CO2 scrubber question.

[REEFRIED!]

I have a recirculating scrubber hooked up and I have a moisture collection container before the scrubber to catch any moister from the skimmer. My question is do those if you that use a scrubber ever see any moisture in the scrubber itself? I know that you are supposed to put a small amount of RO water in the bottom of the scrubber. (I believe a teaspoon). Which I did. But I see a couple of moisture bubbles about a third of the way up the scrubber chamber. I believe it is inside the scrubber reactor body and not inside of the media container. Is this normal?

 

[blaxsun]

A friend of mine (@legalizedreefer) runs a Co2 scrubber and can probably share some insight.

 

[Steve2020]

I have a recirculating scrubber hooked up and I have a moisture collection container before the scrubber to catch any moister from the skimmer. My question is do those if you that use a scrubber ever see any moisture in the scrubber itself? I know that you are supposed to put a small amount of RO water in the bottom of the scrubber. (I believe a teaspoon). Which I did. But I see a couple of moisture bubbles about a third of the way up the scrubber chamber. I believe it is inside the scrubber reactor body and not inside of the media container. Is this normal?

Yes that is fine. CO2 media works much better with humid/moist air and since you are running a recirc there should be no need to add water to the chamber. Moister allows the CO2 to pernitrate deeper in the media pellets making the media last longer. Next time you change out your media, take a few used pellets and cut them in half and see if the CO2 penetrated the outer layer of the pellet by seeing how much color change accrued within the pellets.
What you don't want is water collecting in the chamber to the point that the media is sitting in a pool of water. Attached is a video of the moisture in my 6 recirc lines coming from my skimmer to my Duo Jumbo Scrubber. My scrubber has a collection area for moister collection with a drain plug if I need to drain before it is time to swap out the media which I have only done once in over 2yrs and it actually did not need to be drained at that time. Still had plenty of room left.
Are you also running fresh air into your scrubber? Might want to think about that option.

 

[w8lifts]

I have to drain my co2 scrubber weekly even with a giant catch jar. If I don’t water builds up and gets to the media and also makes my water level change in the skimmer. I just drain it when I do water changes now, not much comes out but it does add up over weeks.

 

[Steve2020]

Do you turn off your return pump and skimmer when you fed your fish/corals? If so, make sure your recirc air lines are run in an upward direction a foot or two. This should allow some water to build up in the lines then the water will drain back into the skimmer cup clearing the lines when the skimmer is turned off. If you don't turn your skimmer off for feeding, if you have a controller you can turn off you skimmer for a few seconds a couple times a day. On a normal day my skimmer goes off three times a day, twice for feeding and once for Phyto dosing. Even though my airlines show moister in them in the video, very little enters the chamber.
Unfortunately the majority of scrubbers have little or no collection area for moister collection.

Water buildup in recirc lines.

Lines empty after turning skimmer off and then back on.

 

[REEFRIED!]

Yes that is fine. CO2 media works much better with humid/moist air and since you are running a recirc there should be no need to add water to the chamber. Moister allows the CO2 to pernitrate deeper in the media pellets making the media last longer. Next time you change out your media, take a few used pellets and cut them in half and see if the CO2 penetrated the outer layer of the pellet by seeing how much color change accrued within the pellets.
What you don't want is water collecting in the chamber to the point that the media is sitting in a pool of water. Attached is a video of the moisture in my 6 recirc lines coming from my skimmer to my Duo Jumbo Scrubber. My scrubber has a collection area for moister collection with a drain plug if I need to drain before it is time to swap out the media which I have only done once in over 2yrs and it actually did not need to be drained at that time. Still had plenty of room left.
Are you also running fresh air into your scrubber? Might want to think about that option.

Thank you. I figured I was ok. It is not a pool of water just moisture rising up the scrubber chamber. Like I said it is on the inside of the chamber between the chamber and insert that hold the actual media.

Yes I do have a few of the holes in the top of my skimmer lid open to allow some fresh air on for oxygenation

 

[REEFRIED!]

Do you turn off your return pump and skimmer when you fed your fish/corals? If so, make sure your recirc air lines are run in an upward direction a foot or two. This should allow some water to build up in the lines then the water will drain back into the skimmer cup clearing the lines when the skimmer is turned off. If you don't turn your skimmer off for feeding, if you have a controller you can turn off you skimmer for a few seconds a couple times a day. On a normal day my skimmer goes off three times a day, twice for feeding and once for Phyto dosing. Even though my airlines show moister in them in the video, very little enters the chamber.
Unfortunately the majority of scrubbers have little or no collection area for moister collection.

Water buildup in recirc lines.

Lines empty after turning skimmer off and then back on.

Thank you for the reply. My set up doesn’t allow much room for the intake to the scrubber to go “up”. Which means I’ll definitely get moisture in the line. I do have a pre scrubber collection container, that most of the time stays 90% empty. However if my skimmer goes crazy for some reason water/skimmate does make its way in there.

