How To Raise pH?

[SteadyC]

My thing is this....If I already have tubing from my skimmer to the outside of my house.....will a CO2 scrubber really do anything? I am already piping in fresh air to the skimmer....right?

Two things, 1) how long is your airline to outside? And 2) is the outside airline going into the silencer or directly into the pump? I had a line to outside as well, but I found that my skimmer was able to draw air through the silencer, not being completely sealed I guess, since my line to outside was over 10 feet , and path of least resistance was through air pulled into silencer, so the whole time I wasn’t pulling air from outside. I found this when I had no PH rise after having the airline to,outside for months, and I decided to take the line that was going from outside into silencer, and put it directly into pump instead, and then realized an increase in PH. Then if your airline to,outside is more than 10 feet, it may impact protein skimmers performce to draw air from that far will take energy, and it might make more sense to get the scrubber.

 

[lbacha]

Here was my ph with just running my fuge on a reverse light cycle and using my supplemental fuge light to keep the PH from dropping below 8.05. It was set to cut off when it got to 8.10

I left my supplemental light on one day and saw my ph climb to 8.4 so I figured I could do better than the 8.05-8.10 range I was keeping.

Here is my range with my main fuge light running 24/7 (it cuts out if the ph goes over 8.3) years supplemental grow light comes on at night and both will cut out if the ph goes above 8.3.

This also lets me know if my nutrients are low or high as the ph will drop to the 8.2 range if PO4 or no3 is low and will try to climb above 8.3 if they are high

I like this method of ph control over a scrubber as I produce a ton of cheato to sell to my LFS so I make money on it.

Not sure if there are any long term drawbacks to this rapid cheato growth but I've had it set this way for a couple months so we will see

 

[cccharliecc]

Two things, 1) how long is your airline to outside? And 2) is the outside airline going into the silencer or directly into the pump? I had a line to outside as well, but I found that my skimmer was able to draw air through the silencer, not being completely sealed I guess, since my line to outside was over 10 feet , and path of least resistance was through air pulled into silencer, so the whole time I wasn’t pulling air from outside. I found this when I had no PH rise after having the airline to,outside for months, and I decided to take the line that was going from outside into silencer, and put it directly into pump instead, and then realized an increase in PH. Then if your airline to,outside is more than 10 feet, it may impact protein skimmers performce to draw air from that far will take energy, and it might make more sense to get the scrubber.

The lines going outside are about 8 feet long and yes, they do go into the silencer. I will Tee them and go into the pump on the skimmer directly and see if that makes a difference.

 

[mitch91175]

Here was my ph with just running my fuge on a reverse light cycle and using my supplemental fuge light to keep the PH from dropping below 8.05. It was set to cut off when it got to 8.10

I left my supplemental light on one day and saw my ph climb to 8.4 so I figured I could do better than the 8.05-8.10 range I was keeping.

Here is my range with my main fuge light running 24/7 (it cuts out if the ph goes over 8.3) years supplemental grow light comes on at night and both will cut out if the ph goes above 8.3.

This also lets me know if my nutrients are low or high as the ph will drop to the 8.2 range if PO4 or no3 is low and will try to climb above 8.3 if they are high

I like this method of ph control over a scrubber as I produce a ton of cheato to sell to my LFS so I make money on it.

Not sure if there are any long term drawbacks to this rapid cheato growth but I've had it set this way for a couple months so we will see

What fuge light(s) are you using?

 

[mitch91175]

I use this light. Don’t remember where I bought it.

 

[lbacha]

What fuge light(s) are you using?

I have a Kessil h80 that runs 24/7 and a cheap panel growlight from ebay that shines in the side of my trigger 20c sump

 

[cccharliecc]

I just piped the line directly to the skimmer pump from the outside....i'll see how to goes for a couple of days before I change anything else.
I may do the fuge light on all the time also, depending on how this outside line thing goes.

 

[mitch91175]

I remember, I bought it from ReefBreeders a long time ago (4 years ago, )

 

[Dana Riddle]

I guess I'm just old-fashioned - I prefer dosing kalkwasser *slowly* and maintaining alkalinity above ~120 mg/L for pH control, although I do run the sump light 24-hours for Chaeto growth (I might cut that photoperiod back to 12 hours since the nuisance algae (diatoms) has been eliminated,)

 

[mitch91175]

I guess I'm just old-fashioned - I prefer dosing kalkwasser *slowly* and maintaining alkalinity above ~120 mg/L for pH control, although I do run the sump light 24-hours for Chaeto growth (I might cut that photoperiod back to 12 hours since the nuisance algae (diatoms) has been eliminated,)

Yes Dana, being old school/fashioned comes with age

 

[Dana Riddle]

Yes Dana, being old school/fashioned comes with age

No denying it - I'm old!

 

[mitch91175]

No denying it - I'm old!

But plenty of knowledge and wisdom!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

My thing is this....If I already have tubing from my skimmer to the outside of my house.....will a CO2 scrubber really do anything? I am already piping in fresh air to the skimmer....right?

Yes, it will drop CO2 in that air even lower, and will use less media than indoor air.

 

[Ryanbrs]

The Y will not work, air will always take the path of least resistance. No air will,reach the skimmer that went through the CO2 media.

You might be surprised how much the pH rises with only a small portion of the air going through the scrubber. Even though it is lower resistance there is more flow than you might think. Using a tee and a valve you can find a balance that allows the media to last significantly longer.

 

[cccharliecc]

It doesn't look like keeping the fuge light on 24x7 or directly running the outside air line to the skimmer pump is making a dent on my pH.
I have 2 extra BRS reactors just sitting around, I am going to order a small bag of CO2 absorbant and set it up as a test to see if it make a difference. If it does, I will keep it, and then order the product in bulk from the link posted earlier.
I just didn't want another maintenance task, but par for the course with a tank.....cant be 100% ULM.

 

[mitch91175]

It doesn't look like keeping the fuge light on 24x7 or directly running the outside air line to the skimmer pump is making a dent on my pH.
I have 2 extra BRS reactors just sitting around, I am going to order a small bag of CO2 absorbant and set it up as a test to see if it make a difference. If it does, I will keep it, and then order the product in bulk from the link posted earlier.
I just didn't want another maintenance task, but par for the course with a tank.....cant be 100% ULM.

Are you carbon dosing?

 

[cccharliecc]

No

 

[cccharliecc]

What is that/ how do you do that ?

 

[mitch91175]

What is that/ how do you do that ?

By using vodka or vinegar. I was asking cause it has a lowering pH affect

 

[mitch91175]

It doesn't look like keeping the fuge light on 24x7 or directly running the outside air line to the skimmer pump is making a dent on my pH.
I have 2 extra BRS reactors just sitting around, I am going to order a small bag of CO2 absorbant and set it up as a test to see if it make a difference. If it does, I will keep it, and then order the product in bulk from the link posted earlier.
I just didn't want another maintenance task, but par for the course with a tank.....cant be 100% ULM.

On the reactors make sure that you have the correct sizes barbs for your skimmer or how ever you are going to set them up. May need to order the correct size when you order your media.