pH help. CO2 scrubber not improving

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm in the same predicament and kalk raised my dkh from 9 to 14 while only raising pH from 7.5 to 7.8. You mentioned it was the excess co2 in my room.

Seems for myself and others in this situation the only solution is an air exchanger (seriously considering) or adding a sizeable Fuge split in half to allow one side to run during the day and other at night with each on differing light schedules based on tank demands. Latter seems easy enough if one has the room but an air exchanger likely best as it also benefits the humans and other pets in the entire house.

Air exchange certainly is a solution.

How effect any other solution is varies a lot with the ambient CO2, and the degree of tank top aeration relative to whatever means you are using to reduce CO2.

 

[aaron186]

Good advice so far but I would like to address this.
Are you saying you can't get the hose thru the wall because it bends? Are you saying you have 2 sheetrock to get thru?
Do you have fish tape?


Or a long screwdriver to poke thru and tape the hose after you poke thru the wall then pull the hose thru.
Are the other thing you can do is draw a larger hole and run a PVC pipe or conduit through the wall and push it through there.

I have RO tubes run already. The run goes through a wall separating laundry room and garage, then behind cabinets and the washer dryer, then another wall where it’s behind cabinets in a dry bar, then another wall where it’s run behind my hvac airhandler, and then the wall that the tank is on. Running the tube is easy and there’s already holes. The issue is that I can’t control the height of the tube in the runs due to the height of the laundry and the cabinets and dry bars. It’s hard to describe on here but there’s just no way to run the tube where it doesn’t form a U shape in the wall/behind cabinets. That’s going to result in condensation in the wall forming at the bottom of the U which I think could clog the air tube.

 

[aaron186]

I run a 1/2" ID hose from the furnace fresh air intake to my skimmer recirc CO2 scrubber and the air hose length is 65ft long and it pulls air just fine. When I am able to open widows/sliding door I will sometimes bypass the scrubber and run the air hose to the skimmer and I get absolutely no decrease in foam height so I have little if no change in CFM to the skimmer air intake with that length of air line. My skimmer recirc setup only takes a minute to go from recirc to fresh air intake only.

My tank is on the opposite wall of my HVAC. I didn’t realize I could run a line to the fresh air intake on it. I’m also not sure which part of my unit is the fresh air intake. Can you show me some more pics of how you connected to the intake?

 

[Steve2020]

My tank is on the opposite wall of my HVAC. I didn’t realize I could run a line to the fresh air intake on it. I’m also not sure which part of my unit is the fresh air intake. Can you show me some more pics of how you connected to the intake?

Depending on your furnace setup the fresh air intake will either be a large tubing that is connected to outside air inlet on the side of your home and open somewhere near your furnace like mine is or it can be a rigid setup that is directly imputed into the furnace unit itself. There is probably more elaborate furnace fresh air inputs but in all instances they all bring in fresh outside air. You should have an airduct somewhere outside on the homes exterior that is for the furnace. Follow it into your home and see where it goes.
Below is my furnace fresh air supply.

 

[aaron186]

Depending on your furnace setup the fresh air intake will either be a large tubing that is connected to outside air inlet on the side of your home and open somewhere near your furnace like mine is or it can be a rigid setup that is directly imputed into the furnace unit itself. There is probably more elaborate furnace fresh air inputs but in all instances they all bring in fresh outside air. You should have an airduct somewhere outside on the homes exterior that is for the furnace. Follow it into your home and see where it goes.
Below is my furnace fresh air supply.

Thanks. I think mine is sealed off. I assume it’s this insulated tube.

 

[Steve2020]

Thanks. I think mine is sealed off. I assume it’s this insulated tube.

Yep! That looks like your fresh air supply. Is that a heat pump?

 

[aaron186]

Yep! That looks like your fresh air supply. Is that a heat pump?

I’m not sure to be honest. I live in Florida and have never turned on my heater lol. The house is 3 years old for what it’s worth. Wish I new more about this stuff to see if there’s a way to make it work since it would be way easier than running a tube to the garage.

 

[Steve2020]

I’m not sure to be honest. I live in Florida and have never turned on my heater lol. The house is 3 years old for what it’s worth. Wish I new more about this stuff to see if there’s a way to make it work since it would be way easier than running a tube to the garage.

Call your HAVC service company and ask if it is legal to tap into the fresh air supply and if so would it hurt the operation of your furnace. It looks like it is a ridged pipe looking at the photos.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, my boiler takes fresh air from the room it is in, so folks looking for such an intake may not always find one.

 

[aaron186]

Yea it looks like mine is sealed off. Would be easier since my run to the outside goes through the closet that my HVAC is in. I can run a long 30ft-40ft airline tube to the garage but like I said there’s no good way from keeping the tube from bowing creating a good spot for condensation to form. I live in humid Florida so that seems pretty likely.

