Low pH issues?? Make your own CO2 scrubber!!
- Thread starter 120reefkeeper
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srusso
Active Member
Before and after pH probe calibration. Setup Co2 scrubber anyway. Configured APEX to turn off the scrubber if the pH goes above 8.3, which will likely happen when the lights come on. (Now that I see I dont have low pH, plan on using it as pH control)
Matt Carden
Valuable Member
I don't plan on using Skimmer so I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on how to incorporate CO2 scrubber into refugium/sump area? Maybe an air pump fed from outside air with air stone in sump?
OP
OP
120reefkeeper
Reef keeping with Military Precision!
If you look back at the beginning of this post you will see how I used a salt bucket, CO2 media, air pump and wooden air stones to accomplish it.
Dr. Dendrostein
Marine fish monthly
Thanks for sharingLow pH issues?? Make your own CO2 scrubber!!
So let's talk about why you're here and why I decided to write this. From time to time I've had low pH issues, and I suppose you have too, it can be frustrating. I for one am not the type of person to chase numbers , but when you can do something about it, why not!? This is where I decided to look into why I was having low pH issues.
1.
As you can see on this Apex graph my pH wasn't horrible but low and erratic. Sound familiar??
First off I'll say that I'm no scientist, or chemist so if your checking this article out for scientific terms, etc.... I'm not your guy. I'm just a hobbyist and a business owner that has a lot of experience, and I've been keeping tanks on and off for most of my life.
So why be concerned at all with pH?? I'm a stickler for stability, and you might be too. Are you experiencing some pretty dynamic and erratic pH swings? I've seen pH in my system as low as 7.5 and never got higher than 8.1 . So my search was on searching for causes. After searching throughout R2R, I did a couple of tests and determined that CO2 was the culprit. Yes, even us old timers look for pointers. LOL
Now what to do about it?? Well I tried increasing surface agitation with more pumps and pointed them at the surface for gas exchange. Have you tried that?? As a matter of fact, if I had added anymore agitation I would be blowing water out of the tank!
The end result of that was a lot of excessive salt spray and not much else. So now what do we do?? Well, my next step was a little more drastic, but was an easy job--I decided to drill a hole in the side of my house and run a line to my skimmer for an outside source of fresh air.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
In pictures 2-8 you can see some of that process I captured. Here is a link to the complete thread.
Skimmer pH bump
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/Skimmer-PH-bump.248348/
I'd also like to add a link to another great article by @jsker !
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-simple-fix-for-low-ph.270743/
You see, if I open the windows up in my home, my pH would go up, but like a lot of folks, we can't possibly keep our homes open all the time. Sound familiar?? LOL Being from the Midwest, we deal with extremes. One day it's 100° with 90% humidity, and the next it can be snowing.
So after running the line, I did get a nice little pH bump. It had worked, but like most people I wanted to push a little more.
9.
10.
In pictures 9-10 you can see I did get a nice little pH bump.
The next and final step was to make my own CO2 scrubber. It's not as hard to do as you might think. As a matter of fact, I made 2 with existing stuff I had laying around. The only thing I intentionally purchased to do this was SODA LIME . You can purchase it from a welding supply store or you can also get it from www.Bulkreefsupply.com
11.
12.
13.
In pictures 11-13 you can see I used an old GFO reactor and placed a sponge on the bottom inside the reactor, filled it with the soda-lime and placed the top back on it.
In picture 13 you can see how the media (soda-lime) changes color as it is exhausted. This was about 1 month of full 24 hour use.
The inlet side of the reactor is hooked to the incoming outside air line and the other end goes to the skimmer intake. Shown in figure 14.
14.
After having a great deal of success, with using soda lime I decided to put to use some older equipment I had laying around.
In pictures 15-19 you'll see an empty salt bucket I had so I drilled some small holes in the bottom and lined the inside with some plastic screen material. Then pour in about 1 inch of soda lime and place your air pump in the bucket and run the airlines and power cord out the top. Then hookup the dual airlines to air-stones and placed them inside your sump. In picture 19 you'll see how my pH climbed very nicely!
