What is an Air Pump Used For?

Some people might not know what an air pump is. An air pump is a little machine which pumps air through an air line tube. Air pumps do not come with airline tubing so you will need to purchase that separately. If you are attempting to hook up a bubbler you will need a air pump. A bubbler will produce oxygen bubbles in your fish tank, which feed need in order to survive. It’s somewhat like us using an oxygen machine. All fish need air in order to survive. Despite common myths, even guppies and bettas need air bubblers hooked up to their tanks. There is on exception however. If you have a filter system which shoots air bubbles down into the aquarium.

Now that you know what a bubbler and an air pump is, you will need to know where to get one. You can purchase one from any local pet store in your area. Air pumps are a very common item because all fish tanks need them, except for saltwater tanks because they have canister filters which shoot a lot of oxygen into the water. If you have a really good filter and you notice little bubbles in your fish tank, you will not need a bubbler but you can choose to have one in your tank just in case if you would like to.

An air pump will usually cost you around ten dollars. You can choose an air pump which will work for a 5 gallon tank, all the way back up to a 300 gallon tank if you want to. You will need to choose an air pump which will work well for the aquarium you are putting it on. The air pumps will always say what tanks they will work for. The more expensive the air pump, the better change it’s for a larger tank. There are also some air pumps that you can buy which have two hook ups. The two hookups are for running two different sets of airline tubing and bubblers. You can place two different bubblers on opposite ends of your fish tank. You can even purchase bubblers that you can bend.

In order to set up a bubbler you will need an air pump, air line tubing and a bubbler on the end of it. Air pumps are not only used for creating a bubbler but they are also used for saltwater tanks because they hook up to protein skimmers. Without a bubbler you could never hook up a protein skimmer. You need to run airline tubing up to the protein skimmer and into the water.

Air pumps are definitely helpful and we wouldn’t have fish without them. They are necessary for all freshwater tanks and even saltwater tanks that have protein skimmers. If you want purchase an air pump you can purchase them online as well as the local pet store. You will expect to spend more if you have a larger fish tank.