pH toooooo low!

[Potatohead]

Question about c02 scrubbers... I would hook it up to the venturi of my skimmer, correct? So the venturi is pulling the air through the scrubber?
But it would be pulling room air, right? What is the point of that? Don't I want to remove the co2 from the water instead of my room air?
Currently my venturi is pulling air from my skimmer cup.

By removing CO2 from the air you will also be removing it from the water. More oxygen content going into the skimmer will result in more oxygen into the water. The problem comes when you have lots of surface agitation, just as much CO2 (or more) can enter the tank that way as well and it may result in a scrubber having little to no effect.

What is the pH of your reactor? Have you tried running the reactor at a higher ph and turning the drip rate up?

 

[d2mini]

The co2 media scrubs the co2 from the room air to mix with the skimmer. If your room air has high co2 currently it just adds co2 to the tank. If you take all the co2 out to add to the skimmer to be mixed your adding less co2.

Gotcha.
I guess that little hole in the skimmer lid is deceiving. haha
Didn't seem like much air would be getting through there.

 

[d2mini]

By removing CO2 from the air you will also be removing it from the water. More oxygen content going into the skimmer will result in more oxygen into the water. The problem comes when you have lots of surface agitation, just as much CO2 (or more) can enter the tank that way as well and it may result in a scrubber having little to no effect.

What is the pH of your reactor? Have you tried running the reactor at a higher ph and turning the drip rate up?

Yes, in fact I kind of have to right now because the little feed pump doesnt seem to be strong enough to run at a drip for more than a day or two before slowing down, so i have to run it at a steady stream.
Reactor pH is set to 6.95 currently.

 

[Potatohead]

Another option which makes theoretical sense is to get a bigger CaRx. If you have one that holds a lot more media you should be able to run it with a higher pH and still have the same alkalinity in the effluent with a lower drip rate. Of course this will only help if your current Rx is actually bringing your pH down.

Edit - 6.95 is on the high side already. I think your problem is likely mostly C02 related.

 

[Brew12]

Dennis if you have high co2 in your home you will go through a cartridge of the media every 2-3 days. I extended the media life (4 days) by having it pull outside air through it since the co2 is lower but still not zero.

I was scared when I first saw how fast I went through the media. However, after running it for a week or two, my burn out rate dropped substantially. I'm wondering if I ended up lowering the CO2 content of all the air in my house causing the media consumption to drop...

 

[bubbaque]

I was scared when I first saw how fast I went through the media. However, after running it for a week or two, my burn out rate dropped substantially. I'm wondering if I ended up lowering the CO2 content of all the air in my house causing the media consumption to drop...

My burnout rate never changed. I bought a 5 gallon bucket of it for $100 and went through it all in 3 months.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I was scared when I first saw how fast I went through the media. However, after running it for a week or two, my burn out rate dropped substantially. I'm wondering if I ended up lowering the CO2 content of all the air in my house causing the media consumption to drop...

Very unlikely. Most homes have natural air turnover rates of at least once per hour, typically more. There would be no long term (more than a couple of days) effects of CO2 depletion in your aquarium on indoor CO2 levels.

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-change-rate-room-d_867.html

 

[2Wheelsonly]

In every tank I've had, it's always in the 7's by early morning and breaks 8.0 by the evening. I never get to 8.2
But since adding the CaRx it's gone below my typical low of 7.75 and I'm happy if I see it hit 8.0 later in the day.
I can recalibrate the probe again tonite, but I wouldn't expect it to go up too much. We'll see.

Are you doing any type of carbon dosing? I was 7.6->7.7 until I stopped using my form of carbon dosing and my ph is now 8.0 night, 8.27 day.

I spent over $6,000 on my ventilation system only to find out co2 in my home was not the issue at all. It wasn't wasted money as I was in the middle of a multiple AC change and simply added a whole home air vent but I was shocked to see little to no difference.

Pick up one of those home co2 meters from amazon for $40, it will give you a great idea of what your home looks like.

 

[d2mini]

Are you doing any type of carbon dosing? I was 7.6->7.7 until I stopped using my form of carbon dosing and my ph is now 8.0 night, 8.27 day.

