pH and CO2 question

reefiniteasy · Jan 4, 2022

I run a medium IceCap CO2 scrubber. I use it to counteract the CO2 generated by my wife and two young daughters who are home all day everyday. The last two days I have seen a major jump in pH. Daytime high of usually 8.3. Last two evenings around lights out pH has been just above 8.4 as monitored by Hydros (Hanna Checker says 8.6). Normal nighttime low of 8.08, was over 8.2 last night. Parameters are fine. Alk is 7.9dKH and Ca is 435ppm. We never have windows open as we live in Florida. It has been cooler out. AC is on less but my wife and kids have been spending a lot of time outside. Can this be the reason for the increase? Two nights ago I doubled the amount of water added to the bottom of the skimmer. Skimmer always has 20ml. I added 40ml. Can this be it?

Am I at a level that I need to add a “T” to the scrubber line with a valve to open to skip the scrubber at times.

I have no negative affects that I see from the higher pH. I have not seen any precipitation and everything seems normal.

Thoughts???

Tony the Fish · Jan 4, 2022

Why do you want to lower it ? 8.2-8.4 is ideal

Tony the Fish · Jan 4, 2022

Also Alk is on the low end

reefiniteasy · Jan 4, 2022

Tony the Fish said:
Why do you want to lower it ? 8.2-8.4 is ideal

Don’t necessarily want to lower it, but I would say pH between 8.4-8.6 is on the high end. Trying to find the reason for the jump.

Tony the Fish said:
Also Alk is on the low end

I use AquaForest and that is where it mixes. I would not say that’s low. I’d say it’s perfect. Through dosing that is the alkalinity and calcium I maintain.

PeterC99 · Jan 4, 2022

reefiniteasy said:
I run a medium IceCap CO2 scrubber. I use it to counteract the CO2 generated by my wife and two young daughters who are home all day everyday. The last two days I have seen a major jump in pH. Daytime high of usually 8.3. Last two evenings around lights out pH has been just above 8.4 as monitored by Hydros (Hanna Checker says 8.6). Normal nighttime low of 8.08, was over 8.2 last night. Parameters are fine. Alk is 7.9dKH and Ca is 435ppm. We never have windows open as we live in Florida. It has been cooler out. AC is on less but my wife and kids have been spending a lot of time outside. Can this be the reason for the increase? Two nights ago I doubled the amount of water added to the bottom of the skimmer. Skimmer always has 20ml. I added 40ml. Can this be it?

Am I at a level that I need to add a “T” to the scrubber line with a valve to open to skip the scrubber at times.

I have no negative affects that I see from the higher pH. I have not seen any precipitation and everything seems normal.

Thoughts???

When was the last time you changed the CO2 media?

reefiniteasy · Jan 4, 2022

PeterC99 said:
When was the last time you changed the CO2 media?

December 15th. I’m halfway through. I get just about a month on it. This is usually the time when I see the greatest jump, like the media works the best between weeks 2 and 3. But never a jump like this.

The Hanna Checker also tells me it’s time to calibrate the probe so the graph could be even higher.

PeterC99 · Jan 4, 2022

reefiniteasy said:
December 15th. I’m halfway through. I get just about a month on it. This is usually the time when I see the greatest jump, like the media works the best between weeks 2 and 3. But never a jump like this.

The Hanna Checker also tells me it’s time to calibrate the probe so the graph could be even higher.

I find the same thing in terms of CO2 media effectiveness. Do you recirculate the air through the skimmer cup?

reefiniteasy · Jan 4, 2022

PeterC99 said:
I find the same thing in terms of CO2 media effectiveness. Do you recirculate the air through the skimmer cup?

I do not. From a previous thread Randy said a few things that made me believe it is not worth it or can have negative affects. I’ll have to search for it. Don’t remember at the moment.

PeterC99 · Jan 4, 2022

Wow - Amazing results without recirculating! Are you dosing kalk as well?

I find that my pH jumps .1 to .15 when I open the windows spring & fall in NY With my recirculating CO2 scrubber.

reefiniteasy · Jan 4, 2022

PeterC99 said:
Wow - Amazing results without recirculating! Are you dosing kalk as well?

I find that my pH jumps .1 to .15 when I open the windows spring & fall in NY With my recirculating CO2 scrubber.

No kalk. I dose ESV 2-part in equal amounts. My dosing is about every other day. Finally lost the last of my sps. Switched over to all lps and nems.

That’s a good increase. My tank use to be as high as 7.9 and a nightly low of 7.6. I credit the scrubber and pump on my skimmer.

PeterC99 · Jan 4, 2022

reefiniteasy said:
No kalk. I dose ESV 2-part in equal amounts. My dosing is about every other day. Finally lost the last of my sps. Switched over to all lps and nems.

That’s a good increase. My tank use to be as high as 7.9 and a nightly low of 7.6. I credit the scrubber and pump on my skimmer.

With 2 part and high pH, you should be golden with SPS. What happened?

reefiniteasy · Jan 4, 2022

PeterC99 said:
With 2 part and high pH, you should be golden with SPS. What happened?

Tough question. Tank transfer in June from BioCube to this Nuvo 40. New light that I slowly ramped up over 90+ days. Started using AquaForest ABEV. It was a slow loss over the 6 months since the transfer. Some pieces thrived others went downhill and came back and then boom… Gone. I’m enjoying my anemones though.

reefiniteasy · Jan 5, 2022

@PeterC99 so didn’t hit that high of 4.0 today. Plateaued at 3.5. My kids and wife were indoors all day so there was extra CO2 in the house and the door wasn’t opening and closing.

PeterC99 · Jan 5, 2022

reefiniteasy said:
@PeterC99 so didn’t hit that high of 4.0 today. Plateaued at 3.5. My kids and wife were indoors all day so there was extra CO2 in the house and the door wasn’t opening and closing.

High of 4.0? What was the pH high?

reefiniteasy · Jan 5, 2022

PeterC99 said:
High of 4.0? What was the pH high?

Hahaha. I can’t watch Chicago Fire and type at the same time. The tank didn’t hit 8.4. It topped out at 8.35. So I think it was the opening and closing of the front door. And the kids not in the house that bumped it up.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 6, 2022

reefiniteasy said:
@PeterC99 so didn’t hit that high of 4.0 today. Plateaued at 3.5. My kids and wife were indoors all day so there was extra CO2 in the house and the door wasn’t opening and closing.

People being out more previously certainly can have a big impact.

Relative temps outside and in, as well as wind can also have a big effect on air exchange rates in a closed home.

elcapitan1993 · Jan 6, 2022

reefiniteasy said:
No kalk. I dose ESV 2-part in equal amounts. My dosing is about every other day. Finally lost the last of my sps. Switched over to all lps and nems.

That’s a good increase. My tank use to be as high as 7.9 and a nightly low of 7.6. I credit the scrubber and pump on my skimmer.

I heard ESV is going out of business , actually that’s why I just switched to a Calcium reactor five days ago, I was using ESV as well it’s good stuff