pH toooooo low!

[d2mini]

Both. I use one for the reactor, and I use the second one 1-speed pump to dose kalkwasser, you can also use aqualifter but they break faster and dump a lot more kalkwasser at the time.

I tried running my CaRx feed pump (using my doser instead of a pump) 9 minutes on, 1 minute off, all day long. And that 1 min off kept causing a build up of c02 in the reactor and the recirculating pump would get noisy, chopping up the c02 bubbles, and all those bubbles were getting caught in the media.
I assume if running only at night u are turning the c02 off as well?

 

[GoVols]

Both. I use one for the reactor, and I use the second one 1-speed pump to dose kalkwasser, you can also use aqualifter but they break faster and dump a lot more kalkwasser at the time.

Thanks!!!

I just run the constant stream method with a Apex controller and the Sicce 1.o for the feed pump.

My output stays at a tiny stream with a needle valve after the second stage.

No more dripping the output and no more clogging

 

[d2mini]

Thanks!!!

I just run the constant stream method with a Apex controller and the Sicce 1.o for the feed pump.

My output stays at a tiny stream with a needle valve after the second stage.

No more dripping the output and no more clogging

That's what I have to do to (to prevent clogging) but wondering if that is part of the problem since it takes more c02.
Or does it? The pH in the reactor has to be higher since it's flowing so much effluent into the sump.

 

[GoVols]

That's what I have to do to (to prevent clogging) but wondering if that is part of the problem since it takes more c02.
Or does it? The pH in the reactor has to be higher since it's flowing so much effluent into the sump.

I don't think it's your issue.

But... It would be nice if Randy chimed in

Edit:
I matched my output stream to Hybirds

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Higher flow can lead to high CO2 usage per unit of alk added to the tank.

Think of it this way, it takes a certain amount of CO2 to drive the ph of the water down to the point where any media dissolves. All of that is "wasted", so the more water you drive down to the pH, the more CO2 is added without alk addition.

 

[Want2BS8ed]

Higher flow can lead to high CO2 usage per unit of alk added to the tank.

Think of it this way, it takes a certain amount of CO2 to drive the ph of the water down to the point where any media dissolves. All of that is "wasted", so the more water you drive down to the pH, the more CO2 is added without alk addition.

Even to my pea-sized brain, that makes a lot of sense...

M

 

[GoVols]

Higher flow can lead to high CO2 usage per unit of alk added to the tank.

Think of it this way, it takes a certain amount of CO2 to drive the ph of the water down to the point where any media dissolves. All of that is "wasted", so the more water you drive down to the pH, the more CO2 is added without alk addition.

Randy,
If you run a slower drip, doesn't that mean that you would need a lower melting point inside the reactor to keep up and a lower ph coming out of the reactor?

If that's the case, wouldn't the Co2 rate and the ph drop in the main display be about the same as a tiny continuous stream?

Thanks, Mr Pea... ;Wacky

 

[2una]

With this dastaco carx of mine that drops in 6.1 ph effluent,when i shut down my skimmer countermeasures like when i dosed prazi to the DT my ph high is only about 7.8 - 7.9
With countermeasures back on i'm like 8.3 high & 8.0 low
Aeration does undo the co2 saturation as i guess even room co2 levels are still better than what the carx creates in the water (for me anyway)
Dennis you might enjoy a read of this here - have a look in the "Problems" subsection of it
http://totm.ultimatereef.net/2018_february/

Part of it

Method 2 - DIY effluent bubbler. The bubbler is nothing more than a 1.5L Tupperware container which hangs on the sump glass well above any back-siphon sump water level and holds around 1.2L of effluent. The effluent is then bubbled using an air pump connected to a CO2 scrubber and brings the effluent up from 6.2 to a more manageable level of anywhere between 7-8 but could be slightly lower depending on how hard I’m running the Dastaco.

 

[d2mini]

With this dastaco carx of mine that drops in 6.1 ph effluent,when i shut down my skimmer countermeasures like when i dosed prazi to the DT my ph high is only about 7.8 - 7.9
With countermeasures back on i'm like 8.3 high & 8.0 low
Aeration does undo the co2 saturation as i guess even room co2 levels are still better than what the carx creates in the water (for me anyway)
Dennis you might enjoy a read of this here - have a look in the "Problems" subsection of it
http://totm.ultimatereef.net/2018_february/

Part of it

That makes a lot of sense. I'm going to try that. The c02 scrubber arrived last night, too.
Thanks!

 

[bubbaque]

I figured I'd give an update after having the ERV for a few days. The first day didn't seem to make much of a difference but my ph seems to be slowly rising. Before my ph would hit a max of 7.85 and now I am getting to 8.0. I am hoping over the next week or so it continues to slowly creep up as it continues to bring in fresh air and take out the old stale air.

 

[d2mini]

I figured I'd give an update after having the ERV for a few days. The first day didn't seem to make much of a difference but my ph seems to be slowly rising. Before my ph would hit a max of 7.85 and now I am getting to 8.0. I am hoping over the next week or so it continues to slowly creep up as it continues to bring in fresh air and take out the old stale air.

