Although air stones are becoming increasingly popular within the fish keeping community, many people tend to try and avoid them and see other ways to increase the oxygen levels in their aquarium and create surface agitation.
It seems that the more popular air stones becoming, the more people we see having bad experiences and reaching out for air stone alternatives that they are able to use in their tanks.
Due to this, we have decided to publish our own article going over the best air stone alternatives that you are able to use in your aquarium that offer similar or better performance to air stones.
Depending on your budget and tank setup, you may not be able to use some of our suggestions but we honestly think that live plants are the best air stone alternative available so no matter you budget, we would have something in our list below that you are able to take advantage of.
The Best Air Stone Alternatives!
We have a bullet point list of our air stone alternatives below and then we will offer a deep dive into each one throughout the rest of the article:-
- Live Plants!
- Power Heads!
- Spray Bars!
- Air Pumps!
- Bubble Curtains!
- Bubble Volcanos!
We know that there are some additional air stone alternatives on the market but they tend to offer poor performance so we would recommend that you try to stick with the above options if possible.
Live Plants!
We believe that live plants are the best air stone alternative available on the market and they offer so many benefits to your aquarium that it’s hard to think of a reason why you wouldn’t want to use them!
Plants help to keep your water clean and free from toxins, they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the water and they also help to provide a hiding place and source of food for your fish.
You are able to get live plants for your aquarium that are either rooted in the substrate or floating on the surface and we would recommend a mix of both to get the maximum benefit from them.
If you have a planted aquarium then you are likely already using live plants but if you don’t have a planted aquarium then we would highly recommend that you start using them!
Here are some of the more popular live plants that you are able to keep in your aquariums as an alternative to air stones:-
- Java Fern
- Anubias
- Cryptocoryne
- Java Moss
- Vallisneria
- Sagittaria
- Echinodorus
- Ludwigia
- Rotala
If you want to try your hand at aquascaping your tank then there really are a huge number of excellent plants out there that you are able to do while also offering the same benefits to your fish that we pointed out above.
Power Heads!
Power heads are an excellent way to create water movement in your aquarium and they also offer the added benefit of aerating your water as well.
Power heads are devices that sit inside your tank and pump water around the aquarium which helps to keep the water moving and also oxygenated.
You are able to get power heads that have adjustable flow rates which is excellent as you are able to tailor the flow rate to the needs of your fish and also the size of your aquarium.
Power heads are an excellent alternative to air stones as they offer many of the same benefits but they also help to keep your water moving which is essential for a healthy aquarium.
Here are some popular power heads that you are able to use in your aquarium as an alternative to air stones:-
- Hydor Koralia Nano 240
- Fluval Sea CP2 Circulation Pump
- ZooMed 501 Aquarium Powerhead
- Tetra 77851 Whisper Power Filter
Deepending on your budget, you are able to adjust these power heads and pumps as required but there really are power heads out there for all budgets.
Spray Bars!
Spray bars are an excellent way to create water movement in your aquarium and they also offer the added benefit of aerating your water as well.
Spray bars are devices that sit inside your tank and pump water around the aquarium which helps to keep the water moving and also oxygenated.
You are able to get spray bars that have adjustable flow rates which is excellent as you are able to tailor the flow rate to the needs of your fish and also the size of your aquarium.
Spray bars are an excellent alternative to air stones as they offer many of the same benefits but they also help to keep your water moving which is essential for a healthy aquarium.
Here are some popular spray bars that you are able to use in your aquarium as an alternative to air stones:-
- Fluval Sea SP6 Spray Bar
- AquaTop CF-400UV Canister Filter with Spray Bar
- Eheim 2213 Classic Canister Filter with Spray Bar
- Tetra Whisper EX Power Filter with Spray Bar
Deepending on your budget, you are able to adjust these spray bars as required but there really are spray bars out there for all budgets.
Air Pumps!
Air pumps are an excellent way to create water movement in your aquarium and they also offer the added benefit of aerating your water as well.
Air pumps are devices that sit outside your tank and pump air into your aquarium which helps to keep the water moving and also oxygenated.
You are able to get air pumps that have adjustable flow rates which is excellent as you are able to tailor the flow rate to the needs of your fish and also the size of your aquarium.
Air pumps are an excellent alternative to air stones as they offer many of the same benefits but they also help to keep your water moving which is essential for a healthy aquarium.
Here are some popular air pumps that you are able to use in your aquarium as an alternative to air stones:-
- Tetra Whisper AP150 Aquarium Air Pump
- Eheim 4002 External Filter with Air Pump
- Fluval Eheim Luft Pump
Bubble Curtains!
Bubble curtains are an excellent way to create water movement in your aquarium and they also offer the added benefit of aerating your water as well.
Bubble curtains are devices that sit inside your tank and pump air into your aquarium which helps to keep the water moving and also oxygenated.
You are able to get bubble curtains that have adjustable flow rates which is excellent as you are able to tailor the flow rate to the needs of your fish and also the size of your aquarium.
Bubble curtains are an excellent alternative to air stones as they offer many of the same benefits but they also help to keep your water moving which is essential for a healthy aquarium.
More and more people are starting to make their own DIY air pumps too but the majority of commercially produced air pumps are usually less than $20 anyway.
Bubble Volcanos!
Bubble volcanos are more of an astetic thing that offers similar functionallity to an air pump covered above.
Due to the volcano design, they do usually cost more than a standard air pump while offering similar or slightly worse functionality when intended as an alternative to an air stone.
This is why we have put bubble volcanos last on our list as although they can work, they are the worse option in our opinion.
