Increasing an air stones effect? Will somebody confirm

toilofday

I use a hang on back 70 gph filter on my 55 gal. Under the lid there are 2 compartments. 1 where the power head sits under, then a divider with holes to let water into the bottom the the filter media.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with this.

I have a 10gal air pump, and I was thinking, since a limited amount of water can actually move through that small area at one time, if I put my stone in that small compartment I can hyper oxygenate the water right before it goes through the filter.

Am I right in thinking that this would greatly increase the efficiency of the air pump? It is oxygenating a far smaller quantity of water at 1 time, but it's in a flow, and heavily oxygenated.

Russell

I don't know about any increased effectiveness but, it will probably break your pumps prime. It sounds like you are describing an AquaClear filter and I am nearly certain that if you pump air into the lower compartment you will break the prime. If you pump air into the upper compartment you might not.

I wouldn't think that it would help much. Gaseous exchange is about more than contact its also about duration. You need time for the exchange to happen. I'm not certain but I would think that if would be better for the bubbles to travel all the way from the bottom up the 20 or so inches of the water column than the 1-2 inches of that compartment depending on the flow setting.

toilofday

makes sense, thanks

SinCrisis

switch to finer bubbles.. the finer the bubbles, the more gas is exchanged.