Co2 scrubber
- Thread starter Bph
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monkeyCmonkeyDo
7500 Club Member
Idk?! Id be more intrested to hear from those who have them and run airlines outside for fresh air and actually know if their reefs have improved or they see no difference?
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Mbritt
Community Member
The scrubber raised mine from 7.9 / 8.1 to pretty consistently staying at the 8.25 - 8.3 mark. I have Apex logic to shut the skimmer down around 8.3 or it would go to 8.4 or more. Working on putting in a ball valve to bypass the scrubber when ph reaches its limit
Andresnyc93
Valuable Member
Just installed a scrubber last week and I went from 7.7 to 8.2 consistent. Problem for me was the stand was too compact and air tight so just running the tube out of the stand into the intake of scrubber made a huge difference. Worth it
Joe31415
Valuable Member
Pretty much the same thing here. Only difference is I don't have an Apex, but I have a pH controller that I use to open and close a ball valve. It's probably not even really needed, but more stuff=more better.
Joe31415
Valuable Member
It's an easy enough test.
Get a jar of tank water, stick an airline in it for an hour and check the pH. If it goes up, then you should be able to increase pH by increasing gas exchange (air pump, different skimmer, better surface agitation etc). If the pH stays the same, you'll need to find a different approach.
Now, get a new jar of tank water and repeat the experiment, except put the jar (or at least the pump) outside. If the pH increases, a CO2 scrubber or running a line from outside should help.
In my case, the outside experiment raised pH so I added a skimmer. As much as people kept saying I should just run an airline from my skimmer to outside, well, I didn't want to drill a hole through the side of my house. Honestly, I'm always surprised that 'drill a hole through your house' comes up as the first suggestion before adding a scrubber. Sure, a scrubber requires some maintence and an ongoing cost to replace media, but it doesn't involved drilling a hole in the side of your house.
Jdadams
Active Member
I put a icecap scrubber on my 20gal with a eshopps nano skimmer. Went from 7.9/8.0 to 8.1/8.2. Mine has been on the tank for almost 3 months and the top part of the media is barely starting to change color.
Joe31415
Valuable Member
I found, at least with the set up I have, it's really hard to tell if it's changed color. I (for the most part) don't look at the color anymore and swap it when I notice the pH doesn't get over 8.1ish anymore.
mdb_talon
2500 Club Member
When i used a scrubber the impact was about .2 higher(i did not have it setup as recirculating). My outside airline is about a .3 to .4 increase.
Those increases are when i cant have a window open due to weather(much of the year in the midwest)
Those increases are when i cant have a window open due to weather(much of the year in the midwest)
mdb_talon
2500 Club Member
I guess it just depends on what you see as more of an hassle. I am not a big fan of the consumable throwaway approach and purchasing a product repeatedly if i can achieve the same goal by simply using air from outside.
gbroadbridge
2500 Club Member
A hole in the side of the house costs nothing and has no ongoing costs.
Fixing up a hole in the house costs $25 max even if you have to buy a couple of things.
The downsides are extreme weather events like fires, when the scrubber comes back to play.
Jdadams
Active Member
Yea I’ve read a lot are like that about seeing the color change or never changes at all. The icecap brand seems to be the best. Very noticeable change. I know another guy that uses it as well and changes his once a year. It’s good stuff
Joe31415
Valuable Member
The purple color is actually pretty noticeable, the problem is it's hard to see through the blue BRS canister. Also, from what I understand, after a while, it can go back to white, making it look like it still has plenty of time left.
Saltyanimals
Valuable Member
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+1 here. I can't tell if my media is ever consumed. It stays white as least from what I can tell and the pH stays up so I don't mess with it. Using the BRS color change plus a BRS reactor conversion kit. Nothing fancy, but seems to work. Since the color doesn't ever change, I'm wondering if something else is keeping the pH up now and maybe I don't even need the scrubber anymore. One thing that I will call out is that I'm using a CaRX and thus where the chasing pH started initially. However, I have tuned the CaRx to provide higher effluent potency and thus less effluent volume going into the tank. i.e. more potential stuff vs more stuff. This I noticed help keep my pH higher so I may take the scrubber can offline for a few days to see if it makes a difference anymore.
Jeffbear
Community Member
I just installed a scrubber on my Red Sea 170. I'm using an Ice Cap small reactor hooked to a Ehiem Air pump sitting outside of my Cabinet. I control the air pump using my Hydros controller and PH probe. I have it set to come on if the pH falls below 8.1 and turn off above 8.2. With this set up I have been able to to raise my tanks pH from 7.6-7.8 to 8.1-8.2 comfortably without blowing through CO2 media, and without having to run my skimmer (which is how most hook up scrubbers)
Saltyanimals
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I just removed my BRS scrubber media to take a look and it's all still white. I did a light shake to see if it's a hard rock and nada. Looks good. Just put it back and I think I might have a media that will last forever and ever. =)
Hopefully you do have magic media
But the BRS is the one media that is very hard to see the color change with. Icecap and Jorvet soda lime from Amazon are super easy to see the color change. I also find it begins changing color extremely quickly – long before it actually starts being ineffective.
I definitely encourage people to change the media based on actual changes in PH instead of when the media changes color. This is obviously easier when you have a PH probe. But if you do, you shouldn't really care what color it is if your PH is still in range.
Would you mind elaborating on how the air pump is connected to your reactor? Is it just an airline going from the output of the air pump connected to the intake of the reactor?
If so, do you find the airflow into the reactor sufficient with the air pump off?
Is the air pump noisy?
Jeffbear
Community Member
I have it set up just as you described. The air line goes in the inlet of the scrubber (using 1/4 to 3/8ths tube adapters) and from the outlet to the air stone in the sump. I'm using an Ehiem 200 air pump with both outlets driven to one tube using a T coupling.
The air pump is not silent. You can tell when the pump is running. It's on a wood floor with the only dampening being the rubber feet it comes with. I think it can be quieter.