Looking at your picture you should consider removing the two plugs in your lid to allow some fresh air to enter. Unless you are getting it some other way.

 

[Steve2020]

Thank you for the reply. My set up doesn’t allow much room for the intake to the scrubber to go “up”. Which means I’ll definitely get moisture in the line. I do have a pre scrubber collection container, that most of the time stays 90% empty. However if my skimmer goes crazy for some reason water/skimmate does make its way in there.

Looking at your picture you should consider removing the two plugs in your lid to allow some fresh air to enter. Unless you are getting it some other way.

The holes in skimmer lids DO NOT ALLOW FRESH AIR IN or even room air. If someone told you that they are incorrect. Those are exhaust holes. Those holes are to allow the positive pressure in the skimmer that is created by the air intake to escape. The skimmer would have to create a vacuum to draw air into those holes which it does not. When I first did a recirc configuration I only used two exhaust lines and the lid on the skimmer was burping ( popping up and down ) not allowing all the Exhaust Air to go to the scrubber. Now I am using six exhaust lines so all the air goes to the scrubber from the skimmer.
So in a nutshell , you ARE NOT bringing in fresh air through the holes in the lid. You may want to re-think your design if you want a fresh air input into the skimmer along with the recirc air.

Not having a Auto Shutoff ( float switch ) on your skimmer IMO is a bad Idea when running a recirc configuration unless you can keep skimmate from entering the scrubber by other means.

I am bringing in fresh outside air with my setup. Air from inside the house is not considered to be fresh air. If it was you would not need a scrubber.

The large airline with the blue arrow is the outside fresh air input into the skimmer. The other line in the skimmer recirc air.

 

[REEFRIED!]

I like your set up. When I said fresh air I didn’t exactly mean outside air. I understand that the holes in the lid are exhaust holes. However with a recirculating set up I figured a small amount of air would be pulled in from those holes. I may just add a y fitting to the input of my scrubber. I will probably not draw in outside air though. Just room air for oxygenation. Also I do have an auto shut off on my skimmer

 

[Steve2020]

I like your set up. When I said fresh air I didn’t exactly mean outside air. I understand that the holes in the lid are exhaust holes. However with a recirculating set up I figured a small amount of air would be pulled in from those holes. I may just add a y fitting to the input of my scrubber. I will probably not draw in outside air though. Just room air for oxygenation. Also I do have an auto shut off on my skimmer

I did not think you had an auto shut off since you said occasionally you get water/skimmate that makes it out. It's good you have an auto shutoff.
No air will make it into the skimmer through the exhaust holes in the lid and even if it did it would do absolutely nothing for oxygenation. The air would never mix with the water in the skimmer body.
Where is your sump located?
You could get creative and do what I did if the sump location permits. If you have a HVAC system you will also have at least one fresh air intake. I ran a 5/8" airline 60ft in the lower level overhead crawl space from the fresh air intake to the scrubber.

Airline into fresh air intake.

Airline coming out of lower level overhead crawl space.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’m not a fan of full recirculating scrubbers due to oxygenation concerns, but a full recirculating scrubber does not need any moisture added to the media. It is humid enough from the skimmer.

 

[Steve2020]

I’m not a fan of full recirculating scrubbers due to oxygenation concerns, but a full recirculating scrubber does not need any moisture added to the media. It is humid enough from the skimmer.

I followed your advice a few years back about the effects that a full recirc could have on O2 levels. That's a big reason why I also have a fresh air input into the scrubber. Great advice. I also added a Sochting Oxydator for an extra kick in O2. I mentioned the same thing about not having to add any extra moisture for a full recirc scrubber. Deffinantly not needed.

 

[REEFRIED!]

I’m not a fan of full recirculating scrubbers due to oxygenation concerns, but a full recirculating scrubber does not need any moisture added to the media. It is humid enough from the skimmer.

I wasn’t thinking of oxygenation when I set up the recirc. I will add a fitting to the intake of the scrubber to mix in some air. Although not outside air I figure it will still be better than nothing.

Good to know about not adding water to reactor is going recirc

 

[REEFRIED!]

I did not think you had an auto shut off since you said occasionally you get water/skimmate that makes it out. It's good you have an auto shutoff.
No air will make it into the skimmer through the exhaust holes in the lid and even if it did it would do absolutely nothing for oxygenation. The air would never mix with the water in the skimmer body.
Where is your sump located?
You could get creative and do what I did if the sump location permits. If you have a HVAC system you will also have at least one fresh air intake. I ran a 5/8" airline 60ft in the lower level overhead crawl space from the fresh air intake to the scrubber.

Airline into fresh air intake.

Airline coming out of lower level overhead crawl space.

Yes I occasionally get water/skimmate in my pre scrubber collection container. Even with the float switch in my skimmer cup, the foam still builds up. And basically goes right into the recirc line.