Aeration of water to drive out CO2 & boost my PH

[pjewett]

Hi All,

Knowing that there are several things that can and do affect PH I've decided to at least make the effort to remove excess CO2 from the equation if possible.

During the winter I seem to only be able to achieve a top PH of 8.02 and that's in the middle of the day. It drops down to 7.8 at night typically.

Anyway looking for opinions on the plan below specifically...

I have an Auto-Top off/ Auto WC rig that starts in my laundry room which is VERY open and aerated (my oil burner is in there too), comes through the wall via my pvc plumbing and into my sump.

What I want to do is take a big ole air pump and mount it somewhere in this well ventilated room and run regular airline tubing through the wall and on top of the pvc the same route and down into my sump.

The affect being that I'm driving out a lot of the CO2 build up from my home being closed up tight in the winter (and summer when AC is on) by pumping in that "fresh" air.

Anyone do this or tried it? Anything I'm not thinking of? Risks?

Thanks!

 

[edd]

is this room ventilated to outside air? if so you can run a line from your skimmer air intake, into this room and avoid the pump. if it isn't fresh air i wouldn't bother.

 

[pjewett]

Yes the room is very ventilated to outside air. Hmmm...wonder if my CPR aero force skimmer has that intake? Will check when I get home but think not. Haven't decided on which skimmer to get to replace the hob yet.

 

[pjewett]

Wait now I recall that skimmer does have the intake....a black tube coming up from the chamber that has a tip on it that I can adjust (never have) the air flow with. So take that tip off and using a connector just extend the line out into that room?

 

[dannanovick]

You can do that for sure. I live in Manhattan and I battle with PH due to C02 in the air. I live in a studio so anything I do cooking related just eats up the O2. I found the best way to deal with this is to make a CO2 scrubber and attach it to your Skimmer. I use a gatorade bottle with some holes punched out the bottom and run an airline tube through the cap, to the skimmer air intake. My ph goes up to 8.4 towards the end of the day, and drops only to 8.1 during the night. The only thing is you need to replace the media, on my tank I replace it every 2 weeks. I'd say each reload costs me around $5 dollars so $10 dollars a month and I have steady Ph.

 

[nyoneway]

have you consider growing macro algae? it's beneficial to your tank in many ways than just regulating ph and co2.

 

[pjewett]

have you consider growing macro algae? it's beneficial to your tank in many ways than just regulating ph and co2.

Yes I just chucked in a new batch of chaeto as Sandy killed my previous batch among other things. Not sure how much it's helping so far....only been 2 weeks. Also I'm trying to use LED lighting to grow it this time but too early to tell if the chaeto is digging the LED lighting.

 

[pjewett]

You can do that for sure. I live in Manhattan and I battle with PH due to C02 in the air. I live in a studio so anything I do cooking related just eats up the O2. I found the best way to deal with this is to make a CO2 scrubber and attach it to your Skimmer. I use a gatorade bottle with some holes punched out the bottom and run an airline tube through the cap, to the skimmer air intake. My ph goes up to 8.4 towards the end of the day, and drops only to 8.1 during the night. The only thing is you need to replace the media, on my tank I replace it every 2 weeks. I'd say each reload costs me around $5 dollars so $10 dollars a month and I have steady Ph.

What's the media?

 

[MikeC]

Is there any proof/literature that PH dropping from 8.02 to 7.8 at night is bad?

 

[pjewett]

You can do that for sure. I live in Manhattan and I battle with PH due to C02 in the air. I live in a studio so anything I do cooking related just eats up the O2. I found the best way to deal with this is to make a CO2 scrubber and attach it to your Skimmer. I use a gatorade bottle with some holes punched out the bottom and run an airline tube through the cap, to the skimmer air intake. My ph goes up to 8.4 towards the end of the day, and drops only to 8.1 during the night. The only thing is you need to replace the media, on my tank I replace it every 2 weeks. I'd say each reload costs me around $5 dollars so $10 dollars a month and I have steady Ph.

Can I use pelletized lawn lime instead of soda lime?

Never mind....have my answer.

 

[pjewett]

Is there any proof/literature that PH dropping from 8.02 to 7.8 at night is bad?

I don't think the drop is bad....it's the ceiling I'm trying to improve. Would like to stay in the 8.2 range for a hi..been reading Randy Holmes again.

 

[duke62]

Why not just add a long airstone to your sump. I have one in my effluent cup where my calcium reactor dumps the water and it brings it up from 6.80 to 7.1. Helps alot to keep my tanks PH steady. Not at 8.3 but at 8.1.Without it it will drop to 7.8. But you really dont have to chase PH to hard

 

[pjewett]

Why not just add a long airstone to your sump. I have one in my effluent cup where my calcium reactor dumps the water and it brings it up from 6.80 to 7.1. Helps alot to keep my tanks PH steady. Not at 8.3 but at 8.1.Without it it will drop to 7.8. But you really dont have to chase PH to hard

That's what I originally wanted to do but this c02 scrubber idea is intriguing but I'm also not interested in having yet another item to keep in stock..soda lime. and at $50 a pop from BRS I don't even know how long it will last.

Going to run a pump in my laundry room that is very well ventilated to the outside and run the tubing through the wall strapped to the existing PVC for my ato/wc and right down into the sump with an airstone.

Won't cost me a dime and if it doesn't work I can always go the scrubber route. Not going to go too nuts with the PH but it bugs me that it sat at 7.99 all day today.

Any reason I can't use polythene tubing instead of vinyl? Want to use the polythene because it's white and will match and blend in with the PVC that runs along the wall on top of the base heating.

 

[duke62]

Not soda Lime a air pump with a fine bubble air stone in your sump.

 

[pjewett]

WOW.

Hooked up a strong little airstone pump I had laying around in the laundry room (mounted to the wall) right above where my PVC feeds through into the dining room. Ran tubing through the wall and have it strapped to the pvc with white strip ties (all sitting on top of the white baseboard heating) so it blends well, running into my sump and hooked directly into my skimmer intake.

No joke within like 5-7 minutes my PH rose from 7.99 to 8.12 (Fun to watch it climb on the APEX and not be messing with viles and regeants) and it's never been that hi in my tank. It's at 8.14 now and the whole rig has only been up 20 minutes maybe.

Sweet. And it didn't cost a dime. :thrash:

Oh and the main lighting is off so it's just the LED's on my chaeto in the sump right now so can't wait to see what it's at when the mains come back on tomorrow.

 

[garys reef]

Im having same issue just hooked up a calcium reactor a week ago my #'s are alk 8.3 cal 450 mag 1500 steady been testing 3 times a day and everytime i test its spot on only issue is i haven't seen a ph of 8 since i hooked it up right now its 7.89 and goes down to 7.6 im gonna try the airstone

 

[duke62]

Yes gary put the airstone in the effluent cup or a long airstone in your sump

 

[pjewett]

Im having same issue just hooked up a calcium reactor a week ago my #'s are alk 8.3 cal 450 mag 1500 steady been testing 3 times a day and everytime i test its spot on only issue is i haven't seen a ph of 8 since i hooked it up right now its 7.89 and goes down to 7.6 im gonna try the airstone

good luck. if you think of it post the results here..would be interested.

 

[garys reef]

Does it matter what section of the sump it goes in

 

[duke62]

closest to where your effluent is coming out of your reactor