An airstone, also called an aquarium bubbler, is a piece of

aquarium furniture Aquarium furniture refers to the various ornaments and functional items in an aquarium. Ornamental aquarium furniture is often kitsch: popular examples include ceramic mermaids, 'sunken' ships and castles, and the ever-popular (but curiously misp ...

, traditionally a piece of

limewood ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...

or porous stone, whose purpose is to gradually diffuse air into the

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

, eliminating the noise and large bubbles of conventional air filtration systems, and providing other benefits to the health of the

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

. "Airstone" is also a brand name stone or brick veneer used by homebuilders. Airstones are sold in a very wide variety of shapes, sizes, and levels of coarseness – from extremely rough, producing larger (though still typically unnoticeable) bubbles and letting in more oxygen – to very fine, producing minuscule bubbles. Airstones are increasingly being made from bonded

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

beads and synthetic products like

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

. There is some controversy as to the efficiency of airstones versus the conventional powerhead system when used in uplift tubes as part of an under-gravel filter. Arguments can be made in favor of both systems, and both possess certain advantages and disadvantages. Among

aquarists Fishkeeping is a popular hobby, practiced by aquarists, concerned with keeping fish in a home aquarium or garden pond. There is also a piscicultural fishkeeping industry, serving as a branch of agriculture. Origins of fishkeeping Fish have ...

, the choice is very much a matter of personal preference, quite often discussed in

internet forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

Protein skimming

The original method of protein skimming, running pressurized air through a diffuser to produce large quantities of micro bubbles, remains a viable, effective, and economic choice, although newer technologies may require lower maintenance. The air stone is most often an oblong, partially hollowed block of wood, most often of the genus

Tilia ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain a ...

. The most popular wooden air-stones for skimmers are made from limewood (

Tilia europaea ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...

or European limewood) although basswood (

Tilia americana ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...

or American Linden), works as well, may be cheaper and is often more readily available. The wooden blocks are drilled, tapped, fitted with an air fitting, and connected by air tubing to one or more air pumps delivering at least 1 cubic foot per minute. The wooden air stone is placed at the bottom of a tall column of water. The tank water is pumped into the column, allowed to pass by the rising bubbles, and back into the tank. To get enough contact time with the bubble, these units can be many feet in height. Air stone protein skimmers may be constructed as a DIY project from PVC pipes and fittings at low cost

and with varying degrees of complexit

While this method has been around for many years, many regard it as inefficient for larger systems or systems with large bio-loads.

References

External links

Information on the airstone controversy
Airstone veneer:

Aquariums {{fishkeeping-stub

Protein skimming

See also

References

External links