Loaches Online Forum

please chime in. I am about to do hillstream loaches for the first time and ofcourse I appreciate their need for o2 rich water based on their evolution...etc. I see many people building river manifolds and blowing a bunch of air bubbles. but what if a person dislike bubbles ( me) and they instead of blowing them all over their aquarium had a 55 gal trickle filter on a 85 gallon long , kept the water temp below 72 and had a river manifold for lite current (aprox 600 gal per hour) directed on large flat river rock for them to stick to, and graze on. do you think the wet-dry filter which is filtering about 650 gallons an hour would provide for as much gas exchange as needed...or is thier more to the bubbles?

good enough? or do you think I need more flow in the "river"
and how hardy are the sewellia lineolata compared to others?

how about blowing air with a little fan (computer cooler) against the flowing direction of the water (from the surface)? Cools the water too, but enchances evaporation though.

My experience is that you do not need bubbles in order to get plenty of oxygen into the water. It is most likely more important to have the surface of your water rippling a bit. I have no bubbles in my tanks and the oxygen test kit that I have always says that my water is at maximum oxygen saturation for the given temperatures. I do have all of my filter returns rippling the surface in order to have good air exchange.

thanks for the info! giving me confidence my plans will work.