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
In conclusion, you can see now my pH has gone up from an average of 7.8 to about 8.2. Its also much more stable and predictable. I hope you enjoyed this and have success with some of these ideas. As winter nears, we will all be inside more and the dreaded pH drop may come and pay you a visit, but you'll be prepared!
Happy Reefing!
Matt Carden
Valuable Member
Thanks for the reply.
srusso
Active Member
It should be noted I had the air-stone in the aquarium full time before this as an effort to get my pH raised. I only added the CO2 media in my case. As it stands now, I don't believe I ever had an pH issue, just a calibration issue. The CO2 media doesn't appear to have had an effect on my aquarium pH. I believe my ORP probe is due for a calibration mainly b/c I have never done it! So after being humbled by nature with my pH probe...
More charts!
More charts!
Paul B
10K Club member
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Reef Of The Month
Article Contributor
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
That chart gave me a headache and I am not sure what you are trying to do, but whatever it is, I am sure there is a much simpler way to do it as I am a very simple minded guy.
Simplicity is my middle name. (That and Nat because I was born on Christmas and , forget it it's a long story)
srusso
Active Member
OMG! It's PaulB, your internet famous you know. [emoji39]That chart gave me a headache and I am not sure what you are trying to do, but whatever it is, I am sure there is a much simpler way to do it as I am a very simple minded guy.
We are making CO2 scrubbers here. By removing CO2 from the air, trying to up the oxygen. My "channeling my inner PaulB" was to keep the project as simple as possible, container, media, air pump, air stone. The charts are just to feel smart, did it work? [emoji28]
Paul B
10K Club member
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Reef Of The Month
Article Contributor
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
No I don't, but I am trying to be famous with Supermodels, so far, no luck.
The charts didn't work as they normally make things look complicated where they are not. I also feel a CO2 scrubber is not needed unless you are a chart manufacturer, but that's just me. There is plenty of oxygen in a tank and if you see your fish with their noses out of the water they may be looking at the pictures on the wall or trying to find out where that RAP music is coming from so they can cut their throat. That really bothers them because they don't have thumbs to hold the knife.
If CO2 really bothers you or you feel like building something simple hang a mesh over your tank, run water across it and light it. The algae will remove the CO2 naturally while you sleep. You can build it like I did for about $3.00.
I just did it because I like to build simple things and not that I care about CO2 or even CO3.
If you look close you can see it over my tank with the red light on it. If you look closer you can barely see the CO2 "wafting" away.
Paul B
10K Club member
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Reef Of The Month
Article Contributor
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
I just remembered about 6 months ago I built a sulfur denitritor, does that qualify for anything? It is on my shelf and I never used it. I built it out of some kind of reactor someone gave me. Some day I may install it but right now I don't have any nitrates. I would just like to see if it leaks or looks cool enough to use. Maybe I will put some LEDs in it.
srusso
Active Member
You mean like this? [emoji57]No I don't, but I am trying to be famous with Supermodels, so far, no luck.
The charts didn't work as they normally make things look complicated where they are not. I also feel a CO2 scrubber is not needed unless you are a chart manufacturer, but that's just me. There is plenty of oxygen in a tank and if you see your fish with their noses out of the water they may be looking at the pictures on the wall or trying to find out where that RAP music is coming from so they can cut their throat. That really bothers them because they don't have thumbs to hold the knife.
If CO2 really bothers you or you feel like building something simple hang a mesh over your tank, run water across it and light it. The algae will remove the CO2 naturally while you sleep. You can build it like I did for about $3.00.
I just did it because I like to build simple things and not that I care about CO2 or even CO3.
If you look close you can see it over my tank with the red light on it. If you look closer you can barely see the CO2 "wafting" away.
Low pH issues?? Make your own CO2 scrubber!!
So let's talk about why you're here and why I decided to write this. From time to time I've had low pH issues, and I suppose you have too, it can be frustrating. I for one am not the type of person to chase numbers , but when you can do something about it, why not!? This is where I decided to look into why I was having low pH issues.
1.
As you can see on this Apex graph my pH wasn't horrible but low and erratic. Sound familiar??
First off I'll say that I'm no scientist, or chemist so if your checking this article out for scientific terms, etc.... I'm not your guy. I'm just a hobbyist and a business owner that has a lot of experience, and I've been keeping tanks on and off for most of my life.
