co2 scrubber

[sergifed91]

absolutely love how the co2 scrubber has worked so far the past 24 hours I put it in production. my ph usually would hit a high of 7.8 ph and then drop down to 7.65 and would not hit 7.8 but maybe 7.75 the next day. and then the next night down to 7.5 to 7.6 and just keep get going lower. just yesterday it hit a high of 7.86 and only dropped down to 7.82. so far today it is at 7.97 ppm for the ph. although it's slowing down producing the O2 and I think it is just running out of co2 in the tank. I am wondering if it will still sta in the 7.9 ppm range for PH tonight. I do have surface agitation but I did decrease it due to the basement being high in co2 and lowering the co2 exchange and the splashing also. I just got a little sick of having the floor wet. but any idea if it will 8.0 tomorrow? I hope it does. but if theres no co2 to convert again till tomorrow then so be it.. I hope it goes to 7.99 ppm for the PH.... before the lights go out tonight at ten.

 

[Pntbll687]

Well as we all know good things dont happen fast. Let us know how it looks after a month or so.

And more importantly, do you see a difference in corals color and growth?

 

[sergifed91]

Well as we all know good things dont happen fast. Let us know how it looks after a month or so.

And more importantly, do you see a difference in corals color and growth?

being 24 hours growth no. but corals color look better. except for 2 torches that are made. but I blame that on the clown fish.. there in the torches all the time...

 

[rkpetersen]

A CO2 scrubber won't exhaust all the CO2 in a tank or anything close to it.
How effective it is depends on how much water is flowing through the skimmer proportional to tank size,
how long the scrubber is on, how effective it is at scrubbing, how much scrubbed air is drawn into the skimmer,
whether the air that goes through the skimmer is then recycled through the scrubber again,
how large the cannister is, and how exhausted the soda lime's capacity is.
Good idea to run the scrubber at night, and keep track of the pH first thing in the morning.
As long as it's about the same every morning, your scrubber is working.
If the morning level drops, it's time to replace the media.
Or you can watch for the purple color change to reach the top of the cannister, indicating the media is exhausted.
Although this can sometimes be hard to see, and some brands of soda lime don't include the color change chemical.
If the ambient CO2 level is really high, a cannister of soda lime might not last more than a couple days.

O2 doesn't enter into it at all; a CO2 scrubber doesn't add or remove oxygen, and oxygen level has no effect on pH.

 

[sergifed91]

A CO2 scrubber won't exhaust all the CO2 in a tank or anything close to it.
How effective it is depends on how much water is flowing through the skimmer proportional to tank size,
how long the scrubber is on, how effective it is at scrubbing, how much scrubbed air is drawn into the skimmer,
whether the air that goes through the skimmer is then recycled through the scrubber again,
how large the cannister is, and how exhausted the soda lime's capacity is.
Good idea to run the scrubber at night, and keep track of the pH first thing in the morning.
As long as it's about the same every morning, your scrubber is working.
If the morning level drops, it's time to replace the media.
Or you can watch for the purple color change to reach the top of the cannister, indicating the media is exhausted.
Although this can sometimes be hard to see, and some brands of soda lime don't include the color change chemical.
If the ambient CO2 level is really high, a cannister of soda lime might not last more than a couple days.

O2 doesn't enter into it at all; a CO2 scrubber doesn't add or remove oxygen, and oxygen level has no effect on pH.

my first day after putting the scrubber on it dropped to 7.82 over night from 7.86. then during the day it hit 7.97 and dropped this morning from 7.97 to 7.86. so far it has gone up to 7.95 and I am hoping will hit 7.97 and then back down to 7.86 in the morning when I get up at 6 am. I am not at home a lot of times. between work and being on call most times. I love my apex. I can monitor and get alerts if something is wrong. and rush home if I can or direct someone over the phone with my instructions on what to do. I realize I probably won't hit 8 for ph. or even more than that. but if I can get it stable that's better then nothing. stability is more of an important factor IMO with reefing then the major flucturations. with ph. I keep alk at between 10 - 11 ca is at 440 and mg 1350 to 1400 is where I like to keep it. but ph is fluctuating to much. for example. wc day it will be at 8.1 and night time drop down to 7.8 and won't hit 8.1 again may 7.9 and then that night drop to below 7.7 and then go up to 7.8 and then drop at night to 7.6 and might hit 7.7 during the day but unlikely on that. so far I have only had it running for a day an a half and not rushing it at all. if my alk is below 10 then I dose a half to a half teaspoon to bring it back to the 10 -11 ppm range.