What Does Using Outside Air Do Chemically Over Inside For Skimmers ?

[427HISS]

What does outside air lines do for skimmers rather than inside ?
What size line should be used per gallon or size of skimmer ?
How does this all work ? Please give details.

My wife would KILL me, if I drilled a big hole through the house for a skimmer. ( you did what ?) :flushed-face:

Also, what about a in-line carbon filter to remove any pollutants, (pollen), etc. . . . in the air.

 

[DCR]

It is mostly for lower CO2 concentrations from the outside air relative to indoors, which will give you a higher pH. You might want to invest in an inexpensive CO2 monitor to monitor your indoor CO2. Outdoors is 430 ppm and a well ventilate house will be around 550 ppm or less. If your house is very closed, you might consider an outside air line, but the tank will still tend toward equilibrium with your indoor CO2 concentration. As for line size, most people probably just run the same size line as attaches to the skimmer although this will reduce the air flow - depending on how long the run is. I would think 3/8" - 1/2" tubing would be sufficiently large for most skimmers.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I didn't really notice a huge jump in pH. A little bit of a boost but nothing to warrant running my skimmer line outside. Probably the skimmer is smaller then the big ones ppl use in a sump. I use the aquamax bullet 2 hang on and the length of the tube was probably 20ft long and ran through the bottom of the door frame. I just covered it like a glove with cotton to grab any dust and crap from outside air. If my landlord didn't care I'd drill a hole in the wall and the line would only be about a foot long and make a bigger difference. I just use the same dimension hose the skimmer came with.

 

[427HISS]

So is that why so many fresh water aquarists use C02 so much, to raise the PH ?

 

[dwest]

So is that why so many fresh water aquarists use C02 so much, to raise the PH ?

In freshwater, they use CO2 for planted aquariums.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

In seawater, photosynthetic organisms often get CO2 from bicarbonate, unlike freshwater.

 

[Jamie814]

So is that why so many fresh water aquarists use C02 so much, to raise the PH ?

CO2 reduces the pH of water. Aquarist doing freshwater planted tanks inject CO2 as plants utilize it for photosynthesis.