Activated Carbon in CO2 Scrubber

[Morpheosz]

I use the BRS bulk stuff and I find it turns a violet color, but over time that color fades - before my canister is depleted. So I see it clearly changing from the bottom of the canister on up but then somewhere about mid way through it all just sort of fades back to something closer to white and I just replace it when the pH starts to decline.

 

[Morpheosz]

That's a lot of lime! How do you like the recirculating feature? What does it add to yoir pH? I see so many people with moisture issues that it's not worth it to me. That could possibly be contributing to your use, although 5 weeks seems to be closer to what BRS states to expect. I don't know why mine has lasted so long. It is bright pink just like the day I got it. Surely that tiny bit of rodi I put at the bottom has dried up. Maybe it's just not doing anything. I'll take it offline for a day and see what happens.

I setup a recirculating with the big canister from BRS and it has a capped / threaded connection on the bottom that I got parts to hook up a 1/4" RO line to and let the little bit of moisture drain out naturally and it works great. I do get a 0.3-0.4 bump. I use a solenoid to keep it in check. Last week I accidentally shut off the solenoid and my tank got to 8.54 before I realized it! With a bigger skimmer I added this week, I've actually been able to dial in a pretty consistent 8.3 - I have the scrubber bypassed most of the day and on most of the night. My media lasts about 3-4 months on a heavily stocked 75g tank.

 

[hexcolor reef]

Not to beat a dead horse, but I found a bag of ice cap media and mine was white and says to replace when the media turns pink. I now wonder if they changed it so that it turns white as it’s depleted.

Not sure why icecap did the flip of color change

I setup a recirculating with the big canister from BRS and it has a capped / threaded connection on the bottom that I got parts to hook up a 1/4" RO line to and let the little bit of moisture drain out naturally and it works great. I do get a 0.3-0.4 bump. I use a solenoid to keep it in check. Last week I accidentally shut off the solenoid and my tank got to 8.54 before I realized it! With a bigger skimmer I added this week, I've actually been able to dial in a pretty consistent 8.3 - I have the scrubber bypassed most of the day and on most of the night. My media lasts about 3-4 months on a heavily stocked 75g tank.

can you share the skimmer and the canister from BRS

 

[wranodj]

Shopmedvet.com

 

[David S]

BRS sells icecap as well. It’s pink at least for this brand.

I bought BRS's brand several months ago.
It's supposed to change from white to pink when exhausted.
Still waiting.
I wonder if you have to add some water to the bottom, every few days, as it does dry out.

 

[drblank1]

I feed air to my skimmer using a valve controlled by my Apex. If the pH goes below 3.29, the valve opens and air is fed through the 10" filter cannister filled 2 little fishes DCX media. If the pH goes above 3.31, the valve closes and room air is fed into the skimmer. My pH is dialed-in from 8.28 to 8.32. When I see the pH start to drop and struggle to stay within this range, I know its time to change the CDX media. And it turn purple to boot. I bought two 3 liter pails of the CDX media and it has lasted me over 1 year.

 

[yanetterer]

I wonder if you have to add some water to the bottom, every few days, as it does dry out.

Yes.

Mine has little to no effect unless there is some water in there. You also want to avoid getting the material wet as it will exhaust the wet portion very quickly. Which with the BRS reactor is a very narrow window between ineffective (dry), effective (some water), and overly effective (saturated media) because of the limited amount of space at the bottom of the reactor.

 

[Troylee]

For you guys using ice cap media and saying it’s lasted more than 2 weeks it’s depleted! I went through a couple bags and it never changed colors for me! I bought some cheap stuff on Amazon and it exhausted “changed colors” in about 4 days lol.. try changing your ice cap media you’d be shocked of the ph increase! It got expensive so I quit using a scrubber.

 

[David S]

Yes.

Mine has little to no effect unless there is some water in there. You also want to avoid getting the material wet as it will exhaust the wet portion very quickly. Which with the BRS reactor is a very narrow window between ineffective (dry), effective (some water), and overly effective (saturated media) because of the limited amount of space at the bottom of the reactor.

I will double down on that.
After adding a small bit of water a few days ago, the last two days my overall PH range dropped less than 0.3 overnight.
That is compared to an overnight shift of ~ 0.4.
Could be coincidental, although I doubt it.
I will insure the reactor doesn't run as dry and see what happens.

 

[hexcolor reef]

Still using icecap media, along with marine buffer by Seachem. the co2 media is working over time I do believe. What I did was drill a larger 1” whole into the scrubber at bottom, so air is being pulled through the bottom and throughout the media exiting the top. I also added more than 1tbls water.

I’m going to stop Marine Buffer and see if I get 8.2-.3 over night as my bottom PH.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Still using icecap media, along with marine buffer by Seachem. the co2 media is working over time I do believe. What I did was drill a larger 1” whole into the scrubber at bottom, so air is being pulled through the bottom and throughout the media exiting the top. I also added more than 1tbls water.

I’m going to stop Marine Buffer and see if I get 8.2-.3 over night as my bottom PH.

FWIW, Seachem Marine buffer is not the best alk supplement to boost pH, if that is the goal of using it. A carbonate only product is better and a hydroxide product is much better.

 

[hexcolor reef]

Marine Buffer has been working great for the needs of boosting PH and has little effect on ALK. 20tbls to 500ml of fresh water. 20ml/day of this solution replaces the 1dkh my tank uses up daily while keeping PH pinned at 8.2 over night on my 100 gallon tank.

On my 15gallon I dose 5ml of this very solution daily and Alk doesn’t move and allows for PH to also stay stable

Only reason I have for cutting off Marine Buffer is due to a recent scare I had when the PH spiked above 8.5 due to me also running a water fall.

Aquavitro is the only brand I know of so far that has a hydroxide solution for PH but it still has a major effect on ALK more than Seachem Marine Buffer and Liquid Marine.

@Randy Holmes-Farley If you don’t mind share those products or a DIY that’s for sure won’t affect Alk.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Marine Buffer has been working great for the needs of boosting PH and has little effect on ALK. 20tbls to 500ml of fresh water. 20ml/day of this solution replaces the 1dkh my tank uses up daily while keeping PH pinned at 8.2 over night on my 100 gallon tank.

On my 15gallon I dose 5ml of this very solution daily and Alk doesn’t move and allows for PH to also stay stable

Aquavitro is the only brand I know of so far that has a hydroxide solution for PH but it still has a major effect on ALK more than Seachem Marine Buffer and Liquid Marine.

If you don’t mind share those products or a DIY that’s for sure won’t affect Alk.

I don't understand this post. Sorry.

Nothing that is an additive to the water boosts pH without adding alkalinity.

The three main alkalinity additives and their pH effects are:

1. Bicarbonate. Adds alk and a tiny pH drop.
2. Carbonate. Adds alk and a significant pH boost (about 0.35 pH units per 1.4 dKH)
3. Hydroxide. Adds alk and has about twice the pH boost of carbonate per unit of alk added.

Seachem marine buffer is
1. Mostly bicarbonate, and a small amount of carbonate.
2. If the pH is below pH 8.3, it gives a small pH raising effect
3. If the pH is 8.3, it has no effect on pH
4. If the pH is above ph 8.3, it has a small pH lowering effect


If you want a pH boost by additive, hydroxide is the highest possible pH boost per unit of alkalinity added.