Opening windows to rise ph not working

[nickng]

I am thinking of experimenting with something like this in the future. Eventhough the scrubber is relatively quiet (it's a simplicity 120DC at the lowest setting) I want something dead silent no more that 42-43 dB sound levels. I think I can achieve this with a turf scrubber

 

[nickng]

I am thinking of experimenting with something like this in the future. Eventhough the scrubber is relatively quiet (it's a simplicity 120DC at the lowest setting) I want something dead silent no more that 42-43 dB sound levels. I think I can achieve this with a turf scrubber

No need for a sump

 

[Oiseaufeu]

There's an alternative to using a co2 scrubber that will also bump your pH up by around 0.2 to 0.3 depending on how aggressive you have the settings. I run a refugium with chaeto mostly for growing copepods for my Mandarin fish and also as a 24/7 food source for the fishes since I feed the fishes every other day.
I noticed that with a chaeto refugium if I have my light settings at the maximum intensity, I get a bump in pH of about 0.3. It drops within an hour or so as soon as I turn the lights off.

Now the other observation is when I first started up the refugium and did not have enough chaeto, I had a lot of green turf algae and that was even more effective ie gave a pH bump of 0.3+ Maybe something like a green algae turf scrubber will work. It's will probably be very effcient in removing all the phosphate and nitrate from teh tank.

DIY Algae Scrubber

Hello Everyone, I'm working on creating an algae scrubber using some old equipment and my 3d printer. I am trying to do as much as I can DIY as I love to tinker. Please give me any feedback you can think of, it is much appreciated! So far, I've got the plumbing and housing completed. Coming...

www.reef2reef.com

I’m trying to grow my chaeto rizome. But yeah, that sound like something I could do. That’s how I set my tiny refugium. I mainly made it for my chaeto rizome as a grow out tank. And there are a few copepods that somehow got it in there. It’s run by a bubbler because I lost my small pump to have more current in there. It’s just a breeding/acclimating box. I put media in there because I had a filter issue that I have completely solved now. I can sleep with it without unplugging the filter for the night. Don’t know how this rizome got in my tank in the first place.

 

[nickng]

Thanks! I'll keep it at this level for now.

i have my alk controlled to 7.5 to 7.8. just by fine tuning alk dosing if about 1.5ml every day or 2.5ml; everother day if i accepth a bit more swing

 

[Oiseaufeu]

i have my alk controlled to 7.5 to 7.8. just by fine tuning alk dosing if about 1.5ml every day or 2.5ml; everother day if i accepth a bit more swing

That’s cool to know. I’ll see if dosing something might help it or not. I have a tiny piece of chaeto growing in a breeding box at the moment.

 

[ReeferZ1227]

Where do you live? In Florida our AC doesnt run much at all this time of year and CO2 builds up in the house extremely fast. My house isnt that air tight with old windows, however, with 2 dogs and 2 people i see co2 rise from 409ppm to well over 1,000.

Opening a window for 15min wont necessarily change much if its a large room and theres no draft. I would do the aeration test to confirm. Last year, I was hitting lows of 7.6ph and tank was in bad shape. Also if corals arent doing well you wont see a boost in pH during the day, making it a negative feedback loop.

I installed a whole home dehumidifier with a 8" fresh air intake, with a motorized damper T'd to a dedicated return. I then went supply to supply to my HVAC. I also dose kalk.

My pH hits lows of 8.1 and highs of 8.3 And my growth is the best amongst my 4 close friends with tanks.

I also run a CO2 scrubber, but alone the skimmer stood no chance against the surface agitation of a 6ft 125 and indoor CO2 +1200ppm, nor did Kalk, nor did a plethora of other crazy stuff i tried.

I went a bit further than most but it was well worth it along with the health benefits of indoor relative humidity ~50% and CO2 maxing at 650ppm.

 

[old salt reefer]

My salinity has lowered a bit because I had an issue with my canister filter and I completely fixed it.

My salinity is at 1.023. It was slightly higher before at around 1.024-25.

My salinity is at 1.023 at the moment.

You do know that you can add salt to your aquarium to raise the salinity.

I live in a basement with my wife, 2 dogs,a cat and a parrot that all add CO2 to the air. My Ph in the winter is most likely the same as yours, but I don't test and could care less. If I spent my live trying to get perfect numbers in my tanks I'd be a nervous wreck. It's like health insurance that think we should all be skinny oriental people that only eat fish and plants to be healthy and if you aren't they are going to charge you more.
Anyway I quit test for stuff years ago. The test kits that sit on my shelf long ago expired. So my coral grows a mm less every month in the winter than in the summer. Stability is the key to keeping corals alive long term. So as long as the PH is stable at a reasonable number I'm happy and so are the corals.

