Unusual not to have a response after 2 days but maybe my question did not merit one.
I'll restate as I got very concerned that the water clarity increased dramatically (12" to 40" in just a few days) and my HSB and BG just stopped feeding for 4 days,,,,, until I "churned" the water (to add O2) with my trolling motor (read above for the results of that).
I was one that was under the impression that my 4 double-diffusers (Vertex) were adding a great deal of DO, yet after reading this (and many aeration threads) I really started to wonder just how much DO was actually being added:
Bottom diffusers lift water allowing it to be exposed to air. During that proces that water is exposed to less pressure which allows it to off gas the bad stuff. While at the surface it is also allowed to pickup some O2.
Meanwhile, the water that was at the surface when this started will be circulated towards the bottom introducing some more O2 to the lower levels which is beneficial.
Surface aerators add far more O2 (due to the added agitation and air exposure) to the surface water and starts a circulation process that will also move saturated water to lower levels.
So in short:
bottom diffusers = water movement to surface
Surface aerators = O2 injections to the top water and circulation.
You are spot on Highflyer! I get so tired of people calling diffusers "aerators."
I've been churning twice a day (couple hours before feeding times) when possible since they resumed feeding and they are hammering the food!
So to my original question; is there a direct correlation between my "aerating" (churning with tolling motor) and the fish feeding again, meaning I may have some serious DO issues?
Thanks in advance for any feedback
