These are a classic staple of the aquarium hobby, are they always needed? No but, eventually it can be nice to have one around. They can help provide filtration in the form of air powered filtration, decorative or just simply decoration. We all remember the early trips to aquarium stores in which we saw many of those bubbling ornaments.

What do I need?

• Air pump: Pumps the air in, simple 🙂
• Airline: This is the right sized tubing to attach to the air pump.
• No return valve: This prevents the water siphoning or back flowing cutting out the airpump or flooding the floor. Water and electricity don’t mix and this is therefore a must.. Cut the airline at some point and attach the two sides to either side. If no air is coming through reverse the direction of the no return valve.

What do I need for the job?

• Filtration: A filtration unit that can be attached to an airpump with airline.
• Circulation: An airstone of some shape, whichever you prefer and attach using the airline.
• Ornaments: Simply that ornament on the end of the airline attached at the little white inlet.

LPH (litres of air per an hour) on the side of the air pump box is definitely worth taking note as that will give an idea of the flow rate, this is also contributed by the length of the airline between the pump and where it ends.

Air pumps can be loud, do not cover or wrap in anything as this could allow them to overheat and break or worse. Instead placing them on polystyrene might help.