What is surface agitation?
When the surface of your aquarium water is disturbed, the rate of gas exchange between your aquarium’s water increases. At the surface of your aquarium, water, and air undergo a natural exchange of gases. Oxygen goes from the air to the water, and carbon dioxide goes from the water to the air. This is how the oxygen that fish need to be able to breathe enters the water, and how the carbon dioxide that they produce by respiration is then removed from the water.
Why is surface agitation so important?
The amount of oxygen in your aquarium plays a massive role in determining how many fish you can keep in your aquarium. Not to mention, you need oxygen to keep each fish alive! It is also connected to the health of your aquarium plants and keeping a balanced ecosystem in your aquarium. The bigger the surface area of your aquarium, the more oxygen can enter its water.
Is there something like too much surface agitation?
In most cases, the surface agitation caused by your aquarium equipment won’t cause any problems, but having too much flow could be an issue for fish that do not like fast-moving water. Also, if you are injecting Co2 into your aquarium then having something like an air stone or sponge filter running will remove the Co2 that you are injecting, making the entire exercise pointless if you want to inject Co2 for your aquarium plants. Remember, during the day Co2 gets absorbed by plants and then oxygen gets released. During the evenings, this process gets reversed.
How do I create surface agitation in my aquarium?
Fortunately, creating surface agitation is easily done with aeration, or pumping air into the water so that it forms bubbles. The bubbles rise to the surface and burst, thus breaking the surface tension and causing the exchange of gasses between your aquarium water and the atmosphere. And even then as long as you have some sort of filter that creates some water movement on the surface then you are all good!
