PH, skimmers, and more

[Treefer32]

I know PH is affected by the air in my home. I live in a 3000 squarefoot home (basement and main floor), lots of windows. It is a newer home, but only 3 average sized people live in the home. No dogs, no other pets than the fish. Lots of house plants around the house too. I've got 4 gyres moving water around 15000 gph combined running at the surface of my 340 gallon tank. There's tons of agitation. I'm running a Diablo Skimmer rated for 400 gallons light load. (I've probably got a heavy bioload with 20 fish several large in the 9-12" long range.

I've finally got my PH up to near 8.0. during the day and down to 7.89 at night.

I'm dosing baked baking soda and keep my alk between 8.5 and 9.5.

My skimmer is around 8-9 years old, it has been in use for 7 of those years and in cold / dry storage for 1 of those years.

I clean the pump 1-2 times a year.

Do pumps decrease in air they run into the tank? I'm just wondering if spending the money on a new pump would make any difference or would it just be the same problem? How do I know without replacing it? The pump seems to work fine, but I don't know if it's pulling in what it should be and/or do DC pumps lose power over time?

I also don't know why my house would be so high in CO2 to cause my tanks PH to be that low. Without the skimmer running ph drops between 7.5 and 7.6.

Short of buying canned oxygen I'm not sure how else to raise my ph. I run an algae turf scrubber. Would a larger scrubber or running chaeto and the turf scrubber scrub CO2 and and raise PH? My nitrates and phosphates say I could run larger scrubber or more macro algae. Cost is the biggest factor. Adding in more that sized equipment becomes expensive and time consuming to maintain.

 

[Troylee]

I know PH is affected by the air in my home. I live in a 3000 squarefoot home (basement and main floor), lots of windows. It is a newer home, but only 3 average sized people live in the home. No dogs, no other pets than the fish. Lots of house plants around the house too. I've got 4 gyres moving water around 15000 gph combined running at the surface of my 340 gallon tank. There's tons of agitation. I'm running a Diablo Skimmer rated for 400 gallons light load. (I've probably got a heavy bioload with 20 fish several large in the 9-12" long range.

I've finally got my PH up to near 8.0. during the day and down to 7.89 at night.

I'm dosing baked baking soda and keep my alk between 8.5 and 9.5.

My skimmer is around 8-9 years old, it has been in use for 7 of those years and in cold / dry storage for 1 of those years.

I clean the pump 1-2 times a year.

Do pumps decrease in air they run into the tank? I'm just wondering if spending the money on a new pump would make any difference or would it just be the same problem? How do I know without replacing it? The pump seems to work fine, but I don't know if it's pulling in what it should be and/or do DC pumps lose power over time?

I also don't know why my house would be so high in CO2 to cause my tanks PH to be that low. Without the skimmer running ph drops between 7.5 and 7.6.

Short of buying canned oxygen I'm not sure how else to raise my ph. I run an algae turf scrubber. Would a larger scrubber or running chaeto and the turf scrubber scrub CO2 and and raise PH? My nitrates and phosphates say I could run larger scrubber or more macro algae. Cost is the biggest factor. Adding in more that sized equipment becomes expensive and time consuming to maintain.

Try a ph scrubber on your skimmer Inlet! Cheap and effective.. only down fall is buying media every so often.. best thing to do if it’s a option would be run your skimmer intake airline outside the house and it should cure all your problems if it is indeed co2.

 

[Treefer32]

Try a ph scrubber on your skimmer Inlet! Cheap and effective.. only down fall is buying media every so often.. best thing to do if it’s a option would be run your skimmer intake airline outside the house and it should cure all your problems if it is indeed co2.

My skimmer intake line is ran to my air exchanger vent and about 6 feet into the vent so about 3 foot from the exterior of my house. PH still barely gets to 8.0. I would guess it's getting 60-70% outside air right now. Which is why I'm so confused. I have a CO2 Scrubber I was going to add to my skimmer. I got it used, and it doesn't have any fittings to attach to my skimmer hose. I don't know if my skimmer is too old it's an odd size or if the scrubber has an odd size adaptor on it. but none of the BRS standard fittings work on the CO2 scrubber. It's a $100 paper weight. I figured outside air would be just as good as scrubbed air. . .

 

[JCM]

What's the CO2 level in your home, have you measured? Being a new home, it could be sealed pretty tightly.

 

[Troylee]

My skimmer intake line is ran to my air exchanger vent and about 6 feet into the vent so about 3 foot from the exterior of my house. PH still barely gets to 8.0. I would guess it's getting 60-70% outside air right now. Which is why I'm so confused. I have a CO2 Scrubber I was going to add to my skimmer. I got it used, and it doesn't have any fittings to attach to my skimmer hose. I don't know if my skimmer is too old it's an odd size or if the scrubber has an odd size adaptor on it. but none of the BRS standard fittings work on the CO2 scrubber. It's a $100 paper weight. I figured outside air would be just as good as scrubbed air. . .