 

[Oiseaufeu]

Where do you live? In Florida our AC doesnt run much at all this time of year and CO2 builds up in the house extremely fast. My house isnt that air tight with old windows, however, with 2 dogs and 2 people i see co2 rise from 409ppm to well over 1,000.

Opening a window for 15min wont necessarily change much if its a large room and theres no draft. I would do the aeration test to confirm. Last year, I was hitting lows of 7.6ph and tank was in bad shape. Also if corals arent doing well you wont see a boost in pH during the day, making it a negative feedback loop.

I installed a whole home dehumidifier with a 8" fresh air intake, with a motorized damper T'd to a dedicated return. I then went supply to supply to my HVAC. I also dose kalk.

My pH hits lows of 8.1 and highs of 8.3 And my growth is the best amongst my 4 close friends with tanks.

I also run a CO2 scrubber, but alone the skimmer stood no chance against the surface agitation of a 6ft 125 and indoor CO2 +1200ppm, nor did Kalk, nor did a plethora of other crazy stuff i tried.

I went a bit further than most but it was well worth it along with the health benefits of indoor relative humidity ~50% and CO2 maxing at 650ppm.

I live in Canada. I open my windows daily and I have no corals in yet. It’s in my bedroom that is tiny. And I did the aeration test and it didn’t change my ph at all. I have no skimmer, so the c02 scrubber won’t work for me at the moment. I only have 1 lfs in Montreal for saltwater fish and stuff because all others are outside and out of reach for me since I don’t drive.

 

[Oiseaufeu]

You do know that you can add salt to your aquarium to raise the salinity.

I live in a basement with my wife, 2 dogs,a cat and a parrot that all add CO2 to the air. My Ph in the winter is most likely the same as yours, but I don't test and could care less. If I spent my live trying to get perfect numbers in my tanks I'd be a nervous wreck. It's like health insurance that think we should all be skinny oriental people that only eat fish and plants to be healthy and if you aren't they are going to charge you more.
Anyway I quit test for stuff years ago. The test kits that sit on my shelf long ago expired. So my coral grows a mm less every month in the winter than in the summer. Stability is the key to keeping corals alive long term. So as long as the PH is stable at a reasonable number I'm happy and so are the corals.

Thanks! I’m new to saltwater. And I do know that I can add salt to raise my salinity a bit or to let evaporation do it for me to make it very low below the lines I drew on my tank. I have no corals in my tank yet.

 

[nickng]

Oh if you don’t have corals or no interest in putting in corals, I did say go with the algae turf scrubber that you can make with the hang on back filter and any 6500k bulb. Run it nearly 24/7 That way your water will have very low nitrates and almost no phosphates. And you can use the algae as snail or urchin or tang food. I did not run an algae scrubber because i have Zoanthid and palthoas and hammers and scans and scoly. The corals won’t survive if the water has too low nitrates or phosphates. Not a problem with fish only tank. Another plus is the algae scrubber will prevent Green hair algae in the display tank and increase oxygen levels. A recirculating co2 scrubber only removes co2 but doesn’t add O2

 

[Oiseaufeu]

Oh if you don’t have corals or no interest in putting in corals, I did say go with the algae turf scrubber that you can make with the hang on back filter and any 6500k bulb. Run it nearly 24/7 That way your water will have very low nitrates and almost no phosphates. And you can use the algae as snail or urchin or tang food. I did not run an algae scrubber because i have Zoanthid and palthoas and hammers and scans and scoly. The corals won’t survive if the water has too low nitrates or phosphates. Not a problem with fish only tank. Another plus is the algae scrubber will prevent Green hair algae in the display tank and increase oxygen levels. A recirculating co2 scrubber only removes co2 but doesn’t add O2

I already have low nitrates in my tank because of turf algae. I’ll look for a tiny light and a cover for my chaeto rizome for sure. I just can’t have a tang in my 33 gallon tank, so it would only be used as a nutrient export to my tank. I do plan on corals at some point for sure. I also need a phosphate test kit and other ones as well before adding corals in. Thanks! I’ll look for that.

 

[jda]

Fix the root cause and lower co2 in the house - this is good for more than just the aquarium. The band aids can work, but they are all temporary.

Even if you don't need a skimmer to remove organics, using one for gas exchange is a good idea, IMO. Even a cheap one that does not skim much can do this.

 

[Oiseaufeu]

Fix the root cause and lower co2 in the house - this is good for more than just the aquarium. The band aids can work, but they are all temporary.

Even if you don't need a skimmer to remove organics, using one for gas exchange is a good idea, IMO. Even a cheap one that does not skim much can do this.

Thanks! I’ll look for one then. I haven’t bought it when I started my tank as it was cycling at the time. Though, opening the window is refreshing my bedroom. I’ll close it now, because it starts to be cold.