)

Hi,

What sort of air pump would you guys recommend for a 60x30x24 135 uk gallon tank? I know I will need one with some power because of the depth of my tank. I am only using my fx6 but thinking I will need more to oxygenate my tank. Any suggestions? The quieter the better. Thanks.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

You do not need an air pump to oxygenate the tank. That is caused by water movement and gas exchange at the surface. Your filter will accomplish that.


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## kkiloh (Jan 22, 2015)

I also need it to provide surface movement as I seem to be getting a petrol looking coating on the surface of my tank.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

You can always adjust the filter output to agitate the water surface.

The oily slick you are seeing is often caused by the fish food that is fed and simply agitating the water surface usually breaks it up.


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## kkiloh (Jan 22, 2015)

Thanks I think it may be the NLS pellets Im feeding them. Although I only feed them once a day and they are all gone within seconds of touching the surface!


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## Handyjoe (Jan 11, 2015)

kkiloh said:


> I also need it to provide surface movement as I seem to be getting a petrol looking coating on the surface of my tank.


As our forum friends said, you don't need an air pump to oxygenate the water. Adjust the return of your FX6 to point upward toward the surface of the water to promote oxygen exchanges. Also, I use a Tom's Surface Skimmer, hooking it up to a HOB filter, in my case the AquaClear 50, and the surface is always clean with no slick at all. I am very please with it.
Joe.


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## firefighter5 (Nov 25, 2014)

kkiloh said:


> Hi,
> 
> What sort of air pump would you guys recommend for a 60x30x24 135 uk gallon tank? I know I will need one with some power because of the depth of my tank. I am only using my fx6 but thinking I will need more to oxygenate my tank. Any suggestions? The quieter the better. Thanks.


Are you having symptoms of low 02?
Are fish at the surface with a high resporitory rate?
Is your tank planted?
If so Do you use c02 injection?

I had fish at the top of my tank just recently.
I have a heavily planted tank with c02 and a high bio load.
I did not want to lower the water and have water splashing into the tank,I just cant take all the noise.
So I put in a air stone curtain.
It was night and day.Fish responded beautifully as soon as I started the pump and tank has been awesome since.
So I dont think there is a flat no you do not need a pump to put oxygen in your tank.If you search you will find that alot of people with planted tanks useairstones at night because the plants off gas too much c02 at night and dont produce enough oxygen at night to help the tank.Daytime is a diff story.
But really the question is why do you think they need more oxygen and go from there.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I use Eheim air diffusors which hook onto the output of your canister filter. Cheap and effective.

Here is what to look for in Scotland:

http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Aquarium- ... gQod9SIATw


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