CO2 Scrubber Intermittent Success

ekandler

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I have been using a BRS CO2 scrubber for about a month and it didn't change anything, so I called BRS and they recommended I put a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the reactor to keep the media moist, so that's what I did around the 28th-29th of May. After that, for a couple of days it worked great, then I saw the sudden decline in performance with my pH actually going back down. I checked and all the water had evaporated from the reactor but I also noticed about half my media had changed color from the week it had been working successfully.

Has anyone else had this issue? I definitely am not going to be adding a tablespoon of water to my reactor every couple days to keep it going but go through media in 1 week... What's the deal?

pH.PNG
 

lapin

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While a Co2 scubber does work, it is not ideal for long term use unless you are rich. Besides the need for moisture,...media is expensive.
For more info
 

TX_Punisher

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Try drawing air from your skimmer collection cup from the scrubber. This will help you draw in some moist air. So the suction side of the scrubber would need to be somehow connected to the top of the skimmer lid in some fashion. In the big scrubber thread I’ve also seen people place a small jar partially filled with water online to achieve the same effect.

remember, the media does not last that long. I’m replacing mine every two weeks. Thus, I order a 5g bucket which lasts me 16 months.
 

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Try drawing air from your skimmer collection cup from the scrubber. This will help you draw in some moist air. So the suction side of the scrubber would need to be somehow connected to the top of the skimmer lid in some fashion. In the big scrubber thread I’ve also seen people place a small jar partially filled with water online to achieve the same effect.

remember, the media does not last that long. I’m replacing mine every two weeks. Thus, I order a 5g bucket which lasts me 16 months.
I find that if I run the scrubber recirculating through the skimmer my media will last longer and my PH will be slightly higher than if I run it with "room air". One thing to note is that when running recirculating you can sometimes get too much moisture which will foul the media. I was having this issue on one tank so I run an empty media reactor (BRS 2 stage with sponges installed) between my skimmer and CO2 scrubber which collects the excess moisture. I get 3-4 weeks on my media and the first chamber on the dual reactor is usually about 3/4 full of water by the time the media needs to be changed.
 

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I find that if I run the scrubber recirculating through the skimmer my media will last longer and my PH will be slightly higher than if I run it with "room air". One thing to note is that when running recirculating you can sometimes get too much moisture which will foul the media. I was having this issue on one tank so I run an empty media reactor (BRS 2 stage with sponges installed) between my skimmer and CO2 scrubber which collects the excess moisture. I get 3-4 weeks on my media and the first chamber on the dual reactor is usually about 3/4 full of water by the time the media needs to be changed.
I used to get 8.35 daily and media lasted week and a half using ice cap medium. Once I tried recirculating, I only get up to 8.26 and media lasts 5 days. I think the problem is the rsk 900 skimmer is big and throws off a lot of very moist air. Under a red sea reefer peninsula cabinet, it is closed off and everything gets wet. So, if cabinet doors areclosed and air is very moist, for my system it acts as a moist recirculating with media lasting 2 weeks. When I set up my recirculating tube off the skimmer lid with a water trap and sponges, I do not get excess water, but the intense amount of moist air will flow through sponges and moisture will collect rapidly and the reactor will fill with water and foul the media. Making the media work mediocre for a few days. My water trap is the mini brs reactor. Was thinking about stuffing it with tampons to remove some excess moisture. Anyways, still on my journey to try and get a consistent 8.25 to 8.35 ph.

I do not see how brs and others get there media to last 6 months. But every system is different and my skimmer is oversized which maybe my culprit ; wet skimmate. On a side note, skimmers force oxygen in the water. So I am thinking the recirculating system are not outting the same level of oxygen in tank.

I run a 3 part soda ash, calcium chloride and magnesium dosing system on a neptune controlled trident. I am thinking about adding another pump with a kalk stirrer. Not sure how a steady kalk drip will effect the soda ash and calcium consumption. I guess I will start with a low 24 hour drip and go from there steadily reducing soda ash and calcium apex control values.
 

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I find I can get about 3 weeks with my media ( running large ice cap on one tank and two of the BRS reactors in-line on another tank). My sumps are in the basement and have good airflow around them and a dehumidifier to keep the humidity under control. I find I need to monitor how wet the scrubber is every couple of days or so and if it starts getting wet I will just disconnect the inflow from the skimmer to let it dry out some. I find if I can keep the media from getting saturated, I can go about 2-3 times as long before changing the media out compared to non circulating.

I also run a trident on one tank and had it controlled Alk and calcium and recently had it stop controlling the CA. I found the Alk reading were pretty good but CA would swing quite a bit so I just set it to dose CA a fixed amount each day and it has been a lot more steady than with the trident controlled DOS for CA.
 

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I have been using a BRS CO2 scrubber for about a month and it didn't change anything, so I called BRS and they recommended I put a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the reactor to keep the media moist, so that's what I did around the 28th-29th of May. After that, for a couple of days it worked great, then I saw the sudden decline in performance with my pH actually going back down. I checked and all the water had evaporated from the reactor but I also noticed about half my media had changed color from the week it had been working successfully.