Outside air is as good as your gonna get.. maybe c02 isn’t your ph issue and something else is.. opening a door or window near the tank would tell ya.. there’s ways of checking it.. I believe @Randy Holmes-Farley had mentioned taking some tank water in a cup with a air stone for x amount of time and then testing the ph of it to see if that’s really your problem.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Never assume more aeration will impact pH in any specific way. It can raise or lower pH, depending on the tank alk, the tank pH, and the CO2 level in the air. It might even move pH in different directions at different times of the day.

FWIW, adding O2 will have no impact on pH. pH is all CO2 and alk.

If you want to know the impact of aeration, try it first on a cup of tank water:

pH and the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION

by Randy Holmes-Farley For many aquarists, pH is not something that they have much experience with aside from their aquarium. For many, pH is almost a black box measurement: something to be considered, but whose physical meaning makes little sense to them. This article will Read more here...

www.reefedition.com

The Aeration Test

Some of the possible causes of low pH listed above require an effort to diagnose. Problems 3 and 4 are quite common, and here is a way to distinguish them. Remove a cup of tank water and measure its pH. Then aerate it for an hour with an airstone using outside air. Its pH should rise if it is unusually low for the measured alkalinity (Figure 2). Then repeat the same experiment on a new cup of water using inside air. If its pH also rises, then the aquarium’s pH will rise simply with more aeration because it is only the aquarium that contains excess carbon dioxide. If the pH does not rise in the cup (or rises very little) when aerating with indoor air, then that air likely contains excess CO2, and more aeration with that same air will not solve the low pH problem (although aeration with fresher air should). Be careful implementing this test if the outside aeration test results in a large temperature change (more than 5°C or 10°F), because such changes alone impact pH measurements.

 

[doubleshot00]

My skimmer intake line is ran to my air exchanger vent and about 6 feet into the vent so about 3 foot from the exterior of my house. PH still barely gets to 8.0. I would guess it's getting 60-70% outside air right now. Which is why I'm so confused. I have a CO2 Scrubber I was going to add to my skimmer. I got it used, and it doesn't have any fittings to attach to my skimmer hose. I don't know if my skimmer is too old it's an odd size or if the scrubber has an odd size adaptor on it. but none of the BRS standard fittings work on the CO2 scrubber. It's a $100 paper weight. I figured outside air would be just as good as scrubbed air. . .

Your skimmer doesnt have a venturi? Where a hose attached?

I had low PH in my tank untill i added a co2 scrubber.

 

[Superd513]

My skimmer intake line is ran to my air exchanger vent and about 6 feet into the vent so about 3 foot from the exterior of my house. PH still barely gets to 8.0. I would guess it's getting 60-70% outside air right now. Which is why I'm so confused. I have a CO2 Scrubber I was going to add to my skimmer. I got it used, and it doesn't have any fittings to attach to my skimmer hose. I don't know if my skimmer is too old it's an odd size or if the scrubber has an odd size adaptor on it. but none of the BRS standard fittings work on the CO2 scrubber. It's a $100 paper weight. I figured outside air would be just as good as scrubbed air. . .

I saw a video where a guy used a gatoraide bottle and drilled a bunch of small holes in the bottom of it put the media in and took the cap and drilled it and superglue the hose thru it and ran the hose to Venturi inlet on pump and presto homemade scrubber. It was pretty cool.

 

[Superd513]

Your skimmer doesnt have a venturi? Where a hose attached?

I had low PH in my tank untill i added a co2 scrubber.

Oh wow I just saw that it doesn’t have any fitting. Crazy

 

[Treefer32]

Oh wow I just saw that it doesn’t have any fitting. Crazy

Yes, it has a venturi and even a silencer. I didn't have the proper fitting for a used CO2 scrubber. It came with a quick release adapter screwed into it. Most skimmer tubing is a flex hose that doesn't fit will into a quick release RO type of hose fitting. And it's a larger fitting than a standard RO Hose. The person I got it from claims it's a 3/8" hose adapter. I order the CO2 scrubber hose that they sell specifically for scrubbbers. It said it was 3/8" ID (Which the person I bought the scrubber from said it's 3/8" ID. So, I got the hose thinking I could find an adapter for my skimmer hose or heat it enough that it would flex over the CO2 scrubber hose. But, I got the hose and it doesn't fit in the CO2 scrubber at all. Too big. RO Hose is way too small. I have no idea what's between 1/4" and 3/8" Something in the "16ths"? 5/16"?

So, the CO2 scrubber is a large paper weight and the skimmer hose I have running into the intake vent for my air exchange which leads to the outside of my house. I have like a 10-12" air hose on my skimmer right now, trying to reach outside. This has gotten my PH up to 7.91 to 8.00 from a low of 7.5 if the skimmer shuts off for more than a few hours.

 

[Gtinnel]

I run an outside airline to my skimmer and several months back I added a scrubber and saw a small increase in pH. I then changed from dosing baked baking soda (sodium carbonate) to lye (sodium hydroxide) and that made a huge difference in my pH.
I now have to mix solutions of sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide so that I don’t raise my pH too high.
It may be worth looking into if your goal is to raise your pH, there is a thread started by Randy that goes into more details.

