pH Stabilization With Algae Scrubber?

[Kengar]

My setup is newish, with some well cured authentic Pacific rock I found in Ohio few months ago and some fresh maricultured Fiji rock that went in a month or so ago. With cure of the new rock, quite a bit of hair algae bloomed, and the hair algae has been, I believe, a major consumer of CO2 introduced by skimmer. As a result, I see sizeable pH swings between day (lights on, algae consuming CO2, pH rising) and night (opposite, pH falling).

So my question is, once the hair algae has run its course, can I stabilize the pH using an algae scrubber? Perhaps running it primarily at night? Also, has anyone situated the inlet of air intake line to skimmer right in the middle of an algae scrubber, so you are effectively using the algae scrubber as a CO2 scrubber, too? If so, how well did it work?

Thanks.

 

[Dan_P]

Yes. Folks do switch day/night light cycle for the the algae scrubber to dampen the night time pH plunge.

I am not familiar with the design of your algae scrubber. Your idea sounds like you are putting the skimmer air inlet in the air space that serves the algae scrubber inlet. That will not be any effective way to reduce CO2 in this air space. You would need to pass air through the water of algae scrubber and into the scrubber to reduce the CO2 level of the air effectively. By the way, how much CO2 does your algae scrubber remove every hour?

 

[Kengar]

I don't have scrubber yet, but was considering a CW-300 https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cw-300-external-algae-scrubber-clear-water.html and was thinking I would put the scrubber airline inlet in the space between the lights. Looking at the unit more closely, however, it appears -- and stands to reason, when thinking about it further -- that the growth screen is actually sandwiched between plexiglass (to prevent water from slopping all over the place) and that the screen chamber is enclosed at the top. Therefore, even if I inserted the airline inlet into that chamber somehow, and even though the algae is not completely submerged and will be exposed to some air as water cascades over it, the amount of CO2 the algae might take out of the air would be minimal -- particularly when you look at flow rates of air into the airline versus CO2 take-up rates by the algae. (So time to stop working on a patent application direct to THAT idea...... )

 

[Turbo's Aquatics Verified Sponsor]

I'm a bit confused by your posts and what you're thinking of trying?

Pulling the air from the inside of an enclosed algae scrubber chamber would effectively cause "fresh air" to be pulled through the chamber (on it's way to the skimmer). I suppose this might bump up air exchange into the water a bit, but I don't know that the results would be very noticeable.

If you want to try to use the Algae Scrubber as a means of adsorbing CO2 from the water, and you have a skimmer in use, the best way to do this is to position the pump that feeds the algae scrubber right next to the skimmer effluent. The air gets pulled into the skimmer and entrains O2 and CO2 into the water, then that water immediately gets pumped through the scrubber.