Are Air Pumps Necessary for an Aquarium?
That depends on what you mean. If you have a filter that is run by an air pump, then the air pump is necessary, as without it the filter will not operate and you are not going to be gaining benefit from having that filter on your fish tank. If you have an action ornament that is run by an air pump, and you wish to have it operating as designed, then, again, the air pump is necessary. If you wish to have an air stone giving off a cascade of bubbles as a decoration in your tank, than, again, the air pump to run this air stone is arguably necessary. One of the most common misconceptions in the aquarium hobby, possibly second only to “fish will not outgrow their aquarium”, is that you need an air pump and air stones to provide sufficient oxygenation to that tank to keep the fish healthy, and that the air pump provides oxygen to the water. In fact, the air pump is not necessary to keeping fish, except as noted above. An air pump will not directly put oxygen into the water, what it will do i