 

[Adamc13o3]

I too live in Florida and have major PH issues. However, my tank is fairly new and I found that newer tanks sometimes have a lower PH. I run a fresh air line into my skimmer. If my skimmer is off my PH can drop to 7.7 or even lower at times. When I dose things that say “turn off skimmer” I simply cannot. I recently added a co2 scrubber to the fresh air line which helped a bit. I also found a co2 scrubber for the entire room. Believe it or not it works! It’s a cylinder that’s filled with water and has a bubbler. They give you some sort of liquid / algae solution which turns green with time and has to be changed every few months. This thing looks like a lava lamp. They claim that it’s equivalent to 25 house plants. Check it out I guess. So far it has really made a difference. I am now at 8.10 at night (but that’s with Kalk dosing at night) and I got up to 8.16 during the day. Prior to this I couldn’t get past 8.01. I was also opening a 5 foot sliding door which is 2 feet away from the tank and it was not improving anything.

AlgenAir

The aerium, by AlgenAir: the only natural air purifier that uses Spirulina to create oxygen while reducing carbon dioxide indoors.

algenair.com

Please let us know if you try this and have similar results.

Adam

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, I do not think the remote algae scrubber that is changed every few months will be a good plan for raising aquarium pH. Too little CO2 removed.

 

[GARRIGA]

FWIW, I do not think the remote algae scrubber that is changed every few months will be a good plan for raising aquarium pH. Too little CO2 removed.

My understanding of ATS being they benefit from air co2 just as floating plants do and why they aren't my first choice for in tank co2 removal. Fuge my approach and currently testing to confirm. Worked in FW using both green water as well as plants. Actually worked too well to the point I had to overload with fish to prevent the plants from utilizing alkalinity and crashing that as they were stripping the water of co2.

 

[GARRIGA]

I recently added a co2 scrubber to the fresh air line which helped a bit. I also found a co2 scrubber for the entire room. Believe it or not it works! It’s a cylinder that’s filled with water and has a bubbler. They give you some sort of liquid / algae solution which turns green with time and has to be changed every few months. This thing looks like a lava lamp. They claim that it’s equivalent to 25 house plants. Check it out I guess.

Saw that on YouTube during a search for plants to scrub room co2. Going to have to try it as it would be cheaper than installing an air exchanger. Just seemed more snake oil than fact but glad you're seeing results. Not just looking for better gas exchange for the tank inhabitants. Seeking for us humans and pets too.

 

[jda]

You need plant mass the same as the humans and pets to equal this out. 25 plants might not be able to cancel out the co2 from a cat.

Reverse light cycle algae turf scrubber should raise co2. Photosynthetic bump can be around .2 depending on size.

 

[Briansreef]

Randy’s Sodium hydroxide recipe solved my ph issue. 8.2 to 8.3. I tried everything. Hole through the wall, plants, Kalk, high powered air pump micro bubbling air from outside, fuge, outside air to skimmer . Nothing for got me above 7.8. It was 7.6 almost always. Florida humidity made the air line outside useless. Thanks Randy for solving my issue.

I dose it twice a day in two larger doses rather then spreading it out so I get a bigger boost of ph. It holds between 8.1 to 8.3 day in and day out.

 

[aaron186]

Randy’s Sodium hydroxide recipe solved my ph issue. 8.2 to 8.3. I tried everything. Hole through the wall, plants, Kalk, high powered air pump micro bubbling air from outside, fuge, outside air to skimmer . Nothing for got me above 7.8. It was 7.6 almost always. Florida humidity made the air line outside useless. Thanks Randy for solving my issue.

I dose it twice a day in two larger doses rather then spreading it out so I get a bigger boost of ph. It holds between 8.1 to 8.3 day in and day out.

Got a link to it?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Got a link to it?

There are several recipes and modifications, but IMO, the best one is sodium hydroxide, calcium chloride, and Balling Part C.

Second New DIY Two Part Recipe with Higher pH Boost

In a previous thread, I posted a true two part DIY recipe: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-diy-two-part-recipes-with-higher-ph-boost.344500/ But some folks may want to just swap the new ingredient into my 2/3 part recipe (as used by BRS, for example). Here's the original recipe link...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[aaron186]

There are several recipes and modifications, but IMO, the best one is sodium hydroxide, calcium chloride, and Balling Part C.

Second New DIY Two Part Recipe with Higher pH Boost

In a previous thread, I posted a true two part DIY recipe: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-diy-two-part-recipes-with-higher-ph-boost.344500/ But some folks may want to just swap the new ingredient into my 2/3 part recipe (as used by BRS, for example). Here's the original recipe link...

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you so much. You’re a huge help Randy