That's a big diff!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy,
If you run a slower drip, doesn't that mean that you would need a lower melting point inside the reactor to keep up and a lower ph coming out of the reactor?

If that's the case, wouldn't the Co2 rate and the ph drop in the main display be about the same as a tiny continuous stream?

Thanks, Mr Pea... ;Wacky

For a given media, if the alk delivered is intended to be fixed, slower flow must mean a higher alk in the effluent, and hence a lower pH in that effluent. So it is not a simple intuitive fact that the amount of CO2 delivered to the tank changes with flow rate if the total alk delivered is fixed.

But for reasons like I gave above (relating to bringing the pH down to the point where media dissolves), I think this type of system is more efficient with respect to CO2 delivery per unit of alk added when the alk in the effluent is higher (say, 25 dKH) rather than lower (say, 15 dKH).

That said, there are other factors involved, such as media surface area, flow of low pH water to all that surface area, etc.. At high flow, for example, the water and CO2 has less time to dissolve the media, and it is less likely to come to "equilibrium", and so again may use more CO2 at higher flow and not get as much more media dissolved as you'd predict. Think of the extreme case, very low pH water blasts past the media in a tiny fraction of a second. Surely, in that case you dissolve little and get lots of CO2 into the tank. Real reactors are probably somewhere between that extreme and the perfect case where the effluent is perfectly equilibrated with the water exiting the reactor.

 

[d2mini]

ph bottomed out at 7.70 this morning.
So still a good improvement over the 7.55 low I was seeing with the old probe.

Using @2una 's suggestion, this morning I placed one of those tall Voss water bottles right next to my skimmer pump.
Effluent is flowing into the bottle with a limewood air stone inside. The effluent then pours down the side of the bottle into the sump near the skimmer pump.
Maybe some will get sucked into the skimmer for further aeration.
Only thing I'm not sure of is the small opening at the top of the bottle being able to let out enough c02? Or if that doesn't make much difference.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

ph bottomed out at 7.70 this morning.
So still a good improvement over the 7.55 low I was seeing with the old probe.

Using @2una 's suggestion, this morning I placed one of those tall Voss water bottles right next to my skimmer pump.
Effluent is flowing into the bottle with a limewood air stone inside. The effluent then pours down the side of the bottle into the sump near the skimmer pump.
Maybe some will get sucked into the skimmer for further aeration.
Only thing I'm not sure of is the small opening at the top of the bottle being able to let out enough c02? Or if that doesn't make much difference.

Assuming I'm understanding correctly that the airstone is delivering bubbles inside the bottle, the opening size isn't that important, IMO.

 

[d2mini]

Assuming I'm understanding correctly that the airstone is delivering bubbles inside the bottle, the opening size isn't that important, IMO.

Yup, air stone is shoved down into the bottom of the bottle.
The effluent line is probably about halfway down inside.

And now I swapped out the Sicce .5 feed pump on the CaRx to a Sicce 1.5 pump, in hopes that I can now run a drip instead of a steady stream, allowing for less c02 use.

I still haven't hooked up the c02 scrubber. Think I'll wait and see what these other changes do first.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The latest jump seems substantial and may be all that is "needed".

 

[GoVols]

I figured I'd give an update after having the ERV for a few days. The first day didn't seem to make much of a difference but my ph seems to be slowly rising. Before my ph would hit a max of 7.85 and now I am getting to 8.0. I am hoping over the next week or so it continues to slowly creep up as it continues to bring in fresh air and take out the old stale air.

bubbaque,
That's great news!!!

Thanks for the guts in buying that rig, and please keep us in the loop.

Freddie

 

[Macdaddynick1]

I tried running my CaRx feed pump (using my doser instead of a pump) 9 minutes on, 1 minute off, all day long. And that 1 min off kept causing a build up of c02 in the reactor and the recirculating pump would get noisy, chopping up the c02 bubbles, and all those bubbles were getting caught in the media.
I assume if running only at night u are turning the c02 off as well?

Oh my calcium reactor runs constantly, it’s the kalkwasser that I dose only at night in the 30 minute intervals. Sorry, I think I worded it wrong the first time.

 

[eraser2001]

ph bottomed out at 7.70 this morning.
So still a good improvement over the 7.55 low I was seeing with the old probe.

Using @2una 's suggestion, this morning I placed one of those tall Voss water bottles right next to my skimmer pump.
Effluent is flowing into the bottle with a limewood air stone inside. The effluent then pours down the side of the bottle into the sump near the skimmer pump.
Maybe some will get sucked into the skimmer for further aeration.
Only thing I'm not sure of is the small opening at the top of the bottle being able to let out enough c02? Or if that doesn't make much difference.

Do you have pictures?

I have been following this discussion. I have low ph also in my tank and today I did the same thing with air stone. Tomorrow I will check my alk and see it is the same and track my Ph.

 

[d2mini]

Do you have pictures?

No sorry, my sump/stand is so tight. The bottle is tucked behind the skimmer. Don't even know how I'd get a pic. lol