Has anyone else had this issue? I definitely am not going to be adding a tablespoon of water to my reactor every couple days to keep it going but go through media in 1 week... What's the deal?

pH.PNG
The Ice Cap reactors have a larger area to add water without wetting the media. Much better design. The media is bit expensive. I have both the small and medium Icecap reactors which I daisy chained together. Went from 7.7-7.9 to 8.2-8.4 in about 3 days. Media lasting much longer. Don’t have a complete time fram yet. But no color change in larger reactor after 3 days
 

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BiggestE222

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The Ice Cap reactors have a larger area to add water without wetting the media. Much better design. The media is bit expensive. I have both the small and medium Icecap reactors which I daisy chained together. Went from 7.7-7.9 to 8.2-8.4 in about 3 days. Media lasting much longer. Don’t have a complete time fram yet. But no color change in larger reactor after 3 days
I also dose about 2 liters a day of Kalwasser which replaces the need for an ATO. Oversized Bubble Magus Curve 7 skimmer on my Red Sea 200 Reefer.
 

Righteous

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While a Co2 scubber does work, it is not ideal for long term use unless you are rich. Besides the need for moisture,...media is expensive.
For more info

I don’t understand this refrain. I replace my media about once a month. I get one year out of this 5 gallon for $116.. so less than $10 a month.

 

Cjeippert

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The Ice Cap reactors have a larger area to add water without wetting the media. Much better design. The media is bit expensive. I have both the small and medium Icecap reactors which I daisy chained together. Went from 7.7-7.9 to 8.2-8.4 in about 3 days. Media lasting much longer. Don’t have a complete time fram yet. But no color change in larger reactor after 3 days
I had the same experience with the media that came with the reactor. Unfortunately their replacement media from ice cap only gets me to 8.2. Before it was 8.4. I just bought the jorvet vet med china 5 gallon stuff. We will see how that works. The media actually looks identical and wondering if it all comes from same source
 

Cjeippert

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I had the same experience with the media that came with the reactor. Unfortunately their replacement media from ice cap only gets me to 8.2. Before it was 8.4. I just bought the jorvet vet med china 5 gallon stuff. We will see how that works. The media actually looks identical and wondering if it all comes from same source
Jorvet media just came in. 5 gallon container unsealed 3/4 full. Is this normal?
 

Waters

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It is possible your dropping PH isn't related to CO2 at all......I have been running a scrubber 24X7 for years using BRS Soda Ash and the PH will still jump around at times.
 

Reefer Reboot

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I have been using a BRS CO2 scrubber for about a month and it didn't change anything, so I called BRS and they recommended I put a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the reactor to keep the media moist, so that's what I did around the 28th-29th of May. After that, for a couple of days it worked great, then I saw the sudden decline in performance with my pH actually going back down. I checked and all the water had evaporated from the reactor but I also noticed about half my media had changed color from the week it had been working successfully.

Has anyone else had this issue? I definitely am not going to be adding a tablespoon of water to my reactor every couple days to keep it going but go through media in 1 week... What's the deal?

pH.PNG
I'll just throw in this method I have been using simply for consideration. I use a high-volume air pump which draws in fresh air from outside. From there it goes to an airline which enters the first canister and ends in an airstone deep in the canister bowl. This first canister is almost completely filled with RODI water. From there it is connected to the second cannister which is filled with soda lime. From there it is injected into the air intake of the skimmer. Kinda like a turbo charger for the skimmer. The water in the first cannister lasts about two to three weeks and the soda lime lasts about a month. Adding water is as simple as unscrewing the bowl and refilling it. No need to turn anything off. This method allows more oxygen to be added than recirculating from the skimmer cup.
1626367099485.png
 

Dmb092182

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I'll just throw in this method I have been using simply for consideration. I use a high-volume air pump which draws in fresh air from outside. From there it goes to an airline which enters the first canister and ends in an airstone deep in the canister bowl. This first canister is almost completely filled with RODI water. From there it is connected to the second cannister which is filled with soda lime. From there it is injected into the air intake of the skimmer. Kinda like a turbo charger for the skimmer. The water in the first cannister lasts about two to three weeks and the soda lime lasts about a month. Adding water is as simple as unscrewing the bowl and refilling it. No need to turn anything off. This method allows more oxygen to be added than recirculating from the skimmer cup.
1626367099485.png
Do you feel that your skimmer is not as effective. How much of a ph boost are you getting?
 

Reefer Reboot

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Trying to draw air in through the water and soda lime via the vacuum created by the venturi of the skimmer is not very efficient. Giving it a boost from the air pump guarantees an adequate air supply increasing the efficiency of the skimmer. (In layman's terms, it fizzes like mad!) Since I am carbon dosing (vinegar) which reduces pH, it's kind of hard to quantify the exact boost. But if I were to guestimate, I would say close to a .5 boost.
 

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