Low pH issues?? Make your own CO2 scrubber!!

chema · Nov 3, 2016

I installed the Two Little Fishes reactor charged with Sofnolime three days ago and I have to say it works. My pH was oscillating from as low as 7.6 at night to 7.8 during the day. I have observed an increase of around 0.2 points since I installed the CO2 scrubber. The pH goes from almost 7.8 at night to almost 8.0 at day.It's not bad and coupled with kalkwasser improves substantially the pH of my tank. However I'm a little skeptical about how long the charge in the reactor will last. I'm using the small Two Little Fishes and my skimmer is a Bubble King 200 with a pump that sucks 1500 l/h of air.

Now I'm studying whether to connect an airline to the outside or use a larger container for the Sofnolime.

120reefkeeper · Nov 3, 2016

You'll definitely get longer useage if you run the intake line to the outside .... then into the reactor.... then to the skimmer.

Happy to hear that it is indeed working for you!

fin mike · Nov 3, 2016

Thanks for sharing this. I too suffer from low pH. I fluctuate from 7.9 to 8.3 with the windows wide open. I have a CO2 scrubber hooked to my skimmer, but I love the idea of injecting scrubbed air into the tank via an air pump. I think I will put this on a timer and run it during the night. With the scrubber hooked to the skimmer, the injection of scrubbed air with the air pump, and the addition of kalk during the night hours via my kalk reactor, I might get some stability.

120reefkeeper · Nov 4, 2016

fin mike said:
Thanks for sharing this. I too suffer from low pH. I fluctuate from 7.9 to 8.3 with the windows wide open. I have a CO2 scrubber hooked to my skimmer, but I love the idea of injecting scrubbed air into the tank via an air pump. I think I will put this on a timer and run it during the night. With the scrubber hooked to the skimmer, the injection of scrubbed air with the air pump, and the addition of kalk during the night hours via my kalk reactor, I might get some stability.

Thank you for you kind comments. [emoji4]

It sounds like you have a solid plan! [emoji1]

guobinfu · Nov 9, 2016

That's denfinitely awesome~!THANK YOU!

120reefkeeper · Nov 9, 2016

guobinfu said:
That's denfinitely awesome~!THANK YOU!

Your welcome! [emoji4]

guobinfu · Nov 9, 2016

120reefkeeper said:
Your welcome! [emoji4]

man,may I translate it and share with my friends in China?they would like this LOL

120reefkeeper · Nov 9, 2016

Sure it is posted to the internet and for the world to see.

JonasRoman · Dec 15, 2016

Thanks for an excellent article and presentation

I have also made a CO2-scrubber with "Divesorb" so I red your article with special interest

I raised my pH with almost 0.2 by letting my air to the skimmer passes Divesorb, and the most obvious difference I see in the morning, when there is no help from the Photosynthesis, then the effect of the scrubber is more visible.
Thanks again for your extensive and nice writing about this

By the way: Almost immediately my pH was risen 0.2 in average, my Acropora enzman started to set 20-30 new small growth zones

120reefkeeper · Dec 15, 2016

JonasRoman said:
Thanks for an excellent article and presentation
I have also made a CO2-scrubber with "Divesorb" so I red your article with special interest
I raised my pH with almost 0.2 by letting my air to the skimmer passes Divesorb, and the most obvious difference I see in the morning, when there is no help from the Photosynthesis, then the effect of the scrubber is more visible.
Thanks again for your extensive and nice writing about this

By the way: Almost immediately my pH was risen 0.2 in average, my Acropora enzman started to set 20-30 new small growth zones

@JonasRoman thank you for recommending using Divesorb. That is also a nice media to use for CO2 scrubbing. [emoji4]

I'm also glad you have a great results. I also had a nice .2 PH bump on Average. My SPS corals also seem to like the increased PH.

chema · Dec 20, 2016

JonasRoman said:
Thanks for an excellent article and presentation
I have also made a CO2-scrubber with "Divesorb" so I red your article with special interest
I raised my pH with almost 0.2 by letting my air to the skimmer passes Divesorb, and the most obvious difference I see in the morning, when there is no help from the Photosynthesis, then the effect of the scrubber is more visible.
Thanks again for your extensive and nice writing about this

By the way: Almost immediately my pH was risen 0.2 in average, my Acropora enzman started to set 20-30 new small growth zones

Hi Jonas: I'm glad to know it works for you. Please, could you give some details on the reactor or container you used for the Divesorb and how often you replace this stuff? I used a Phosban reactor connected to my Bubble King 200 and the absorbent is exhausted in a few days.

JonasRoman · Dec 20, 2016

chema said:
Hi Jonas: I'm glad to know it works for you. Please, could you give some details on the reactor or container you used for the Divesorb and how often you replace this stuff? I used a Phosban reactor connected to my Bubble King 200 and the absorbent is exhausted in a few days.

