Fig. 39.—Aquarium fitted with Apparatus for Periodic Outflow
From what has been said the reader will see that the total quantity of water required in this instance need not exceed the capacity of the aquarium; also that each of the vessels connected with water supply and waste should have a capacity equivalent to the volume of water contained in the aquarium between the two levels h and l.
The alternate rising and falling of the water produced in the manner just described represents in miniature the flow and ebb of the tides, but perhaps this is in itself of no great advantage in the aquarium except from the fact that it allows those creatures that prefer to be occasionally out of the water for a time a better opportunity of indulging in such a habit. And further, with regard to both the arrangements for aëration above described, it should be noted that earthenware vessels are much to be preferred to those made of metal for the holding of sea water, since the dissolved salts corrode metallic substances rather rapidly, and often produce, by their chemical action, soluble products that render the water more or less poisonous.
Other methods of aërating the water of aquaria are practised, but these, as a rule, are only practicable in the case of the large tanks of public aquaria and biological laboratories, as the mechanical appliances necessary to carry them out successfully are beyond the means of an ordinary amateur.
In such large tanks as those referred to it is common to force a fine jet of air into the water by machinery. Sometimes this air is driven downward from a jet just below the surface, and with such force that a multitude of minute bubbles penetrate to a considerable depth before they commence to rise, but in others the air is made to enter at the bottom and must therefore pass right through the water.
Of course the amateur aquarium-keeper may carry out this method of aëration with every hope of success providing he has some self-acting apparatus for the purpose, or can depend on being able himself to attend to a non-automatic arrangement at fairly regular intervals, always remembering that a single day’s neglect, especially in the case of a small tank with a proportionately large amount of animal life, may lead to a loss of valuable specimens.
We have already mentioned the use of a syringe as a means by which an aquarium may be temporarily restored to a satisfactory condition providing it has not been neglected too long, and some recommend forcing air, or, still better, pure oxygen gas, from an india-rubber bag into the water. We have used, for the same purpose, a stream of oxygen from a steel cylinder of the compressed gas with very satisfactory results; and since oxygen may be now obtained, ready compressed, at a very low price—about twopence a cubic foot—there is much to be said in favour of this method as an auxiliary in the hands of the owner of a small tank, though we hardly recommend it as a prime means of aëration to take the place of the fountain.
In any case, where a stream of air or oxygen is employed, an exceedingly fine jet should be used, in order that the expelled gas may take the form of a stream of minute bubbles; for, as previously stated, the water can absorb the gas only very slowly, so that there must necessarily be a considerable waste when the gas issues rapidly. Further, the smaller the bubbles passing through the water, the greater is the total surface of gas in contact with the liquid, the volume of the supply being the same, and hence the more effectually will the solution of the gas proceed. Again, another advantage of the fine stream of minute bubbles lies in the fact that the smaller these bubbles are the more slowly they rise to the surface of the water, and thus the longer is the time in which the gas may be absorbed during its ascent.
A fine jet, well suited to the purpose here defined, may be made very easily by holding the middle of a piece of glass tubing in a gas flame until it is very soft, and then, immediately on removing it, pulling it out rather quickly. A slight cut made with a small triangular file will then enable the operator to sever the tube at any desired point.
Yet another method of maintaining the air supply of aquaria is adopted in the case of some of the large tanks of public aquaria and biological laboratories situated close to the sea, and this consists in renewing the water at every high tide by means of pumps.