Hello ,
I thought i would share a CO2 scrubber challenge , so others can prevent my mistake. .
Tank , is 340 Gallon ( upgraded from 180 about 3 weeks ago. Volume with sump, run socks and new XL Icecap insumpAlgue scrubber .
Story , my apex was reading a PH of 7.7 -7.8 so i decided to add a BRS CO2 scrubber recirculating , to Life-reef skimmer. Hooked it up and PH increase to 7.97 … but did not go higher. After 1-2 days i seen my sticks started to suffer and my fish looked ill , Ich broke out. And things started to decline. I lost some SPS RTL and started to panic . Checked all , could not figure it out ALK was at 9.4 , Calcium at 610, MAg at 1330 … High but i was not worried. No4 was at .27 and nitrate at 8.7 .
DID water change , added carbon …. Could simply not figure it out . So i started to double check my param‘s first hint came from the hanna alk tester. Something was off….
SO i reset …… to Check all equipment. Unplugged Co2 scrubber ,…. As this was the only thing i added after the fact…. Firstly recalibrated my trident …. replaced my old trident with a new one about a week ago did not bother to calibrate as apex says its not nessecery and come calibrated from the factory. ——- And
ALk dropped to 8.3 calcium 450 and mag 1300… rechecked with Hanna …. And perfect, replaced PH probe calibrated and Ph shot up witrout scrubberTo 8.13. Checked rechecked with Hanna handheld PH proble . Rewarched the BRS co2 scrubber All was ok….. An 24 hour improvement with fish and coral… recon my PH was well above 8.5 for about a week . Lost i fish and some rather expensive corals.
so whats the lesson ,….
1) Replace your PH probe … every 9 months 40 USD vs any Losses = smart buy.
2) And calibrate your trident …
3) dont trust anything double check
Hope this helps , someone thinking co2 scrubber …
I thought i would share a CO2 scrubber challenge , so others can prevent my mistake. .
Tank , is 340 Gallon ( upgraded from 180 about 3 weeks ago. Volume with sump, run socks and new XL Icecap insumpAlgue scrubber .
Story , my apex was reading a PH of 7.7 -7.8 so i decided to add a BRS CO2 scrubber recirculating , to Life-reef skimmer. Hooked it up and PH increase to 7.97 … but did not go higher. After 1-2 days i seen my sticks started to suffer and my fish looked ill , Ich broke out. And things started to decline. I lost some SPS RTL and started to panic . Checked all , could not figure it out ALK was at 9.4 , Calcium at 610, MAg at 1330 … High but i was not worried. No4 was at .27 and nitrate at 8.7 .
DID water change , added carbon …. Could simply not figure it out . So i started to double check my param‘s first hint came from the hanna alk tester. Something was off….
SO i reset …… to Check all equipment. Unplugged Co2 scrubber ,…. As this was the only thing i added after the fact…. Firstly recalibrated my trident …. replaced my old trident with a new one about a week ago did not bother to calibrate as apex says its not nessecery and come calibrated from the factory. ——- And
ALk dropped to 8.3 calcium 450 and mag 1300… rechecked with Hanna …. And perfect, replaced PH probe calibrated and Ph shot up witrout scrubberTo 8.13. Checked rechecked with Hanna handheld PH proble . Rewarched the BRS co2 scrubber All was ok….. An 24 hour improvement with fish and coral… recon my PH was well above 8.5 for about a week . Lost i fish and some rather expensive corals.
so whats the lesson ,….
1) Replace your PH probe … every 9 months 40 USD vs any Losses = smart buy.
2) And calibrate your trident …
3) dont trust anything double check
Hope this helps , someone thinking co2 scrubber …