I used a ordinary plastic bucket, in which a drilled a lot of holes in the bottom, and glued a pipe in the top. My media of 1.5 l is exhausted after about 4 weeks. My skimmer draw about 1000l air/h through the media then.

fin mike · Dec 20, 2016

I have been able to achieve a pretty stable pH for a week now. My apex says that my average is 8.24 over the previous 7 day period. This is a major break through for me at my house. With two adults, two children and two 100+ pound dogs, my pH was always at a pathetic level. 7.9 in the morning to maybe 8.1 in the day. No wander I wasn't getting any serious growth. If I was able to open the windows, I could get to 8.3, but it would go straight back down over night. No stability. He's what I did to over come it.

As in my previous post, I have my skimmer hooked up to a brs scrubber system. Unfortunately this wasn't enough to significantly improve my stability. What really made a difference was the constant input of concentrated limewater via my kalk stirrer.

In the past I was only topping off at night with about 3 liters of lime water per day. Since I recently installed four fans in my hood, my evaporation rate more than doubled therefore requiring 6 liters per day. So I changed my replenishment schedule to dose 6 litters over the whole day. The trick that has made all the difference is to make sure I put fresh kalk into the stirrer (two heaping tablespoons) every two days. This combined with making sure the scrubber was always full of unspent media has made a huge difference. One other aspect is to get the pH where you want it and try to maintain that level with the combined methods.

It's not perfect, but it's a great start to achieving a goal that has been quite elusive to me. The windows have been closed for two days now, and the lowest the pH has gotten is 8.22.

My corals are really taking off now. I've seen more growth in the last week than I've seen in a month. The constant input of kalk has keep my calcium level at 425 and my alk around 7dkh. I was always afraid of overdosing, but the more kalk I put in, the bigger the corals grow.

I hope this helps others with there pH stability problems.

Thank you to all the others who have chimed in on this subject too.

chema · Dec 21, 2016

JonasRoman said:
I used a ordinary plastic bucket, in which a drilled a lot of holes in the bottom, and glued a pipe in the top. My media of 1.5 l is exhausted after about 4 weeks. My skimmer draw about 1000l air/h through the media then.

That's a smart idea. I'll try something similar. The miniBK 200 draws 1700 l/h; therefore 1.5 l should last around two weeks

chema · Dec 21, 2016

fin mike said:
I have been able to achieve a pretty stable pH for a week now. My apex says that my average is 8.24 over the previous 7 day period. This is a major break through for me at my house. With two adults, two children and two 100+ pound dogs, my pH was always at a pathetic level. 7.9 in the morning to maybe 8.1 in the day. No wander I wasn't getting any serious growth. If I was able to open the windows, I could get to 8.3, but it would go straight back down over night. No stability. He's what I did to over come it.

As in my previous post, I have my skimmer hooked up to a brs scrubber system. Unfortunately this wasn't enough to significantly improve my stability. What really made a difference was the constant input of concentrated limewater via my kalk stirrer.

In the past I was only topping off at night with about 3 liters of lime water per day. Since I recently installed four fans in my hood, my evaporation rate more than doubled therefore requiring 6 liters per day. So I changed my replenishment schedule to dose 6 litters over the whole day. The trick that has made all the difference is to make sure I put fresh kalk into the stirrer (two heaping tablespoons) every two days. This combined with making sure the scrubber was always full of unspent media has made a huge difference. One other aspect is to get the pH where you want it and try to maintain that level with the combined methods.

It's not perfect, but it's a great start to achieving a goal that has been quite elusive to me. The windows have been closed for two days now, and the lowest the pH has gotten is 8.22.

My corals are really taking off now. I've seen more growth in the last week than I've seen in a month. The constant input of kalk has keep my calcium level at 425 and my alk around 7dkh. I was always afraid of overdosing, but the more kalk I put in, the bigger the corals grow.

I hope this helps others with there pH stability problems.

Thank you to all the others who have chimed in on this subject too.

I already use kalkwasser dosed by means of a kalkstirrer. I dose 2,7 l/day. I'll increase the dosage near the 4.5-5 l my tank evaporates daily and see if that makes the trick as in your case.

By the way, 7.9 is not that pathetic. My pH may go down to 7.7 at night.

120reefkeeper · Mar 10, 2017

Any update on how things worked out for you??

FishGuyBri · Mar 10, 2017

chema said:
I already use kalkwasser dosed by means of a kalkstirrer. I dose 2,7 l/day. I'll increase the dosage near the 4.5-5 l my tank evaporates daily and see if that makes the trick as in your case.

By the way, 7.9 is not that pathetic. My pH may go down to 7.7 at night.

My low is 7.6 high 8.01 WITH scrubber and open doors :-(

FishGuyBri · Mar 10, 2017

chema said:
I already use kalkwasser dosed by means of a kalkstirrer. I dose 2,7 l/day. I'll increase the dosage near the 4.5-5 l my tank evaporates daily and see if that makes the trick as in your case.

By the way, 7.9 is not that pathetic. My pH may go down to 7.7 at night.

My low is 7.6 high 8.01 WITH scrubber and open doors :-(