oxygen levels

[ddayton21]

i was reading a post on here that said an air stone is not necessarily needed to add o2 to a tank. my question is how can i check the o2 saturation of my water? i know they make test kits for laboratories but i would need something easy to use and easy to read since i'm no scientist. :duh: also something electronic and reuseable would be nice.

thanks for all the help guys!


dave

 

[ashdavid]

They do have test kits to measure oxygen, but they can be expensive and hard to find. Electronic testers are even more expensive(I have seen them for $300-400 dollars. Usualy if you have a reasonable amount of surface movement there will be suficient gas exchange taking place. Really, I don't think you need to worry about this unless you are involved in an aquaculture situation, were the bio-load is extreme compared to water volume.
For your average fish tank there is no need for concern.

 

[ddayton21]

so would i be better off to remove the air stones or leave them....or does it make any real difference?

 

[Raskolnikov]

Ashdavid hit the nail on the head. As far as the airstones go, feel free to leave them in or remove them as your personal preference dictates.

Do remove the iridescent shark, though.

 

[abnscout82]

A lot of it depends on you, if you have a heaviliy stocked tank, or plan to stock it heavily, I would leave them in. I have mine because I know the fish have plenty of oxygen with them on, so it makes me feel better with them being safer.