How exactly does CO2 Scrubbing impact reef chemistry?

[george9]

LOL. Can you not push air through a water bottle or something to humidify it. You could paint the bottle green and pretend you’re growing phyto

I know it sounds stupid but I did try a bottle and was not able to get a good enough seal to keep the pressure up. It greatly reduced the output into the air stone :/

Since this wasn’t working, had to think of another way to humidity the source air without putting the pump outside in the Miami humidity (which was not even possible) lol

 

[george9]

Can you share your pump cO2 scrubber pictures and how you made it. Details of its hookup ?

Yes! I replicated the setup in this thread exactly - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/co2-scrubber-without-skimmer.918381/

It’s a BRS chamber, connected on one end to a 10W air pump (turned down to about 70%), and on the output end, I have a check valve to an air stone. The air stone sits in the middle chamber of my biocube and is vigorously aerating the water with Co2-deprived air 24/7. To maximize the life of the media, is is recommended to add a little water into the bottom of the media chamber. In my case, this would dry up in mere days and cause the media to be used up lightning fast. The RH in my apartment sits around 49-53%, and by putting the air pump into a plastic container that is humidified by a pool of water at the bottom, I am pumping in air with an RH of 75% which has lengthened the lifespan of the media. I also don’t have to worry about putting a teaspoon of water in the canister every couple of days. The air pump is sitting on a smaller plastic tupperware so the electronics arent sitting in a pool of water.

It is most ideal to hook this up to a skimmer air intake rather than an air pump and air stone, but with me using the cheap Biocube skimmer, it does not suck enough air and is too finicky to complicate IMO.

In my case, I had the water surface exchange and protein skimmer fighting against this scrubber since they were both aerating with high-co2 air. The biocube is covered so I don’t think the surface exchange is as big of an issue as it would be in a topless tank. In order to fight the Skimmer cancelling out the scrubber effect, I run the skimmer on a timer and it turns off a couple hours after lights out, and turns back on when lights ramp up so at my morning pH minimum, I’m only pumping in co2-reduced air which has prevented plummeting pH to the 7.6 range like was usual in my high-co2 environment.

While kinda complicated, this has kept my pH in a perfect range (7.9-8.3) for almost a month now.

 

[14 foot reef]

Yes! I replicated the setup in this thread exactly - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/co2-scrubber-without-skimmer.918381/

It’s a BRS chamber, connected on one end to a 10W air pump (turned down to about 70%), and on the output end, I have a check valve to an air stone. The air stone sits in the middle chamber of my biocube and is vigorously aerating the water with Co2-deprived air 24/7. To maximize the life of the media, is is recommended to add a little water into the bottom of the media chamber. In my case, this would dry up in mere days and cause the media to be used up lightning fast. The RH in my apartment sits around 49-53%, and by putting the air pump into a plastic container that is humidified by a pool of water at the bottom, I am pumping in air with an RH of 75% which has lengthened the lifespan of the media. I also don’t have to worry about putting a teaspoon of water in the canister every couple of days. The air pump is sitting on a smaller plastic tupperware so the electronics arent sitting in a pool of water.

It is most ideal to hook this up to a skimmer air intake rather than an air pump and air stone, but with me using the cheap Biocube skimmer, it does not suck enough air and is too finicky to complicate IMO.

In my case, I had the water surface exchange and protein skimmer fighting against this scrubber since they were both aerating with high-co2 air. The biocube is covered so I don’t think the surface exchange is as big of an issue as it would be in a topless tank. In order to fight the Skimmer cancelling out the scrubber effect, I run the skimmer on a timer and it turns off a couple hours after lights out, and turns back on when lights ramp up so at my morning pH minimum, I’m only pumping in co2-reduced air which has prevented plummeting pH to the 7.6 range like was usual in my high-co2 environment.

While kinda complicated, this has kept my pH in a perfect range (7.9-8.3) for almost a month now.

Thanks.