So why be concerned at all with pH?? I'm a stickler for stability, and you might be too. Are you experiencing some pretty dynamic and erratic pH swings? I've seen pH in my system as low as 7.5 and never got higher than 8.1 . So my search was on searching for causes. After searching throughout R2R, I did a couple of tests and determined that CO2 was the culprit. Yes, even us old timers look for pointers. LOL
Now what to do about it?? Well I tried increasing surface agitation with more pumps and pointed them at the surface for gas exchange. Have you tried that?? As a matter of fact, if I had added anymore agitation I would be blowing water out of the tank!
The end result of that was a lot of excessive salt spray and not much else. So now what do we do?? Well, my next step was a little more drastic, but was an easy job--I decided to drill a hole in the side of my house and run a line to my skimmer for an outside source of fresh air.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
In pictures 2-8 you can see some of that process I captured. Here is a link to the complete thread.
Skimmer pH bump
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/Skimmer-PH-bump.248348/
I'd also like to add a link to another great article by @jsker !
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-simple-fix-for-low-ph.270743/
You see, if I open the windows up in my home, my pH would go up, but like a lot of folks, we can't possibly keep our homes open all the time. Sound familiar?? LOL Being from the Midwest, we deal with extremes. One day it's 100° with 90% humidity, and the next it can be snowing.
So after running the line, I did get a nice little pH bump. It had worked, but like most people I wanted to push a little more.
9.
10.
In pictures 9-10 you can see I did get a nice little pH bump.
The next and final step was to make my own CO2 scrubber. It's not as hard to do as you might think. As a matter of fact, I made 2 with existing stuff I had laying around. The only thing I intentionally purchased to do this was SODA LIME . You can purchase it from a welding supply store or you can also get it from www.Bulkreefsupply.com
11.
12.
13.
In pictures 11-13 you can see I used an old GFO reactor and placed a sponge on the bottom inside the reactor, filled it with the soda-lime and placed the top back on it.
In picture 13 you can see how the media (soda-lime) changes color as it is exhausted. This was about 1 month of full 24 hour use.
The inlet side of the reactor is hooked to the incoming outside air line and the other end goes to the skimmer intake. Shown in figure 14.
14.
After having a great deal of success, with using soda lime I decided to put to use some older equipment I had laying around.
In pictures 15-19 you'll see an empty salt bucket I had so I drilled some small holes in the bottom and lined the inside with some plastic screen material. Then pour in about 1 inch of soda lime and place your air pump in the bucket and run the airlines and power cord out the top. Then hookup the dual airlines to air-stones and placed them inside your sump. In picture 19 you'll see how my pH climbed very nicely!
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
In conclusion, you can see now my pH has gone up from an average of 7.8 to about 8.2. Its also much more stable and predictable. I hope you enjoyed this and have success with some of these ideas. As winter nears, we will all be inside more and the dreaded pH drop may come and pay you a visit, but you'll be prepared!
Happy Reefing!
Hello there
Where did you buy a bucket soda lime on picture #11.
Thanks
OP
OP
120reefkeeper
Reef keeping with Military Precision!
From Airgas welding supply.
Bruce7267ad
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2019
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- 235
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- 69
So just doing the air pump inside of the CO2 absorbent material in the bucket was enough to make your pH go up or was it all the things you did that made your pH go up?Low pH issues?? Make your own CO2 scrubber!!
So let's talk about why you're here and why I decided to write this. From time to time I've had low pH issues, and I suppose you have too, it can be frustrating. I for one am not the type of person to chase numbers , but when you can do something about it, why not!? This is where I decided to look into why I was having low pH issues.
1.
As you can see on this Apex graph my pH wasn't horrible but low and erratic. Sound familiar??
First off I'll say that I'm no scientist, or chemist so if your checking this article out for scientific terms, etc.... I'm not your guy. I'm just a hobbyist and a business owner that has a lot of experience, and I've been keeping tanks on and off for most of my life.
