co2 scrubbing with house plants?

[kasha]

So I'm sure many of us have the same problem, poorly ventilated cramped NY apartments. Result? Low PH in spite of high alkalinity. I run a refugium but the surface area is limited. So I was thinking, does anyone keep house plants or another separate algae tank just to remove CO2? If so, which plants are best for this?

Just as an example of the problem, my wife and I sleep with the bedroom door closed. withn 10 minutes of opening the door yesterday morning I followed the PH and saw it drop by .15...

 

[BZOFIQ]

you'd have to have a greenhouse setup to intake the CO2. No amount of plants is going to help you here. You just going to have to keep the windows open and improve the ventilation somehow.

Another problem with plants is that at night they give off the CO2 just like most photosynthetic organisms in your tank, hence a major pH dropin at night.

Couple of pointers:

Keep windows open as much as you can

Setup your fuge light to be on 24/7 or at least on reverse cycle to minimize the pH swings.

 

[Marteen]

House plants are nice though. I like peace lily's myself. Warning though don't keep your plants next to your tank. Not all plants can take the intense lighting from your fixtures. For example when I switched from PCs to LED my peace lily burned, I moved it to the windowsill and it has since recovered.

 

[Iammatt219]

your bets bet is just get one of those co2 scrubbers

 

[Bob 1000]

You could always run the reactor that I'm running for more stable o2 levels... Not to mention a backup if you electric ever goes out.. It runs on a 6% to 12% hydrogen peroxide and has no ill affects.. Also doesn't use electricity:biggrin:

 

[Keith P]

Or you could just open a window. In my apartment they keep the heat on so high, I need to keep windows open all the time anyways...

 

[BZOFIQ]

You can also plumb an air line from the skimmer to outside the window.

 

[ming]

You can also plumb an air line from the skimmer to outside the window.

not really plumb, but yes, you could run an air pump from outside the window to your skimmer air intake which will minimize cold air getting in the house and maximize the o2 levels in your tank resulting in higher PH.

 

[2slo4me]

You can also plumb an air line from the skimmer to outside the window.

+1 thats what i did in the past

 

[BZOFIQ]

duh, obviously not plumb but just running the line isn't fun LOL

 

[Alex]

what about this:
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...reen=PROD&Product_Code=MCU-CO2&Category_Code=

 

[CT nano reefer]

A little advice about the MCU CO2 scrubber.....

1. It DOES work.
2. Refills can be costly. There are a couple of different online vendors selling the replacement media, and some of them have better prices than the other. It might be better to buy the media in bulk, and refilling the canister yourself, versus buying the canister already premade...shop around for the media!
3. Depending on your CO2 levels, the media can be exhausted very quickly.

 

[brandon429]

plants

I just wanted to add that I don't think houseplants do the bulk of my CO2 scrubbing, and I have way more than an average person. 1/4th of my living room is pure plants, the bedrooms are absolutely packed with them cuz I kina like botany and reefs... I grew them partly to see if it would have any effect on my reef vase pH but they don't seem to. ph values are the same for my micro reefs both before and after this loco planting of my casa. I think the majority of scrubbing is due to good window ventilation

to really scrub CO2 I am nearly positive you'd need a mechanical capture device, or a house literally full of the fastest growing plants one could find, it'd be too impractical although I am going for that look in my house by 2015 lol

ever seen a pothos vine wrap someones living room perimeter>

B

 

[strendo]

I added a dosing pump that slowly adds kalkwater when my ph dips below 7.9 and turns off over 8.0
It's works well and keeps my ph fairly stable in the winter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Alex]

just wait

I just wanted to add that I don't think houseplants do the bulk of my CO2 scrubbing, and I have way more than an average person. 1/4th of my living room is pure plants, the bedrooms are absolutely packed with them cuz I kina like botany and reefs... I grew them partly to see if it would have any effect on my reef vase pH but they don't seem to. ph values are the same for my micro reefs both before and after this loco planting of my casa. I think the majority of scrubbing is due to good window ventilation

to really scrub CO2 I am nearly positive you'd need a mechanical capture device, or a house literally full of the fastest growing plants one could find, it'd be too impractical although I am going for that look in my house by 2015 lol

ever seen a pothos vine wrap someones living room perimeter>





B

Just wait till that plant drops on you when you come in through the door and puts you in a strangle hold :biglaugh:

 

[brandon429]

---

or fall over and knock my pico reef off the shelf that'd be 50x worse lol. I estimate just the one 30 ft vine to weigh about 2 pounds and that's enough dynamic mass to knock over a vase