Help with air pump and ornament!

[stamper27]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here to the forum and am after some help or advise with regards to an airpump I bought today. (aqua one stella 50)

We have a 1 ft fish tank with 2 little gold fish in it. The kids wanted to add a small airated ornament to the tank so I went and bought the pump and ornament today - and this is where my problem started! lol

I plugged it all in, and got it working but it created so many bubbles it was like turbulance and not at all nice to watch. It was stressing me to watch it, so I can only imagine how the fish would have felt!
Anyhow, I've since disconnected it until I can sort the problem out. Do you think it's just my ornament maybe? We just wanted one that lets a few bubbles out here and there for some interest and this little one I bought today definitely did not do that!
The pump doesnt have a speed controller on it so I can't adjust that! I'm thinking it might just be my choice of ornament but wanted to check with people who might know before I went and bought another.

Can anyone recommend a nice little ornament that will just release a few bubbles intermitantly?

Thanks for any help.

Karen

[joz]

Hi and welcome.

The easiest thing to do is go the the garden center and pick up some 4mm micro sprinkler fittings.
Buy a Tee piece and a tap.
Fit the Tee piece with a bit of extra hose and add the tap to the piece not going back into the tank.
Bleed of any excess air out side of the tank,this should let you control the bubbles.

Some would say just add a tap to your single line hosing then just turn it down,but its better for the pump if your not restricting the air flow to much.Thats why I would suggest adding a T and having two lines.

[cichlidboy]

just bend it and tie a rubber band loosely around it untill it slows down
i did it once

[cichlidboy]

then again, joz is right, but just my experience.

[joz]

then again, joz is right, but just my experience.


Well maybe.

I uwould have to do it that way when I had a massive air pump feeding lots of tanks.
It may not be so critical with a small pump,I'm really not that sure.
I'm just being cautious.
:)

[stamper27]

Hi again everyone! Thank you all so much for your wonderful suggestions! I went back to my big pet superstore this morning and bought a valve to control the flow and now it's working just beautifully and is very relaxing to watch! The fish are having a ball playing in the bubbles to thats nice to see!

cheers

Karen

[joz]

Excellent,I sometimes forget that those little taps are available from your local aquarium,doh!

[cichlidboy]

Excellent,I sometimes forget that those little taps are available from your local aquarium,doh!

hahahahaha