SoliSteve said:
...but bubbles have the opportunity to lodge in fish tissue/gill areas and are not tolerated by corals either and is not advised in anything you will read.
I'm sorry but I have to ask if this is thecase then how do fish and corals live in the surf and on breakers where there is a lot of water aggitation and air bubbles created?
The only time you'll get airbubbles forming on fish is if the mucus is compromised and the fish is in poor health. This is jsut as likely to happen in tanks without airstones or bubbles going into it as it is with the airstones.
Airstones are perfectly safe in a saltwater tank, even the air bubbles that get put into the tank with a protien skimmer isn't a health or safety issue. People try to eliminate the bubbles because they don't like the looks of the bubbles in the water and what happens when the bubbles hit the surface! As noted bubbles break at the surface and when they break you get small splashes of saltwater flying all over the place. When this saltwater hits a surface like walls, canopies, bulbs etc the water evaporates leaving nice salt/calcuim deposits behind which are horrible to clean up. Also over time if you don't carefully monitor the water it can decrease the salinity in a tank.
Overall I would recommend the spraybar because you don't get the saltspray that you would get with an airstone.