Do you believe that your cO2 measurement coming out of that DIY unit is at zero, or do you believe it is at some number under nature outside air of about 400 ppm.......
I have a Dual MAZZI venturi that pulls an insane amount of outside air in to the 8' skimmer. If a cO2 scrubber can get to 0.00 or close cO2, then this might be worth making a larger one for my skimmer. If you think its only pulling down to 300 ppm than there will be no real benefit. Thanks for you thoughts on this

 

[Doctorgori]

Thanks Randy

I hear “don’t chase pH” for fear of causing instability so much that I just wanted to clear it up.

….this is my point of parroting idioms …. waaaay to many Youtube vids being floated around anymore

 

[george9]

Thanks.

Do you believe that your cO2 measurement coming out of that DIY unit is at zero, or do you believe it is at some number under nature outside air of about 400 ppm.......
I have a Dual MAZZI venturi that pulls an insane amount of outside air in to the 8' skimmer. If a cO2 scrubber can get to 0.00 or close cO2, then this might be worth making a larger one for my skimmer. If you think its only pulling down to 300 ppm than there will be no real benefit. Thanks for you thoughts on this

Holy cow that is a large skimmer lol

To be honest with you I have not tested it precisely enough to know what the CO2 concentration of the air coming out of the scrubber is. With the insanely elevated co2 in my apartment, I cannot say if it is near the atmospheric concentration or lower, or maybe even still above. All I know is it is lower than the ambient air in my home at this time so it’s helping bump my pH up.
I would think if you feed the scrubber outside air with ~400-420ppm co2, your media will last a very long time and it should be leaving the scrubber with less co2 than it came in with as long as the media is doing it’s job. Whether or not it goes down to 0 completely, I cannot say for sure.

Are you having pH issues while pulling in outside air or just looking to squeeze a little bit more out of your maximum pH?

 

[jda]

I have a few cheap co2 meters. I do not know if it is accurate at 5000 ppm, but you can likely bet that it is at 2000, or more. I would do a complete air out of your place in the early AM when it is as cool as possible. If you are anywhere near 5000 ppm, that is a hazard that I would take seriously.

You don't have to heat your house up, just exchange the air. This can be done in a few minutes. The dollar that you might spend cooling the air back down is way cheaper than soda lime and stuff. You might even feel better too. Looks like you can be around 80 degrees in the AM, so that is probably not too far from where you set the thermostat.

 

[george9]

I have a few cheap co2 meters. I do not know if it is accurate at 5000 ppm, but you can likely bet that it is at 2000, or more. I would do a complete air out of your place in the early AM when it is as cool as possible. If you are anywhere near 5000 ppm, that is a hazard that I would take seriously.

You don't have to heat your house up, just exchange the air. This can be done in a few minutes. The dollar that you might spend cooling the air back down is way cheaper than soda lime and stuff. You might even feel better too. Looks like you can be around 80 degrees in the AM, so that is probably not too far from where you set the thermostat.

Oh yes, when I saw how high that little meter got, I started airing everything out each night before bed and as soon as I wake up, which probably also helps extend the life of the soda lime as well.

 

[jda]

I had a dude send me a PM. He had headaches, was not sleeping well and all other kinds of issues. Tried a CPAP and some meds. Got a co2 meter for his fish tank, saw he was over 3000 and aired out his apartment. All of the issues went away. I am glad that you are on top of it.

 

[george9]

I had a dude send me a PM. He had headaches, was not sleeping well and all other kinds of issues. Tried a CPAP and some meds. Got a co2 meter for his fish tank, saw he was over 3000 and aired out his apartment. All of the issues went away. I am glad that you are on top of it.

Interesting. I don't have any of those issues, and am not convinced I am actually hitting 5000ppm without noticing any symptoms. The sensor does instantly plummet to 420ppm when I take it outside so it does definitely raise an eyebrow that *maybe* it is that high? It's difficult to air the place out enough without completely fogging everything over from the humidity. The floors get slimy and mirrors begin to fog up pretty fast. The co2 meter will drop into the low 2000s after 10-15 minutes and once the door is shut it climbs back up to 4000-5000 pretty quick. No way to really get fresh AND comfortable air this time of year. Winters are amazing with low humidity and temperatures in the 60s...the door stays wide open all day in that case.

2 people, 3 small dogs and frequent visitors in a solid concrete high-rise with only a sliding glass door for fresh air... all in 900 square feet lol. Yeahh I will always have co2 issues until I move somewhere else