Help me understand co2 scrubber

[wooderbox]

I have a relatively small AIO system so I am not running a skimmer in the system. I am dosing kalk but ph still drops below 7.8 at night and I would like it to be little higher.

I ordered a co2 scrubber, and I looked up if anyone shared their setup with an air pump. Not much information was found other than people running it with their skimmers.

It will be here this Thursday so I havent run it yet. Am I understanding it right though?Do I hook it up from an air pump -> air hose -> co2 scrubber intake -> co2 scrubber outtake -> air hose -> air stone?

Will it still increase the ph in the system even though the air is coming from the outside? I thought it was supposed to remove co2 in the water.

 

[Subsea]

I have a relatively small AIO system so I am not running a skimmer in the system. I am dosing kalk but ph still drops below 7.8 at night and I would like it to be little higher.

I ordered a co2 scrubber, and I looked up if anyone shared their setup with an air pump. Not much information was found other than people running it with their skimmers.

It will be here this Thursday so I havent run it yet. Am I understanding it right though?Do I hook it up from an air pump -> air hose -> co2 scrubber intake -> co2 scrubber outtake -> air hose -> air stone?

Will it still increase the ph in the system even though the air is coming from the outside? I thought it was supposed to remove co2 in the water.

The assumption for this to work is that outside air has less CO2 than inside air.

 

[Gatorpa]

Typically the scrubber is connected to a skimmer and that sucks air through the media to lower the CO2.
Variations included running an outside airline through the scrubber to the Skimmer(that’s what I do).

For your application the air stone would need to have an inlet to connect a tube to draw air from the scrubber and then force into the tank. I’m not sure you will get the same effect as the dissolved CO2 in the tank water is what is removed vis the skimmer.

Try it and see.

 

[Fritz05]

CO2 scrubber without skimmer

Skimmerless CO2 Scrubber Build I'm writing this build thread for a CO2 scrubber setup without the need for a skimmer since I had a difficult time finding anyone who had done this. The plumbing is simple: air pump --> CO2 canister with sodalime --> an airstone placed in your sump or tank I...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Dave Clark]

CO2 scrubber without skimmer

Skimmerless CO2 Scrubber Build I'm writing this build thread for a CO2 scrubber setup without the need for a skimmer since I had a difficult time finding anyone who had done this. The plumbing is simple: air pump --> CO2 canister with sodalime --> an airstone placed in your sump or tank I...

www.reef2reef.com

Interesting, no mention of feeding the air pump with outside air.

 

[Dave Clark]

I have a relatively small AIO system so I am not running a skimmer in the system. I am dosing kalk but ph still drops below 7.8 at night and I would like it to be little higher.

I ordered a co2 scrubber, and I looked up if anyone shared their setup with an air pump. Not much information was found other than people running it with their skimmers.

It will be here this Thursday so I havent run it yet. Am I understanding it right though?Do I hook it up from an air pump -> air hose -> co2 scrubber intake -> co2 scrubber outtake -> air hose -> air stone?

Will it still increase the ph in the system even though the air is coming from the outside? I thought it was supposed to remove co2 in the water.

Did you eventually set up your scrubber?

 

[Jono667]

Is it possible to remove all co2 from air? I have had mine running for 3 days now. I just modded a jar so i can measure co2 output, see pic. Its too hot outside now to open doors and windows until way into the night and house co2 is above 1500 by end of day. The lowest i measured co2 outside was 431 ppm. I am now showing low 430s from the scrubber. Ph is still about 8.15 during the day and am hoping it will creep upwards over the next few days. Am i on the right track?

 

[Jono667]

And measuring the room level

 

[ca1ore]

I always found co2 scrubbers to be a big waste of time. Hard to see how bubbling air though a scrubber would accomplish anything. Running air from outside to a skimmer can help; though ventilating the room helps more.

 

[Jono667]

I always found co2 scrubbers to be a big waste of time. Hard to see how bubbling air though a scrubber would accomplish anything. Running air from outside to a skimmer can help; though ventilating the room helps more.

I would agree but there's the rub. I am in arizona, todays high 98f and its may 1. Opening a window not doable until about 9pm when il the temp outside has dropped to 78, the same as inside.

 

[ca1ore]

Yes, understood. It becomes impractical for me here in CT by the end of June.

 

[JNalley]

I always found co2 scrubbers to be a big waste of time. Hard to see how bubbling air though a scrubber would accomplish anything. Running air from outside to a skimmer can help; though ventilating the room helps more.

Huh? The media removes CO2 from the air so that a skimmer is not putting more CO2 into the system lowering pH. What's hard to understand about that? Sometimes running an outside airline is impractical, sometimes it doesn't change anything because the outside air is high CO2... A scrubber helps in those situation....

Edit: Nvm, I think you're talking about specifically using in conjunction with an air bubbler and I missed that. I guess the "hope" is that it will become the main source of gas exchange like a skimmer, but I don't think it will ever be as efficient...

 

[ca1ore]

Huh? The media removes CO2 from the air so that a skimmer is not putting more CO2 into the system lowering pH. What's hard to understand about that? Sometimes running an outside airline is impractical, sometimes it doesn't change anything because the outside air is high CO2... A scrubber helps in those situations...

I did not say the function of a CO2 scrubber was hard to understand, rather getting any positive effect by using it to bubble air into a tank seems dubious (perhaps I was not entirely clear on that point). Before that I said that me/myself/I have not found CO2 scrubbers to be helpful, not that they could not be helpful or that other folks might have a different experience.

In my case, a large open top tank 'marinating' in a high CO2 environment overwhelms any benefits that might accrue from CO2 scrubbing.

 

[JNalley]

I did not say the function of a CO2 scrubber was hard to understand, rather getting any positive effect by using it to bubble air into a tank seems dubious (perhaps I was not entirely clear on that point). Before that I said that me/myself/I have not found CO2 scrubbers to be helpful, not that they could not be helpful or that other folks might have a different experience.

In my case, a large open top tank 'marinating' in a high CO2 environment overwhelms any benefits that might accrue from CO2 scrubbing.

Yeh, I edited while you were typing...

 

[ca1ore]

No worries, it can be a 'controversial' topic. Long ago I moved the air intake on my skimmer to the skimmate container. My skimmer uses mazzei venturis that have an annoying habit of clogging. Recirculating the air solves this but precludes me from using a fresh air feed. Oh well.