So why be concerned at all with pH?? I'm a stickler for stability, and you might be too. Are you experiencing some pretty dynamic and erratic pH swings? I've seen pH in my system as low as 7.5 and never got higher than 8.1 . So my search was on searching for causes. After searching throughout R2R, I did a couple of tests and determined that CO2 was the culprit. Yes, even us old timers look for pointers. LOL
Now what to do about it?? Well I tried increasing surface agitation with more pumps and pointed them at the surface for gas exchange. Have you tried that?? As a matter of fact, if I had added anymore agitation I would be blowing water out of the tank!
The end result of that was a lot of excessive salt spray and not much else. So now what do we do?? Well, my next step was a little more drastic, but was an easy job--I decided to drill a hole in the side of my house and run a line to my skimmer for an outside source of fresh air.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
In pictures 2-8 you can see some of that process I captured. Here is a link to the complete thread.
Skimmer pH bump
https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/Skimmer-PH-bump.248348/
I'd also like to add a link to another great article by @jsker !
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-simple-fix-for-low-ph.270743/
You see, if I open the windows up in my home, my pH would go up, but like a lot of folks, we can't possibly keep our homes open all the time. Sound familiar?? LOL Being from the Midwest, we deal with extremes. One day it's 100° with 90% humidity, and the next it can be snowing.
So after running the line, I did get a nice little pH bump. It had worked, but like most people I wanted to push a little more.
9.
10.
In pictures 9-10 you can see I did get a nice little pH bump.
The next and final step was to make my own CO2 scrubber. It's not as hard to do as you might think. As a matter of fact, I made 2 with existing stuff I had laying around. The only thing I intentionally purchased to do this was SODA LIME . You can purchase it from a welding supply store or you can also get it from www.Bulkreefsupply.com
11.
12.
13.
In pictures 11-13 you can see I used an old GFO reactor and placed a sponge on the bottom inside the reactor, filled it with the soda-lime and placed the top back on it.
In picture 13 you can see how the media (soda-lime) changes color as it is exhausted. This was about 1 month of full 24 hour use.
The inlet side of the reactor is hooked to the incoming outside air line and the other end goes to the skimmer intake. Shown in figure 14.
14.
After having a great deal of success, with using soda lime I decided to put to use some older equipment I had laying around.
In pictures 15-19 you'll see an empty salt bucket I had so I drilled some small holes in the bottom and lined the inside with some plastic screen material. Then pour in about 1 inch of soda lime and place your air pump in the bucket and run the airlines and power cord out the top. Then hookup the dual airlines to air-stones and placed them inside your sump. In picture 19 you'll see how my pH climbed very nicely!
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
In conclusion, you can see now my pH has gone up from an average of 7.8 to about 8.2. Its also much more stable and predictable. I hope you enjoyed this and have success with some of these ideas. As winter nears, we will all be inside more and the dreaded pH drop may come and pay you a visit, but you'll be prepared!
Happy Reefing!
OP
OP
120reefkeeper
Reef keeping with Military Precision!
I saw the greatest impact with hooking up the skimmer to the CO2 scrubber. Next was the bucket method with air pump and stones. Last was running a line to fresh air. It was a progression for me. I started with the fresh air line and documented results. For me that wasn’t enough. Then I added the bucket method... better but wanted to see if I could get a better result. Last I added the CO2 scrubber to the air intake of the skimmer. This yielded the biggest bang. I currently still use 2 or the 3 methods. Still in use are the CO2 scrubber to the air intake of the skimmer and the bucket airpump method. The fresh airline turned out to be a bit of a hassle for me. My neighbor likes to spray pesticides so when I saw that I removed it. Didn’t want to take a chance even though I had carbon inline with the tubing.
OP
OP
120reefkeeper
Reef keeping with Military Precision!
Can I use lime from Lowe’s while I wait for mine to come in the mail or does it take a certain kind this is pellets
Soda lime is
a mixture of calcium oxide and sodium hydroxide.
Gardening lime is .
The primary active component is calcium carbonate. Additional chemicals vary depending on the mineral source and may include calcium oxide, magnesium oxide and magnesium carbonate.
Unless you know for sure what all ingredients are in that product I wouldn’t use it . I’m sure it also wouldn’t change color.
The soda lime I use is actually a medical grade product not an agricultural grade product.
I would say no.
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