Aeration and air setup question

Question
Hello Richard,

I have a question about aeration setups for new tanks.  I have a brand new 20 Gal. tank with a single Goldfish in it (for now) and a snail.  The setup is basic, but I intend on adding another goldfish, some snails and hopefully I live plant (which I'm currently researching).

My question involves my aeration setup, and although its simple, there is very little information online.  I have a suitable pump (Tetra Whisper 20), and the plan was to have one 4" air stone and a simple ornament; a castle-shaped structure that I customized to use for aeration.  The castle is hollow (for the fish to swim-through) and so to provide aeration, I drilled a 1/4" hole at the bottom to feed in an air line, and several small holes at the top to allow air bubbles to flow through.  I ran a single air line from the pump, through a check-valve, into the tank, then into a 'T' connector, and an open hose into the castle, and the other hose into the air stone.

The problem I'm having is that the castle gets a lot of airfow, but the air stone gets none.  I figure that there is little to no resistance for the air to flow out of the castle (since its just an open tube), but there is more resistance required to push air out of the air stone, so my question is; If I add a small air stone to the end of the tube within the castle, would it disperse the air correctly, and allow bubbles to flow out of each unit?

Thanks for any help you can provide,

Krishan

Answer
Hi Krishan

Well first, you really shouldn't drill holes in aquarium decorations. There could be some particles left behind that could kill your fish. Even if washed thoroughly, you're breaking a bond and particles, especially painted particles, could peel off in the future. You may want to reconsider the use of the castle. There are many decorations manufactured with airline to get the effect you want that won't harm your fish.

Next, you don't have a large enough air pump to split the air flow that way. If you added an airstone to the line in the castle, little or no air would come out of either. The only other thing you could do is add an additional air pump to run the airstone.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Richard