This is what happens when you fix co2 in your house

[ScottB]

Yeah I'm fortunate that I am catching this early, I won't be putting coral in for at least a few months so I have time to deal with this while it's a fish only tank. The scrubber isn't a cheap solution but all the evidence I've seen says it works. @Bulk Reef Supply bulk media isn't terribly expensive at $35 USD for 7.5lbs, hopefully that lasts a few months.

It is hard to make an apples to apples comparison, but adding a CO2 scrubber raised my average pH by roughly .2

Look up recirculating skimmer air for CO2 scrubber on this forum or the BRS video on it. It dramatically reduces consumption in my case, but does have to be looked after. The scrubber pulls a lot of water vapor from the skimmer cup and must be emptied. I do that at least as often as emptying/cleaning the skimmer cup.

I'd also recommend a smart shutoff for the skimmer in case it overflows. The skimmate gets sucked back to the scrubber, melting the media, which then gets sucked back into the skimmer & sump. Something you want to avoid for sure.

 

[Casey Erb]

Glad you fixed your pH issues, but hot stove? Something here doesn't make sense. I can't wait to see @Randy Holmes-Farley explain this.

Are you sure your stove or oven doesn't have a fan that vents outside, and all that's really going on here is a bit of proper ventilation? I'd bet you could have the same result just leaving a bathroom fan running, and it wouldn't waste the energy. Or burn out your stove.

I don’t think he turns the stove ON. Just the vent. I do the same to keep fresh air coming in my house. It’s basically the same as leaving a bathroom vent on. I don’t know why you would think he turns the stove on all day

 

[Casey Erb]

My sump is in my basement....

I ran airline tubing from my skimmer air port up and thru an exterior wall. My skimmer now exclusively pulls outside air 24/7/365. I was worried about pulling 10degree air during the Winter would cause my tank heaters to never to off...BUT never saw a jump in heater use thru my Apex logging.

I would say....if you have the ability to hook your skimmer up to draw outside air.... D O - I T


.

Depending on the length of hose you use the air could warm to ambient temps in transit to the skimmer. And by volume I doubt your skimmer is pulling much air. I’ve been trying to figure out how I can get outside air into my skimmer. I need about 50’ of hose and a way to hide it.

 

[W1ngz]

I don’t think he turns the stove ON. Just the vent. I do the same to keep fresh air coming in my house. It’s basically the same as leaving a bathroom vent on. I don’t know why you would think he turns the stove on all day

Because it said 'hot stove'...? If the stove wasn't on, it wouldn't get hot.
If you read the whole post, you'll see that I arrived at that conclusion and asked for clarification from the OP 4 pages ago, in the very first reply and it was a translation issue from a non-native english speaker, which he corrected.

 

[ZoWhat]

Depending on the length of hose you use the air could warm to ambient temps in transit to the skimmer. And by volume I doubt your skimmer is pulling much air. I’ve been trying to figure out how I can get outside air into my skimmer. I need about 50’ of hose and a way to hide it.

Sorry to hear 50ft is your run.

My run is about 8ft...and my skimmer pulls all kinds of outside of outside air. If I pull the airtubw it definitely visually effects the skimner

 

[Frontosa]

What CO2 monitor are you using? The cheapest one I could find was $105.

I use seneye not a actual co2 I just see when ph is dropping open a window and ph goes back up

 

[Rickyrooz]

I use seneye not a actual co2 I just see when ph is dropping open a window and ph goes back up

Thank you, so low pH means higher levels of CO2?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm not sure if I am posting this in the right section but let's do it !

I had a lot of problems with corals (almost dying to dying) in the summer time when the AC was turned on into a perfectly sealed house.
I had pH drop to 7.6 some times.

I read a lot about co2 but I also read a lot about "don't chase pH"
I decided to do some experiment but I had no co2 reference to base my experiment on.

I was convinced that my problems was caused by co2 but I could not prove it.
So I decided to buy a co2 monitor.
To my surprise, I found out that the co2 level in my house was over 2000ppm compared to around ~350ppm outside.

I then tried to fix this and the easiest method i found was to just keep the stove vent hood running to the lowest setting.
That way I managed to keep the co2 level under 1000ppm.

co2 level under 1000ppm leaded to a minimum pH of 8.0
On August 30th, we finally opened the windows, AC was not needed anymore and that made the co2 level stay under 500ppm.

If you can see on the image below, the first half is with the co2 level under 1000ppm and the second half is with the windows open co2 under 500ppm.
As you can see, with the windows open, the pH is pretty stable with a variance of only 0.08 pH
I also have to say that I have a reverse lighting caulerpa refugium, that must also help with pH stability I am guessing at night.

So.... did this make a difference ? OMG you can't believe how huge it made a difference !
All my corals are now opened like crazy and growing like never before !
I had to increase my KH dosing like never before, i'm now consuming 0.5 dKH per day where I was almost not dosing before !

In the image, each little peak is from day/night cycle.
In the first half, the large section with higher pH is with windows open on cooler days.
In the first half, the large section with lower pH is with the AC on on hot days.

I’m glad the raised pH is helping the corals. Thanks for posting!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thank you, so low pH means higher levels of CO2?

Yes.

 

[Breadman03]

I did it a few months ago so I can’t comment on winter, but I didn’t notice an increase in temp this summer.

I’m sure there’s a formula out there somewhere to determine the possible temp rise based on your skimmer cfm specs.

Something to consider is heat transfer through all of the tubing between the air source and your skimmer. I'd bet that the difference becomes negligible after more than 10 feet or so.

 

[homer1475]

My PH went up by nearly .7 (7.6avg to 8.3avg) by adding an outside airline to my skimmer.

Now I did try this once before on an older skimmer, didn't see enough of an increase to make a difference. Bought a new skimmer which pulls way more air then my old one, and low and behold I can keep my PH up above 8.0 24/7.

I also live in a colder climate(plenty of days well below 0F), and I do not notice any more usage on my heaters in the winter then normal. My run of hose is around 8 feet.

 

[SCiMMiA]

What CO2 monitor are you using? The cheapest one I could find was $105.

I bought this one:

Yes it is not cheap but I am so happy I bought it. It is worth the discovery for my corals !

 

[TheKingInYellow]

My PH went up by nearly .7 (7.6avg to 8.3avg) by adding an outside airline to my skimmer.

Now I did try this once before on an older skimmer, didn't see enough of an increase to make a difference. Bought a new skimmer which pulls way more air then my old one, and low and behold I can keep my PH up above 8.0 24/7.

I also live in a colder climate(plenty of days well below 0F), and I do not notice any more usage on my heaters in the winter then normal. My run of hose is around 8 feet.

Just did the same sort of. Upgraded from a Curve 5 to a Nyos 120, and added a scrubber. Hope to see results soon.