Smoke and Reefs

Treefer32 · Jul 13, 2021

Quick question on outdoor smoke vs. indoor reef. I'm in the home most of the day working from home. However, my allergies are acting up from the fires out of Canada. So, inside, in my sealed house, with AC running through a strong Carbon filter, I still have allergies acting up in me from the outdoor smoke. How does such smoke from fires impacting human lungs impact the water quality of my 350 gallon mixed reef in my basement in the furnace room?

I wouldn't even know what to test for, let alone if anything is having problems. Thankfully my skimmer is not ran outside for O2. So, the skimmer is just brining my recirculated in home air. I've noticed PH dropping in the tank, My low used to be around8.15 to 8.2 and high around 8.3. Now, PH has dropped to 8.09 in the last day or two. I don't know if it has anything to do with air quality or something else, but it's not detrimental. Just wondering what impacts the air quality could have?

Thanks!

Dkmoo · Jul 13, 2021

PH dropped due to elevated co2 in the tank. Likely due to you sealing your room so more co2 concentration inside your house. Remedy by either open the window, or install co2 scrubber, or add refugium, basically need to reduce co2 in tank.

Not sure how much the actual smoke from the fire will impact the tank, esp at the concentration your tank is subject to since you sealed your home. Smoke is mostly co2, carbon monoxide, and soot. Some other chemicals may be there depending on what is being burnt but of its a forest fire, it will mostly be carbon. The soot doesn't really get disolved into water, and the Co2 is already an issue from the sealed house.

SuncrestReef · Jul 13, 2021

Last summer in Oregon the wildfires caused us to have the worst air quality anywhere in the world for about a week. Visibility was only 1/4 mile at my house, and evacuations were underway within 30 miles of my house. During that time and after it cleared up, I didn't see any difference in my tank parameters or growth, nor did any of my fellow reefers in the area. My pH dropped a tiny bit from all the closed windows, but that's to be expected. I'm crossing my fingers that this year's fires aren't as bad.

This was the view from my backyard last September. The sky was orange for over a week.

Treefer32 · Jul 14, 2021

Wow, crazy. Yeah, today everything is overcast with smoke. They're stating soot and stuff would most likely be making it to the ground from the Canadian wildfires. Nothing so orange from my back yard, but, I can definitely feel it in my chest inside the house. Someone mentioned from having my home closed up.. Due to allergies I keep my home closed up year round. Plus it's been too hot to have any windows or anything open. So, nothings been aired out really in the past year.

So, if PH drops it's due to more CO2 in the house due to external factors. As nothing has really changed on how sealed the home is. . . I wish I could enjoy the windows being open. . .