Help with Co2 scrubber

[wotis11]

How big of a co2 scrubber do I need for a 180 gallon tank? I have the icecap medium scrubber hooked to my curve 7 protein skimmer and it doesn’t seem to be doing anything. Im also dosing 2400ml of kalkwasser a day but my ph still struggles to get over 8.0 unless all the windows in my house are open. Then it gets up to 8.2. With summer coming I won’t be able to keep the windows open because the central air is will be on. So if I get a bigger scrubber or add a second one will that make a difference with my ph or will it just make the media last longer?

 

[Lasse]

How large are your water/air interface - excluded the skimmer? Do you have a strong surface motion, waves? In most aquarium the largest interface area between air and water is in the skimmer (all billions of bubbles) but in some aquarium with under dimensioned skimmer and large surface area that´s move, or contain waves - the interface between surface water and air is the largest interface area. In the first case - a CO2 scrubber will do a good job - but in the second case - CO2 scrubbers give limited success.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[wotis11]

How large are your water/air interface - excluded the skimmer? Do you have a strong surface motion, waves? In most aquarium the largest interface area between air and water is in the skimmer (all billions of bubbles) but in some aquarium with under dimensioned skimmer and large surface area that´s move, or contain waves - the interface between surface water and air is the largest interface area. In the first case - a CO2 scrubber will do a good job - but in the second case - CO2 scrubbers give limited success.

Sincerely Lasse

The top of the tank is 72”x24” and I have an icecap gyre on both ends of the tank so I have decent water movement across the top of the tank. Are you saying that I should lessen the surface movement?

 

[Lasse]

Are you saying that I should lessen the surface movement?

In order to rise your pH with the present skimmer - yes but in order to ensure your animals health - no - IMO

How does your animals going? Have you a graph of your pH?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[HuduVudu]

How big of a co2 scrubber do I need for a 180 gallon tank?

You are asking the wrong question.

The question should be "How do I test for the amount of ambient CO2?".

If you don't know what your ambient CO2 is then you will never know what forces you are fighting against. If that force is great you will fail over and over and become frustrated that your techniques aren't working.

Yes, there are other sources of CO2 other than and ambient. Yes, they could be the problem and not the ambient, but why not elminate that part of the equation when it is so cheap and easy to do. Especially when it represents such a huge portion of the problems encountered around pH.

 

[wotis11]

In order to rise your pH with the present skimmer - yes but in order to ensure your animals health - no - IMO

How does your animals going? Have you a graph of your pH?

Sincerely Lasse

Here is my ph for the past week. The dip was the day I had the central air on with the windows closed

 

[wotis11]

You are asking the wrong question.

The question should be "How do I test for the amount of ambient CO2?".

If you don't know what your ambient CO2 is then you will never know what forces you are fighting against. If that force is great you will fail over and over and become frustrated that your techniques aren't working.

Yes, there are other sources of CO2 other than and ambient. Yes, they could be the problem and not the ambient, but why not elminate that part of the equation when it is so cheap and easy to do. Especially when it represents such a huge portion of the problems encountered around pH.

Are you suggesting I buy a co2 meter?

 

[HuduVudu]

Are you suggesting I buy a co2 meter?

Yes.

 

[wotis11]

Yes.

Ok. I’ll prefer one today. Thank you

 

[wotis11]

Ok. I’ll prefer one today. Thank you

I’ll order one today

 

[Lasse]

Your problem is your ambient CO2 concentration - IMO. The dip when you close the windows is a prove of this. As I said before - in most aquarium is the skimmer the most effective gas exchanger, the dominating way for different gases transport in and out from the water. In these case - a CO2 scrubber is effective because the low CO2 concentrations in the air into the skimmer rips the CO2 in the water and transport it out into the room. In your case - it seems like there is another more important pathway for the gas exchange - the surface of your aquarium transport in more CO2 into the water compared with how much the CO2 free air in the skimmer transport out. On way to solve this is to run a much larger skimmer with more air per time unit and if possible - take the air to the scrubber from the outside.

If you want to monitor your CO2 - Netatmo have a smart weather station which measure indoor CO2

Sincerely Lasse

 

[wotis11]

Your problem is your ambient CO2 concentration - IMO. The dip when you close the windows is a prove of this. As I said before - in most aquarium is the skimmer the most effective gas exchanger, the dominating way for different gases transport in and out from the water. In these case - a CO2 scrubber is effective because the low CO2 concentrations in the air into the skimmer rips the CO2 in the water and transport it out into the room. In your case - it seems like there is another more important pathway for the gas exchange - the surface of your aquarium transport in more CO2 into the water compared with how much the CO2 free air in the skimmer transport out. On way to solve this is to run a much larger skimmer with more air per time unit and if possible - take the air to the scrubber from the outside.

If you want to monitor your CO2 - Netatmo have a smart weather station which measure indoor CO2

Sincerely Lasse

I will check that out. Also I have been looking at a bigger skimmer. I have tried running an air line from my skimmer outside and it didn’t make any difference. How much bigger of a skimmer would you recommend?

 

[Lasse]

How much bigger of a skimmer would you recommend?

Its not possible to calculate IMO. It depends on your CO2 pressure in the house and the surface area of water in contact with the ambient air.

As ab example - here is my indoor CO2 during January this year. All windows closed because its cold outside. We are 2 persons in the household

Sincerely Lasse

 

[wotis11]

Its not possible to calculate IMO. It depends on your CO2 pressure in the house and the surface area of water in contact with the ambient air.

As ab example - here is my indoor CO2 during January this year. All windows closed because its cold outside. We are 2 persons in the household

Sincerely Lasse

That gives me a baseline to compare to when I get my co2 monitor

 

[piranhaman00]

You need more air draw in the skimmer.

 

[wotis11]

You need more air draw in the skimmer.

Is there a way to do that without getting a bigger skimmer

 

[reefiniteasy]

Are you keeping water in the bottom of the scrubber? You need to keep water in the bottom at all times. I use a syringe to keep 20ml in the bottom.

 

[wotis11]

Are you keeping water in the bottom of the scrubber? You need to keep water in the bottom at all times. I use a syringe to keep 20ml in the bottom.

I have it recirculating from my skimmer cup so the air is very humid and yes water collects in the bottom of the scrubber. In fact I can see the water slightly bubbling at times from the air flow through the scrubber also

 

[reefiniteasy]

I have it recirculating from my skimmer cup so the air is very humid and yes water collects in the bottom of the scrubber. In fact I can see the water slightly bubbling at times from the air flow through the scrubber also

Have you tried using it without recirculating?

 

[wotis11]

Have you tried using it without recirculating?

Yes. I’ve also tried pulling air from outside through the scrubber and that didn’t make a difference either