How to Install Bubble Wands in an Aquarium

Bubble wands serve as a means of aerating an aquarium and circulating the water. Fish in the wild live in environments that have circulating water, such as streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and oceans. Freshwater fish benefit from the softer bubbles formed by a bubble wand as they gently circulate the water in an aquarium. Bubble wands not only add oxygen to water, but they give your aquarium a pleasant eye-catching feature by creating a curtain of tiny bubbles in the water.

Things You'll Need

  • Air line tubing
  • Scissors
  • Anti-siphon check valve
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Instructions

    • 1

      Bend the bubble wand into a lazy S-shape or leave it a straight line. You can bend it as desired, but don't kink the wand, or the air from the pump will be blocked and bubbles will not come out of the entire wand.

    • 2

      Determine where you are going to place the air pump. Lay out the air line tubing. Use scissors to cut the air line tubing in half, or at a halfway point from the air pump to the aquarium. Insert one end of the first piece of air line tubing into the tubing port on your air pump.

    • 3

      Hold the anti-siphon check valve with the narrow end of the interior valve piece pointing away from the air pump, in the direction that the air will flow through the air line tubing into the bubble wand. Insert the other end of the first piece of air line tubing into the right side of the anti-siphon check valve. Insert the end of the second piece of air line tubing into the left side of the anti-siphon check valve. Insert the other end of the second piece of air line tubing into the bubble wand.

    • 4

      Attach the large suction cups to the back of the bubble wand. Set the bubble wand in your tank. You can bury it under the gravel, place it on the substrate surface or set it behind plants and rocks.

    • 5

      Position the power cord of the pump so it loops down to hang below the bottom of the electrical outlet, then plug it in. Done correctly, the power cord will form a U-shape. This allows any water that gets on the cord to run down it and drip off the cord at the U rather than potentially into the power outlet. Position the air line tubing the same way so it loops down in a U-shape below where you've placed the air pump to prevent water from getting on the running pump. Turn on the pump. Once air reaches the bubble wand, a tiny curtain or wall of bubbles will rise up from the wand to gently agitate the water and promote circulation in the aquarium.