Do you feed your skimmer outside air? How long a run?

azbigjohn · Oct 4, 2017

I have a 210 gallon tank that I have had a tremendous impact on my pH by feeding outside air to the skimmer. The challenge I have is that the line from teh skimmer to the outside is almost 6 feet, and using 1/2" (inner diameter) tubing is restricting my airflow to the point my skimmer is dialed way back in water flow to get the required bubbles.

How far does your line run? Any problems with airflow?

Hersheyb · Oct 4, 2017

i tried doing this for a few weeks... the line was about 4 feet away. I didn't see much of a difference ph wise, so I just removed the line and went back to the old way. I do have a window by the tank that is almost always open so that could be the reason..

dealseer · Oct 4, 2017

Hersheyb said:
i tried doing this for a few weeks... the line was about 4 feet away. I didn't see much of a difference ph wise, so I just removed the line and went back to the old way. I do have a window by the tank that is almost always open so that could be the reason..

Huh??

southern186 · Oct 4, 2017

Mine runs off a fresh air line from outside then runs through co2 scrubber then into the skimmer. Works great cause the air in south mississippi stays humid which keeps the media moist and extends the life of the sodalime media. Usually get two weeks out of one canister if media!

theMeat · Oct 4, 2017

If the c02 in house where tank is isn't much lower than what's outside, than running skimmer air intake from outside isn't doing anything. The bigger the diff between inside c02 and outside c02, the bigger dif the "fresh" air line will make.

Unlike water, air flows freely through tube. Whether it goes up, down, level, whatever. As long as your line doesn't get reduced or restricted in some way, the length matters not. Unless we're talking ridiculous long.
If your skimmer's stock air tube is let's say 1/2" outside diameter, and you fit it snug into a bigger 1/2" inside diameter tube. You can run 30-50 feet np.

Origami · Oct 4, 2017

I'm guessing that mine runs about 25 feet. Almost all of that is through rigid 1-inch PVC. The route goes up from my basement, straight up past the first floor and into the attic. It then turns and heads to a gable where it picks up clear air well away from the ground. Two half-inch vinyl lines run into the skimmer.

paphater · Oct 4, 2017

I could be recalling wrong but I think BRS did a video on this and found that after 10 feet the results started to diminish.

azbigjohn · Oct 5, 2017

I really appreciate everyone's responses. I may need to consider changing my piping to run larger PVC tubing up to the stand, and then use the flexible pipe into the skimmer. I live in Phoenix, AZ and the house is closed up tight for a large part of the year as temps are high. Running inside air, I struggled to keep pH above 7.9 without overdoing buffer in my previous 165 gallon tank. With the outside air solely feeding my Reef Octopus 200 INT, I run a pretty consistent 8.2 in this 210. The issue is, I have to keep my skimmer dialed down pretty far to get a foam head, and that diminishes the amount of pass through my skimmer gets... I am tempted to hook up the old muffler with inside air, and see what the difference is in foam production versus pH in the newer tank.

siggy · Oct 5, 2017

Origami said:
I'm guessing that mine runs about 25 feet. Almost all of that is through rigid 1-inch PVC. The route goes up from my basement, straight up past the first floor and into the attic. It then turns and heads to a gable where it picks up clear air well away from the ground. Two half-inch vinyl lines run into the skimmer.

Interesting: You have created a chimney in essence, if the PVC becomes heated wouldn't the air inside rise during the day and fall during the night ? do you monitor your PH with a probe

Shaun Sweeney · Oct 6, 2017

I run about 60' of 1/2 line to the intake of my CO2 scrubber and that feeds 3 skimmers. Works great with no apparent cost in efficiency to the skimmers. Keeps Ph around 8.3