CO2 scrubber question

[alddb]

My ph been 7.8 and been buffing daily. So my husband got me this co2 scrubber.
He connected it to the skimmer where I circled in blue. But it causes massive micro bubbles and the skimmer stops skimming. Just runs water without any skim bubbles.

what is he doing wrong?

attaching the co2 scrubber also.

 

[cooltowncorals]

Looks right

you can skip the silencer and run the hose right to the pump if you want the filter housing will silence it just fine

 

[alddb]

Looks right

you can skip the silencer and run the hose right to the pump if you want the filter housing will silence it just fine

But the micro bubbles was horrible. Plus it stopped actually skimming. It was just flowing water, no skim.

attaching a photo of the bubbles and a video of it hooked up. As you see we did some work today thinking the skimmer was clogged. Cleaned it really well but still doing the same thing.

mid I ran it to the pump…. It would be under water. Wouldn’t that destroy it?

 

[TokenReefer]

Does the hose on the skimmer fit inside/outside the co2 scrubber hose? Mine fit perfectly and I just zip tied it a little tighter just in case. This would eliminate the silencer as the issue at least..

Also, is it sucking in air on the IN side of the canister? should be able to feel the suction with your finger

 

[radfly]

Blow into the line to make sure there is a clear airway and not clogged. You may have put too much RODI in the container causing too much air resistance, which will cause no skimmer bubbles and high skimmer water level.

 

[alddb]

Does the hose on the skimmer fit inside/outside the co2 scrubber hose? Mine fit perfectly and I just zip tied it a little tighter just in case. This would eliminate the silencer as the issue at least..

Also, is it sucking in air on the IN side of the canister? should be able to feel the suction with your finger

I am so confused by this. What hose on the skimmer? There are 3. The clear, the red and the small one on the very back.

I pointed to where the micro bubbles were forming in the one photo.

 

[cooltowncorals]

The hose from your skimmer pump (the one that sucks in air) needs to go to the CO2 scrubber outlet

the airline from you skimmer pulls in air to create bubbles in you skimmer

 

[TokenReefer]

Connect these two lines together. If one fits nicely inside the other, great! If they're the same size inner diameter you can remove the one on the left (on the skimmer) and go strait to where it was connected with the one on the right (scrubber). If neither of these work you'd have to get a barbed coupler with appropriate size on each end

 

[alddb]

The hose from your skimmer pump (the one that sucks in air) needs to go to the CO2 scrubber outlet

the airline from you skimmer pulls in air to create bubbles in you skimmer

This clear one connected to the pump? But then the hose will be under water.

 

[cooltowncorals]

Connect these two lines together. If one fits nicely inside the other, great! If they're the same size inner diameter you can remove the one on the left (on the skimmer) and go strait to where it was connected with the one on the right (scrubber). If neither of these work you'd have to get a barbed coupler with appropriate size on each end

Correct

need air to go past co2 media into skimmer pump to be injected into your tank water

 

[alddb]

Connect these two lines together. If one fits nicely inside the other, great! If they're the same size inner diameter you can remove the one on the left (on the skimmer) and go strait to where it was connected with the one on the right (scrubber). If neither of these work you'd have to get a barbed coupler with appropriate size on each end

That is connected to the pump under water. So we would have nothing connected to that red cup then?

 

[cooltowncorals]

This clear one connected to the pump? But then the hose will be under water.

Yes

 

[TokenReefer]

Precisely. The red cup is a silencer but the scrubber itself will act as a silencer so its not needed

 

[cooltowncorals]

That is connected to the pump under water. So we would have nothing connected to that red cup then?

The red cup is just a silencer, it stops the air hose from making a ton of noise when it’s sucking in air to the pump.

going through CO2 media accomplishes same thing no need to keep silencer hooked up

 

[alddb]

I took the co2 scrubber apart today and made sure nothing was clogged. Reconnected it this time to the sump and not the red piping. It is skimming now BUT the micro bubbles…. Do they eventually stop? I tried to limit air flow and didn’t work. It either would not skim (just ran water out of collection cup) or stopped working all together. Any ideas about this or will it eventually stop?

 

[TokenReefer]

If you remove the scrubber and connect the skimmer like normal you get no bubbles? Shouldn't be that bubbly just from adding the scrubber imo. Maybe air is getting sucked in somewhere... Can you show where you connected it?

 

[InvaderJim]

It looks like you are running a vertex omega or something similar. When I mess with anything on mine it creates a lot of micro bubbles but eventually goes away. I also ran a co2 scrubber on my omega and it never caused any bubbles. Hose coming out of the left side doesn't connect to anything, hose on the right I stuck on the red air intake on the silencer and it worked great. To me it sounds like you just need to dial in your skimmer and then put the co2 scrubber on it. The Omegas are just very touchy, I modified the airline on mine to make it skim better.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Unless anyone objects, I'm changing the title to "CO2 scrubber" from "O2 scrubber".