Is it a good idea to aerate the sump

[john ng]

hi, have some time on my hands and the sump is due for a major cleaning, was wondering if it would be a good idea to place those flat airstones below the media in my sump to aerate the sump.

my thoughts are, it should circulate the water more evenly through the media thus improve filtration (my theory, i could be wrong). would that be a good thing? since my airpump is far too powerful for just one tank.

any thoughts?

[Hydher]

yes you may do that but you have to monitor that it does not lead to water forming due to the splashes on places you dont wait to eg inside of a cabinet.

Improve aeration is always a good thing for bacterial activity that tackles ammonia and nitrite but not nitrate.

Just take note of the evaporation rate as well.

[bian27]

I have it in every compartment of my sump tank.

[burntrubber]

Good to have in case of mosquitoes breeding.

[sirwin81]

Hi. A quick question. Will the additional aeration in sump really prevent mosquito from breeding? i m having mosquito infestation at home. damm headache

[marshy]

Originally Posted by sirwin81

Hi. A quick question. Will the additional aeration in sump really prevent mosquito from breeding? i m having mosquito infestation at home. damm headache

Whole idea to prevent mosquito breeding is to prevent stagnant water.
If your sump water movement on the surface is not stagnant it should be fine.
Having the aeration helps to prevent stagnant water surface and also provides O2 to the BB during WC. This point is more so for those with huge tanks and take longer time to do huge WC.

[tco]

I place air stone at the gap of each filter compartment,
one thing to note, dun place it under the sump compartment if there's a jap mat on top of the air stone (or along the path where air bubble flow to the top), the air bubble will slowly form a layer of air below the jap matt, this willl restrict the water flow and cause overflow. the same apply if the media is very densely packed.

[patclay]

Originally Posted by tco

I place air stone at the gap of each filter compartment,
one thing to note, dun place it under the sump compartment if there's a jap mat on top of the air stone (or along the path where air bubble flow to the top), the air bubble will slowly form a layer of air below the jap matt, this willl restrict the water flow and cause overflow. the same apply if the media is very densely packed.

Good to know that.

[john ng]

thanks TCO, that was a fear of mine too..

[kepala sakit]

Originally Posted by tco

I place air stone at the gap of each filter compartment,
one thing to note, dun place it under the sump compartment if there's a jap mat on top of the air stone (or along the path where air bubble flow to the top), the air bubble will slowly form a layer of air below the jap matt, this willl restrict the water flow and cause overflow. the same apply if the media is very densely packed.

Sure bo? Put the air strip @ the blind spot, air will lift water upward de wor, latterly will cause a vacuum effect on it way, thus, when bubbling there'll be water movement from bottom up no matter how dense the media. K1 by bubbling is propelling the water movement is 1 typical example wor...