Ok so I've already got a waterfall filter but I still feel the need to aeriate me tank! I bought all the equipment, however, I think I may have bought the wrong tubing! I wanted an airstone to be fitted at the bottom of the tubing, however, I mistakenly bought the tubing which goes across the back of the tank instead (the kind that doesn't require an airstone and has upright holes in it)!

It seems to work well enough but I'd prefer an airstone one. Is it just the plain, non-holey tubing I require for it? I'm confuzzed!! The pump is great, just the tubing I seem to have got wrong!

Comet the tubing for the airstone doesn't have holes in it. You should be able to take it back and get what you need.
I think having a airstone is always a plus.

Doh! Didn't think so! Guy in the shop suggested it, guess he didn't read the back either!! Oh, just one other thing, is it best for the airstone to be buried slighty or dangling down? I swear the instructions on the back of these things make no sense! (either that or I'm just dumb lol)

Its not the airstone that adds the air its the surface agitation it causes that gets the oxygen into the water so wherever you put it is fine. Some people like to bury it in the gravel and others dangle it, place it where you like the look of it.

i am a goofball and i now know i need an airstone for my tank. i have a 20g. any suggestions. i have seen one that attaches to the sides of tanks and some that have been on the bottom. is any one better than the other? Can i get one that is decrative. i have to filter that is the whisper water fall but i need bubbles. I can see that my fishies' like to swim in the current so i am assuming they want more oxygen (don't we all). i looked up some different kinds that are just soooo many.

There are sooooo many - you are right. It really is a matter of what fits your tank and what is attractive to you.

The majority of the action of aeration comes, as Sandy has so wisely stated, from lifting the water from the bottom of the tank, circulating it to the surface where it picks up oxygen. To a much lesser degree, every bubble will impart a very tiny amount of oxygen into the water - the trick being to maximize surface area of the air bubbles. To do this, many choose to have millions of tiny bubbles as opposed to hundreds of larger bubbles.

There are bubble features that produce little bubbles and ones that make bigger ones. If you bury your bubbler in the gravel, the air will collect in small pockets of the gravel, going to the surface after the bubbles get big enough. This is fine - but it is a different look.

I generally use a long "bar" or bubble wand across the back or sides of the tank. I like having a wall of bubbles as a back drop. It lifts water evenly in the whole tank, the fish love to play in them, and I find it attractive to look at.

What you use is strictly up to you, though. Look around. There are bubble disks (great play toys for the fish - it is like a carnival ride! Mine play for hours on theirs), bubble bars, bubble bricks, bubble stones. There are round stones, square stones, long bars, flexible bars, and even features like man-made rocks that you can stick an airhose with a bubblestone into , so the bubbles come up from the holes in the stone - volcano fashion.

You are mostly limited by your budget, imagination and tank size! HAve FUN! The fish love bubbles!

Edit: if you have your filter intake on the same wall as the bubbler, simply fasten the bubbler higher - just above the intake. This will reduce the air that is sucked into the filter and limit the subsequent noise!

thanks for the info. i was wanting to get a wall of bubbles. by intake "stick" is pretty high though only about half way down. so i guess i will get one for the side. or perhaps a longer intake "stick thing".
thanks