Nope, unless something is going on naturally in my fuge.

 

[Jam-reef]

Same here PH daytime is 7.7 at best and night 7.5. Fresh outside air to the skimmer. Surface agitation, windows open and can’t break 8.0. Years ago I had 8.3-8.4 all the time. But back then I poured in anything and everything I saw on Dr Fosters and smith lol. I’ve learned that if the corals look happy and are growing to not chase numbers.

 

[reeferlove56]

When I changed my sump light to be on an opposite cycle from my display lighting, I noticed my always low pH go from ~7.9 to a steady 8.2/8.3. I’m a bit afraid to try turning it off at night again and actually see if that was the cause of change but I think that ultimately solved my problem. I battled with frequent water changes, additives, etc. but this made the final permanent change in my pH I believe.

 

[d2mini]

Same here PH daytime is 7.7 at best and night 7.5. Fresh outside air to the skimmer. Surface agitation, windows open and can’t break 8.0. Years ago I had 8.3-8.4 all the time. But back then I poured in anything and everything I saw on Dr Fosters and smith lol. I’ve learned that if the corals look happy and are growing to not chase numbers.

Ya, i totally agree. It's just that it's getting lower now that I added the CaRx and I'm worried its going to keep getting worse as my coral demand more alk. Wanted to nip it in the bud.

When I changed my sump light to be on an opposite cycle from my display lighting, I noticed my always low pH go from ~7.9 to a steady 8.2/8.3. I’m a bit afraid to try turning it off at night again and actually see if that was the cause of change but I think that ultimately solved my problem. I battled with frequent water changes, additives, etc. but this made the final permanent change in my pH I believe.

Yep, i always run my opposite schedule and then to try and boost it I started running the fuge light 24/7 recently. Thought it helped for a couple days but now it's lower again.

 

[2una]

Currently my venturi is pulling air from my skimmer cup.

Why not try take it off there & run a tube outside the sump for suction & see if there's any change

 

[d2mini]

Why not try take it off there & run a tube outside the sump for suction & see if there's any change

Yep, i can do that temporarily. In fact, might be hooking up a quick soda lime filter tonite.
But long term, i need to make sure moist air is getting into the venturi. Keeps it from clogging, which is why it pulls from the cup normally.

 

[2una]

Yep, i can do that temporarily. In fact, might be hooking up a quick soda lime filter tonite.
But long term, i need to make sure moist air is getting into the venturi. Keeps it from clogging, which is why it pulls from the cup normally.

Might be just recirculating any co2 getting blown off from the skimmer aeration hooked up that way too tho huh.
Not so much fresh air being drawn in

 

[d2mini]

Might be just recirculating any co2 getting blown off from the skimmer aeration hooked up that way too tho huh.
Not so much fresh air being drawn in

Yep, i was thinking the same thing. It just has that tiny little hole in the cap.

 

[bubbaque]

You will probably want to keep the air input to the co2 scrubber hooked up like that into the skimmer cup. The moisture for the co2 media from the cup makes it last much, much longer.
Just need a float switch to turn off the skimmer in case it over flows to not go into the media.

 

[2una]

If we were in vegas i'd put 100 on you getting a ph improvement running that line off there & taking it somewhere there's some new air. I'm only guessing but i'd guess there some degree of recirculation happening with it that way.

 

[rushbattle]

If we were in vegas i'd put 100 on you getting a ph improvement running that line off there & taking it somewhere there's some new air. I'm only guessing but i'd guess there some degree of recirculation happening with it that way.

Why not run fresh air to skimmer cup, and scrubber on venturi? It would scrub co2 from tank more than incoming air, and fresh makeup air would lower it further. The moisture would really improve life of media. Or run outside air through bucket of rodi water to saturate it’s humidity before the scrubber, to both prevent clogging of Venturi and improve media life.

 

[d2mini]

OK i think were on to something but I'm a little confused on the execution. Sorry for being dense.
One thing I know for sure is, the venturi needs moist air.
So I can run a line from outside the tank to the hole in the lid of the skimmer cap or to the barb that currently connects the cup to the venturi.
And I can connect the scrubber to the venturi. But how do I get moist air in there?