[saddison]

When I got my first actual tank (my first fish were from some store that shipped out square boxes with 3 tetras in it...) was a litle 1.5 gallon. It had an air pump and no filter. When I got my 10 gallon, I had a filter but no air pump, same as now with my 30 gallon.
I am getting a bigger tank, 75 gallon, and was wondering.. should I ad an air pump to get extra oxygen into the water?
I was thinking about using real plants in my new aquarium.. but feel that I need to learn more about plants before I start with them. So If I am using an air pump.. would it be beneficial to my fish?
Thank you...

 

[Dmaaaaax]

In a planted tank an airpump tends to be bad. It gases off the CO2. It's not needed anyways. In a planted tank, plants give off oxygen during the day. I would just recommend getting a good filter that is big enough for your tank. If you have a 75g tank, I would recommend a filter rated for a 90-120g tank....or more. Most filters rated for a tank size show a gallons per hour rating that is the max flow for that filter when it is completely clean and empty. So if you don't want to have to constantly clean it, take my advise and get the next bigger size. An alternative would be to get 2 good smaller filters and clean them on alternate weeks.

When you go to set it up you want a small ripple at the top so that there is water flow all around your tank. As long as you have this you will get enough oxygen exchange with the surface and no slim build up. Good luck.

 

[Stellaluna]

I once kept a 5 gallon tank completely devoid of any filtration other than plants. It was heavily planted and lightly stocked with Endler's. The plants provided the oxygen for the fish, and the fish provided the nutrients for the plants. It worked out great and sat there for years. I did small frequent water changes.

As Dmaaaaax suggested, filtration and plants will provide all of the oxygen you need. Bubbles from air stones, etc. are attractive to humans, but don't do much for the fish. The oxygen in the actual bubble mostly discharges into the air when it reaches the surface. If you really want oxygen in your tank (a trick I use if there is a problem with the fish or something caused the tank to go through a cycle) then lower the water level and allow filter return water to splash heavily on the surface. That oxygenates things extremely well - the fish perk right up. Under normal circumstances if your filter is adequately moving water for your size tank, you don't need anything else.

Why is it that I am incapable of keeping things short and sweet? I just cannot shut up!

 

[saddison]

Well, like I said before, i don't think I can do a completely planted aquarium due to my lack of knowledge. I will probably go with mainly plstic plants (they are on sale right now at my LFS).. and only a few real plants..
but thanks for your input

 

[Stellaluna]

You can certainly do plants! There is no special knowledge required. There are many plants out there that you just stick in the tank and let them do their thing. Easy. All you need is fluorescent lighting that is on for at least 8 hours a day.

Get yourself some very readily available Java fern, and tie it or rubber band it to something in the tank, like a rock or piece of wood. Then do nothing else. It will grow, trust me. Even without any fertilizer or anything. Also Anubias species, any one of them, are handled the same way as the Java fern. Tie it to something and it will grow if you give it light, and both of these plants even do well in very low light tanks.

And, the best part is that the worst case scenario is that the $2 plant dies. Oh well, win some, lose some, but no biggie. It is worth it, and these two plants could not be easier - no different than a plastic plant and better looking! Your fish will like it, too. I am certain that plants in an aquarium are immensely beneficial to the fish.

However, even if you don't have any plants at all, as long as you have filtration you don't need any extra oxygenation, which I guess was your original question, lol.