Thinking about Adding Air Tubing

[MatthewLaw]

Greetings All- I am considering adding air tubing through my substrate (where else?) on my 60g tank. I am using a BioWheel 350 and the tank is no where near capacity but better to have too much air than not enough.

How difficult is this installation process since the tank is established? Besides the tubing, what else do I need?

Thanks for the help! -Matt

[Punkrulz]

Just wondering if I'm on the right path of your thought...

You're adding air tubing. But you're not connecting any devices, bubble wands, decorations, etc correct?

Are you just running lines under your substrate for future use?

Or will you be using the tubing as sort of a "home made" bubble wand, pushing air through the holes?

What kind of substrate do you have? How thick / high is it?

What is the material of the bottom of the tank, glass?

Do you have any live plants in your tank?

If I'm right about what you're trying to do, I don't see it as being that difficult. Anchoring the tubing may pose an issue, however hopefully your substrate will be heavy enough over top of it to keep it down. I think you may be able to utilize a "system" of tubing, by using those suction cup things that the tubing will clip to, and attempt to secure them on the bottom like a rail system. I don't see that as being a problem.

Would be interested in seeing pics after this is done.

[MatthewLaw]

Actually I am planning on connecting a decoration, this fat aquarium hippo, to the air tubing. That is originally why i considered this project.

Half the tank is gravel, the other half is sand.....literally . their depth is about 1".

the tank is acrylic.

No live plants in the tank. I have a few pieces of dead coral and rocks in there. I guess those could weigh the tubing down although it may weigh it down so much that it compresses it.

i like your suction cup idea.

for setup, what else do I need besides the tubing? i assume at least some sort of air pump?

thanks for all your help!

[Kissyboots]

This is what I got:

-Whisper 60 Aquarium Air Pump
-18 in. flexible bubble wand
-Air stone Quad Pack
-25 ft. of clear tubing

I made the mistake of buying the tubing at a chain store...waaaay over priced. You can get all this stuff from Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Supplies at AquariumGuys.com pretty cheap.

I have gravel in my tank and have had some issues with keeping the tubing underneath, but as long as you bury it right, it usually stays down. You can see the setups in my threads about my tanks. Good luck.

[Punkrulz]

I would try to make sure you measure out what you need. I believe additional slack in the tank is going to cause issues with the placement of tubing. Also, there is one kind of tubing that I want to get but haven't yet... it's silicone tubing, I believe. You'll find it next to the clear tubing, however this stuff is darker blue (harder to see), and more flexible. It will make it easy to position where you want and work with, and still will be able to use the suction cups.

I also have a larger air pump than I need. Whisper went to ratings now, they used to have pumps for every 10g tanks... now it's like 10-20, and 30-60. I have the 30-60 one that I spent $20 for. It has 2 outlets. Make sure you purchase some of the things, they're like little T valves... they're tiny and blue, and there is a plastic piece you can screw in and out to adjust the air pressure. My pump by itself is too much for my 12" bubble wand and my decoration, so I threw one of those control valves on each line to get the pressure exactly how I want it.

Your best success will be trying to measure out what length of hose you need though... Good luck!

I asked about plants because if burying you may have issues with roots, but you should be fine. No slack = No line to come above your substrate.

[Fishmonger70]

I have my airline tubing burried under my gravel. I simply moved away a section of gravel where I wanted to run the tubing and got as close to the bottom as I could and when I had my decoration in place I just pushed the gravel back on top of the tubing. My gravel bed is about an inch deep so it stays put without any issues.

[MatthewLaw]

Thanks a lot for all your responses.

Although this may sound stupid you measure the length of the tank and height twice (since the tube needs to come out and down)? Do you usually keep the pump on the floor/inside the aquarium stand?

My hippo decoration will be the 'air stone', so I just need the tubing, pump, and valve?

I think I will do a little rearranging and put the hippo on the gravel side since it appears that the gravel may do a better job of keeping the tube submerged than the sand.

Any advice/comments? Thanks for all your help!!

[brian1973]

I would think burying under the sand would be a PITA and make the water cloudy..but I have never used sand. I keep my pump where it makes the least amount of noise..lol..usually on he carpeted floor or on an old mouse pad in the stand.

FYI the bubbles dont really do much to oxygenate, it's the disturbance of water at the surface that actually provides areation. So bubble wands and decor are more for aesthetics then anything else.

[Punkrulz]

It's a matter of personal preference on where you keep your air pump. Initially when I started (this was my old apartment about 2 years ago), I had setup utility shelves above the tank and kept it there. Presently where my tank sits in my new apartment, the shelves aren't there so I actually used an old yearbook as a balancing beam, and wound up placing the pump on top of the light.

The tank is going to be moved when I eventually setup my 29g, and I already setup utility shelves above where the tank will go so I'm already going to go back to that method. Doesn't really matter where you keep it as long as you like it and it's quiet.

[Kissyboots]

I have my pump sitting basically directly under my tanks (under the tables they are on.) But I noticed that when the pump was not turned out (at night because I can't sleep with it on) the water would start flowing up the tube and down towards the pump!!! Not good! So I stuck the tubes on something that was higher above the water level so the water couldn't rise past that, which it hasn't since then. I also added a valve type thing to one of the tubes that keeps the water from backing up. Definitely think about that before you cut the length of your tube because you're going to need some extra length to get that to work.

Btw, it's similar to that experiment (that everyone's done at some point ) where you lay a string from a full glass to an empty glass. Then it syphons out the water from the full glass until both glasses have equal amounts of water in it.

Or, if you use a python (just the tube) the water obviously flows down into the bucket. That's exactly what's happening here...so beware!