Experimenting with air pump to supply outside air to tank

[kyleinpdx]

Its winter time here and with the house closed up I've noticed my ph drop from 8.1-8.3 throughout the day to 7.7 - 8.08. I have an IM lagoon 25 which doesnt allow for a large skimmer, the eshopps nano skimmer I have doesnt draw enough air for me to run its intake outside. So instead I thought I might be able to pump fresh air into the skimmer. I have an old 29-55gal air pump from my freshwater days that I have plugged in out on my patio, I ran about 25ft of airline tubing from the air pump along the baseboards to the tank (its only maybe 10ft from the door in a straight line but the room is oddly shaped.) I have experimented with various setups and with varying degrees of success however I havent gotten the increase I was hoping for.

• Tried pumping air directly into the skimmer intake: the pump was pushing too much air even with a valve to allow the skimmer to function correctly. It is only a 6w venturi after all.
  
  
• Pumped air into my DIY skimmer silencer and allowed excess air pressure to bleed into the room: This allowed the skimmer to work correctly but after 2 full days of ph numbers from my controller I showed no noticeable improvement. I dont believe enough fresh air was being pulled in by the skimmer to make a difference.
  
  
• Air stone in the skimmer compartment, near water line: I decided to leave the skimmer alone and see if adding an air stone to the same compartment as the skimmer might both oxygenate the skimmer water more, but also allow contact with a larger volume of water. I was worried about salt creep with the air stone (it is a microbubble stone similar to the wood air stones) and the possible effect on water temp as the outside air is 30-35*F so I placed the air stone close to the water line, approx 2" below. I saw insignificant change in temp, about 2/10ths a degree below "normal." I began seeing some effect on ph although minor, I no longer dropped into the high 7.70's but bottomed out 7.81-82 but never broke 8.08. This was across another 2 full day period.
  
  
• Air stone in the skimmer compartment, 6" below water line: After the somewhat successful previous test (detectable change in overnight ph, negligible effect on temp) I placed the same air stone towards the middle of the skimmer compartment of my AIO. Ran this for 2 full days and noticed a greater effect on temp, .5*F or so. On the first day ph stayed essentially the same as with the previous test (7.81-82 but never broke 8.08) however the 2nd full day, the ph reached a max of 8.15. That was the highest I had seen it with the windows closed. BUT... it seemed to be an anomaly as I left everything as-is and the 3rd day I didnt get above 8.10. ;Shifty
  
  
• No air pump/outside air: Ran the tank without any external influence and got the numbers I would expect: high 7.7X's and low 8.0X's.

So the external air pump is having a positive but marginal effect on the ph in the tank, however I'd like to see if I can up those numbers a bit. I'm thinking the next two tests will be to place the air stone at the very bottom of the skimmer compartment (I believe I have 10ish inches to work with), then perhaps placing the air stone in the overflow compartment. I'm curious whether there will be any detectable change with either. ;Bookworm

Has anyone else done anything similar? If so, what effects did you notice? Any ideas or suggestions for ways to improve upon of my attempts? Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I ran a tube out the window and put it in the skimmer airline.
Worked fine.

Also added saturated kalk to Ato
300 ml to 2.5 gal

Set dosing pump to deliver alk with ph boost (Esv two part) to dose at 11pm and 4am.
I never drop below 8.

Tank is crammed with coral.

Sumpless tank.

 

[Aaron J Henning]

Oxygen does raise and stabilize the pH. I ran a tube to the next room that is larger and I received an instant raise and stable reading to 8.2. Next step is running a line directly out of the house.

 

[GoVols]

I piped my skimmer's intake into the garage a few years ago and it made a slight difference.

But, I've had the most success in raising our town home windows and getting the trapped in C02 out.

I still do it in the heat of summer and the cold of winter but I leave the central heat and air's thermostat alone but move the fan switch from auto to the on position. Pretty hard core but my family is used to it and it's worth it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Oxygen does raise and stabilize the pH. I ran a tube to the next room that is larger and I received an instant raise and stable reading to 8.2. Next step is running a line directly out of the house.

Just nit picking since this is a chemistry forum, but its not actually the oxygen in fresh air that raises pH, but the lower CO2 level.

