Overflow Drain CO2 Scrubber (sodalime)

[Paul - LakesideReefer]

Hey guys, I had just put in a DIY CO2 scrubber made with a water bottle and sodalime connected to the air intake of my skimmer, and it was working great, bumped up my PH levels and kept it above 8, then my skimmer had to be taken out of service due to a bad pump....and almost immediately my PH started to drop into the 7.8 range which i read is acceptable, but all day it did not budge to get near 8.... so i got to thinking how i could implement the CO2 scrubber without the skimmer, i have the AGA overflow kit that has the little nipple on the drain piping for air venting...so i just took the CO2 scrubber and moved it from my skimmer to the drain pipe air intake...and voila, almost imediately it started to work, at 4pm it was at 7.93 by 5pm i was at 8 topped out at 8.02 at 10pm over night it bottomed out at 7.99 ad today at 12pm we are at 8.07 (this is all monitored through my APEX) So i just wanted to give this as another option for people who dont have a skimmer but looking to utilize a DIY CO2 scrubber with sodalime....and have an overflow that has a vent nipple on the drain....

 

[Rikerbear]

I used new unused clear plastic squeeze bottles. The airline tube fits perfectly over the nozzle. Drilled a few holes around the bottom third for air intake. Fill about an inch above the highest drilled hole with pelleted soda lime. Attached the other end to my skimmer air intake and watched my PH stabilize to 8.3 nearly overnight.
Would love to see a pic of your version

 

[Paul - LakesideReefer]

It's pretty much the same thing except I used a water bottle and drilled a hold in the cap for the airline tubing, for the way I'm doing it now I actually just made the hole in the cap a little bigger and the bottle is sitting right on top of the drain. Here's a crude photo of it in my canopy

 

[impur]

Here is mine, its a container that had a bunch of small clamps in it

 

[impur]

It's pretty much the same thing except I used a water bottle and drilled a hold in the cap for the airline tubing, for the way I'm doing it now I actually just made the hole in the cap a little bigger and the bottle is sitting right on top of the drain. Here's a crude photo of it in my canopy

You might try running some airline and keeping the scrubber outside the canopy. I've found the media gets used up really quickly when i have the scrubber in my stand.

 

[Paul - LakesideReefer]

ill give that a try, i dont normally have it in my canopy, only have it in there because my skimmer is offline so i wanted to keep the CO2 scrubber going and figured that the drain sucks air into the water column so it was a good place to add it. my PH is at 8.12 now

You might try running some airline and keeping the scrubber outside the canopy. I've found the media gets used up really quickly when i have the scrubber in my stand.

 

[Paul - LakesideReefer]

I added the co2 scrubber at 4pm yesterday

 

[-Logzor]

Very clever! Glad it worked out, CO2 scrubber made such a huge difference in my system.

 

[jimmybling31]

That seems like too fast of an increase in ph, but if your coral still look good then I guess it's not a problem.

 

[Paul - LakesideReefer]

That seems like too fast of an increase in ph, but if your coral still look good then I guess it's not a problem.

.25 of a swing in almost 24 hours is too much? Most ppl see more of a swing over night without doing anything

 

[jimmybling31]

I hardly ever see more than a .5 change throughout the day. And increasing it though external means is very different from the algae causing changes.

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[Ron Reefman]

I hardly ever see more than a .5 change throughout the day. And increasing it though external means is very different from the algae causing changes.

What? A change in pH is a change in pH no mater what the cause. It's just simple chemistry. And a 1.0 swing in pH over 24 hrs is not uncommon at all.

 

[Paul - LakesideReefer]

Peaked at 8.16 yesterday and only dropped to 8.06 overnight