New DIY Two Part Recipes with Higher pH Boost

Here's a first crack at what may end up being multiple possible recipes for a DIY two part that either has a higher pH or can be made more concentrated than traditional two part recipes. This one has about twice the pH raising effect compared to a carbonate based two part, per unit of...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Superd513]

Yes, it has a venturi and even a silencer. I didn't have the proper fitting for a used CO2 scrubber. It came with a quick release adapter screwed into it. Most skimmer tubing is a flex hose that doesn't fit will into a quick release RO type of hose fitting. And it's a larger fitting than a standard RO Hose. The person I got it from claims it's a 3/8" hose adapter. I order the CO2 scrubber hose that they sell specifically for scrubbbers. It said it was 3/8" ID (Which the person I bought the scrubber from said it's 3/8" ID. So, I got the hose thinking I could find an adapter for my skimmer hose or heat it enough that it would flex over the CO2 scrubber hose. But, I got the hose and it doesn't fit in the CO2 scrubber at all. Too big. RO Hose is way too small. I have no idea what's between 1/4" and 3/8" Something in the "16ths"? 5/16"?

So, the CO2 scrubber is a large paper weight and the skimmer hose I have running into the intake vent for my air exchange which leads to the outside of my house. I have like a 10-12" air hose on my skimmer right now, trying to reach outside. This has gotten my PH up

Yes, it has a venturi and even a silencer. I didn't have the proper fitting for a used CO2 scrubber. It came with a quick release adapter screwed into it. Most skimmer tubing is a flex hose that doesn't fit will into a quick release RO type of hose fitting. And it's a larger fitting than a standard RO Hose. The person I got it from claims it's a 3/8" hose adapter. I order the CO2 scrubber hose that they sell specifically for scrubbbers. It said it was 3/8" ID (Which the person I bought the scrubber from said it's 3/8" ID. So, I got the hose thinking I could find an adapter for my skimmer hose or heat it enough that it would flex over the CO2 scrubber hose. But, I got the hose and it doesn't fit in the CO2 scrubber at all. Too big. RO Hose is way too small. I have no idea what's between 1/4" and 3/8" Something in the "16ths"? 5/16"?

So, the CO2 scrubber is a large paper weight and the skimmer hose I have running into the intake vent for my air exchange which leads to the outside of my house. I have like a 10-12" air hose on my skimmer right now, trying to reach outside. This has gotten my PH up to 7.91 to 8.00 from a low of 7.5 if the skimmer shuts off for more than

to 7.91 to 8.00 from a low of 7.5 if the skimmer shuts off for more than a few hours.

Yes, it has a venturi and even a silencer. I didn't have the proper fitting for a used CO2 scrubber. It came with a quick release adapter screwed into it. Most skimmer tubing is a flex hose that doesn't fit will into a quick release RO type of hose fitting. And it's a larger fitting than a standard RO Hose. The person I got it from claims it's a 3/8" hose adapter. I order the CO2 scrubber hose that they sell specifically for scrubbbers. It said it was 3/8" ID (Which the person I bought the scrubber from said it's 3/8" ID. So, I got the hose thinking I could find an adapter for my skimmer hose or heat it enough that it would flex over the CO2 scrubber hose. But, I got the hose and it doesn't fit in the CO2 scrubber at all. Too big. RO Hose is way too small. I have no idea what's between 1/4" and 3/8" Something in the "16ths"? 5/16"?

So, the CO2 scrubber is a large paper weight and the skimmer hose I have running into the intake vent for my air exchange which leads to the outside of my house. I have like a 10-12" air hose on my skimmer right now, trying to reach outside. This has gotten my PH up to 7.91 to 8.00 from a low of 7.5 if the skimmer shuts off for more than a few hours.

So here is my idea. Take the hose that goes to the Venturi on the skimmer and you get a lg gatoraide bottle and rinse it and the flip it upside down and drill 3/16 inch holes all around the bottom of the rim. Then tank the hose that goes to the skimmer and drill a hole in the gatoraide cap just big enough that the hose fits in. Then you push the skimmer hose thru the cap sticking out 1/2 inch or so. And super glue it. I hen that drys silicone it on both sides. Now fill the bottles up with co2 scrubber media and screw cap on. And presto you have a scrubber. No need to use a commercial one. You can even use a 2 liter or whatever size. It’s just the principle.

 

[ClownSchool]

I’ve tried a few things and have seen some success. Not all may be responsible for the results, but I have seen improvement.
These are the things I’ve tried:
- Added air stones to my sump.
- Cleaned my refugium to ensure nothing was interfering with chaeto growth.
- Cleaned my skimmer.
- Began dosing Kalkwasser. 1/2 tsp per gallon of R/O, adding about 1.5 quarts throughout the day into a 90 gallon system.
- Raised my Alk above 10.
- Started dosing coralline accelerator to promote more CO2 to O2 exchange during the photo cycle.

Since starting these things three weeks ago, pH has shown a steady increase.

Before starting, my pH range was 7.70 to 7.86
As of yesterday, my pH range was 7.90 to 8.14

hope this helps. Good luck and happy reefing!