 

[kyleinpdx]

I ran a tube out the window and put it in the skimmer airline.
Worked fine.

Also added saturated kalk to Ato
300 ml to 2.5 gal

Set dosing pump to deliver alk with ph boost (Esv two part) to dose at 11pm and 4am.
I never drop below 8.

Tank is crammed with coral.

Sumpless tank.

I wish I could simply put a hose on the skimmer, I'm sure it would work better than my setup. Next tank upgrade is going to be a DT/sump instead of an AIO and I'll run a large skimmer plumed outside.

I also went the kalk route at one point but switched to a dosing pump a few months back. I couldnt ever find the sweet spot with the kalk, it always seemed to be too high or too low no matter how often I tinkered with the %s.

I piped my skimmer's intake into the garage a few years ago and it made a slight difference.

But, I've had the most success in raising our town home windows and getting the trapped in C02 out.

I still do it in the heat of summer and the cold of winter but I leave the central heat and air's thermostat alone but move the fan switch from auto to the on position. Pretty hard core but my family is used to it and it's worth it.

I've thought about doing the same with our furnace, just leave the fan on 24/7 but with the placement of the registers and our blinds it makes a ton of noise, plus the cats get all wigged out.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I wish I could simply put a hose on the skimmer, I'm sure it would work better than my setup. Next tank upgrade is going to be a DT/sump instead of an AIO and I'll run a large skimmer plumed outside.

I also went the kalk route at one point but switched to a dosing pump a few months back. I couldnt ever find the sweet spot with the kalk, it always seemed to be too high or too low no matter how often I tinkered with the %s.



I've thought about doing the same with our furnace, just leave the fan on 24/7 but with the placement of the registers and our blinds it makes a ton of noise, plus the cats get all wigged out.

How does the skimmer pull air in?
Mine is sumpless.

And the kalk in that small a dose impacts ph but does little to nothing to the alk and cal. That’s the point. Up the ph.

I have 2 tanks. Sumped and sumpless. Same PH.

 

[kyleinpdx]

How does the skimmer pull air in?
Mine is sumpless.

And the kalk in that small a dose impacts ph but does little to nothing to the alk and cal. That’s the point. Up the ph.

I have 2 tanks. Sumped and sumpless. Same PH.

Its a nano skimmer and with a similar length of hose attached to its inlet it wouldn’t pull enough air to run properly.

I’ll take a look into adding a small amount kalk back in the ATO.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Its a nano skimmer and with a similar length of hose attached to its inlet it wouldn’t pull enough air to run properly.

I’ll take a look into adding a small amount kalk back in the ATO.

Ah. Mine is a tunze nano. I used a 3/8 rather than a 1/4.

 

[kyleinpdx]

Ah. Mine is a tunze nano. I used a 3/8 rather than a 1/4.

Interesting, I wonder how many cfm (or whatever the appropriate unit of measure is?) the tunze pulls. I also tried 3/8 but did not try a straight run of it. Tank is in the living room and one of the requirements is that the hose must be hidden along the baseboards, the room is oddly shaped and there are plenty of bends. No matter how I tried to run the hose the restriction was too much. ;Dead

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Interesting, I wonder how many cfm (or whatever the appropriate unit of measure is?) the tunze pulls. I also tried 3/8 but did not try a straight run of it. Tank is in the living room and one of the requirements is that the hose must be hidden along the baseboards, the room is oddly shaped and there are plenty of bends. No matter how I tried to run the hose the restriction was too much. ;Dead

Yea, that might be a no go.
Mine is like 3 feet. The one in the other tank is like 6.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

I ran a tube out the window and put it in the skimmer airline.
Worked fine.

Also added saturated kalk to Ato
300 ml to 2.5 gal

Set dosing pump to deliver alk with ph boost (Esv two part) to dose at 11pm and 4am.
I never drop below 8.

Tank is crammed with coral.

Sumpless tank.[/QUOTE
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@saltyfilmfolks , care to share a few pictures of how you have you have yours set up! Also, what kind of Protein Skimmer do you have?
A sump less tank, never seen one before!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Tunze 9001 skimmer.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-cherry-30-cube-saltyfilmfolks.248152/