Skimmer Outside Air Intake

[Hurdbird88]

My tank has been cycling for about a month and a half at this point. Apex has been reading PH between 7.9 - 8.1 depending on time of day and lights are still off. I'd like to run an outside air intake line to the skimmer now to help improve this as much as possible before I get the tank fully stocked. I saw others do this with an outdoor rated electrical outlet box which I like because it will still keep a clean look on the outside of the house. Main questions are as follows:

1. Only easy spot to get outside is through my mechanical room but my dryer vent would be pretty close within 5 feet or so. I would imagine this would not be a good idea for when the drier is running. How far would you suggest being away from a drier vent?

2. What size tubing should I run for the intake line to not cut down on airflow?

3. I thought others had just ran a line outside into the electrical box and then stuff the box with filter media to grab anything trying to come in? Any idea on what media should be ran in there or any other better ways do this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[smartwater101]

Run some tubing outside first. Before you set up a permanent installation. Just loosely so you can see what the benefits are for you.

I have most of windows open a lot so running it outside did nothing for me. I ultimately just went with a scrubber.

 

[w2inc]

I agree with Just running a line out the window or something and see if it does what you are hoping for. For me, the skimmer air intake was not a noticeable factor on my tank pH.

My skimmer air intake fit a 1/4 inch line, so I ran a RO tube connected to it out of the house. I didn't see a decrease in flow. Head pressure and pipe size is not the same with air and other substances. I ran the line through an electrical box because I already had one installed for water lines to my chiller that I keep outside.

I had my air intake outside for a year with no filter on it. I had no issues I can point at, but if I lived in an agricultural area or anywhere someone might spray a weed or insect killer, I would definitely want an inline carbon filter of some kind.

If I was just going to run a line outside and didn't have that box, I would just drill a hole the size of my tubing. We have an air dryer in our front room. It has a 1/4 inch drain line that goes through the hole that our cable for the TV use to come through. It works well for me.

 

[Hurdbird88]

Run some tubing outside first. Before you set up a permanent installation. Just loosely to see what the benefits are for you.

I have most of windows open a lot so running it outside did nothing for me. I ultimately just went with a scrubber.

Ya, I air out my house probably once every week or two completely with windows open for a day but mostly have the central air on. I live in a raised ranch and tank is in the basement (half underground) and it stays 65 down there year round but I have supply / return grilles cut into every room but obviously no fresh air intake. My PH hits the lowest at night time between 10PM and midnight it seems consistently.

 

[Hurdbird88]

Thanks

I agree with Just running a line out the window or something and see if it does what you are hoping for. For me, the skimmer air intake was not a noticeable factor on my tank pH.

My skimmer air intake fit a 1/4 inch line, so I ran a RO tube connected to it out of the house. I didn't see a decrease in flow. Head pressure and pipe size is not the same with air and other substances. I ran the line through an electrical box because I already had one installed for water lines to my chiller that I keep outside.

I had my air intake outside for a year with no filter on it. I had no issues I can point at, but if I lived in an agricultural area or anywhere someone might spray a weed or insect killer, I would definitely want an inline carbon filter of some kind.

If I was just going to run a line outside and didn't have that box, I would just drill a hole the size of my tubing. We have an air dryer in our front room. It has a 1/4 inch drain line that goes through the hole that our cable for the TV use to come through. It works well for me.

Thanks! I’m going to give it a try and see what happens for a few days and look at the trends on the apex.

 

[Silver14SS]

Run some tubing outside first. Before you set up a permanent installation. Just loosely to see what the benefits are for you.

I have most of windows open a lot so running it outside did nothing for me. I ultimately just went with a scrubber.

My pH ranged from 7.7-7.9, we went out of town and with the house empty the pH shot up over 8. I decided to try running the skimmer line to a window temporarily, ph was 7.85-8.15. I'm happy with that, but there's not really a good way to run the hose that way permanently, so up to the attic!

After figuring out which top plate to drill into, I dropped a 10' piece of 3/4" PVC pipe down the wall. I knew roughly where the pipe would be in the wall, so I added a single gain old construction box. The PVC was flexible enough to position into place, I put a cap on the end and drilled a hole to insert skimmer hose.

Results are the same as the window test :)

 

[ca1ore]

Upsize the hose though. Friction losses affect air just like they do water.

 

[w2inc]

Upsize the hose though. Friction losses affect air just like they do water.

I am not sure how to take this, but according to Dwyer instruments, (Maker of flow meters) you are correct in regard to bends and turns. However they stated with the directions to my new flow meter that length of the pipe has little effect on normal pressure fed through flow meters.

 

[Hurdbird88]

So I haven't gotten around to running my skimmer air intake line outside quite yet and decided to wait until I was going on vacation with the entire family and the dog. I went away last week for (7) days and with the house empty, my PH stayed right around 8.15 for the week very consistently as you can see below. I came with the family Saturday and you can immediately see the drop to the 7.8 range with a 7.75 low. I think this pretty much proves that CO2 is a problem in my house with everyone home and the AC recirculating CO2 throughout the house. I will definitely be trying to introduce outside air now.

I am going to go with a 3/4" PVC line from about 20 feet away and reduce right behind the tank to the 3/8" flexible line to the skimmer intake.

A. Should I install an inline BRS carbon reactor at the inlet to help with any pesticide or outside residuals? I don't spray my lawn and my neighbors are a good distance away but better safe than sorry.

B. Should I tie off a piece of filter floss to help keep the bugs out on the PVC that exits the house as well?