ph and co2

[CoralBeauties]

I thought I would share my recent experience and experiment with ph and co2 in my basement tank.  Several years ago I fought low ph. My tank is located in my basement where co2 is heavier then air and will settle.  I was barely able to reach 8.0 during the day.  I added an exhaust fan in my basement that was on the floor and vented out a window.  I was able to boost my ph to as high as 8.3 during the day with just adding the fan which was venting out the excess co2.  Recently I have been fighting high ph with evening highs getting as high as 8.6 . I thought maybe my ph probe was reading high and installed a new probe.  Ph still high at 8.6 and even got as high as 8.7 .   So I decided to stop the fan and see what happened.  The next day was Thanksgiving and with a house full of people creating co2 and the ph dropped to 7.8  Several hours after everyone left the ph had risen to 8.05 .   Along with the higher ph I also had trouble keeping my alk up much above 8.0  Lowering the ph has raised the alk to a steady 8.5.  I have put a timer on my fan to run about 6 hours a day.  Today my overnight ph was a low of 8.0 and  the high being 8.3 . Lesson to be learned is if you are experiencing low ph issues even though your alk is good you could be experiencing excessive co2.
Jeff

[cbell56]

Good info. Thank you

[HomeReef]

Thanks Jeff, I definitely have the same issue with my basement tank.  Dont know how I would install and exhaust maybe I will come check yours out one day.  For now I am trying to run the air intake for my skimmer outside like you suggested!

[CoralBeauties]

There are several ways to address excessive co2 and the skimmer line is one in the easiest and least expensive. Jesse (reeferintraining) has used a co2 reactor on his tank so maybe he will chime in with his experience with that method.
Jeff

[SweetReefOH]

There are several ways to address excessive co2 and the skimmer line is one in the easiest and least expensive. Jesse (reeferintraining) has used a co2 reactor on his tank so maybe he will chime in with his experience with that method.
Jeff

The simplest way I’ve found when it’s cold outside is to just slightly crack a window in the fish room. That brings in just enough fresh air to keep me between 8 & 8.3. In the summer I push air out the window with a window fan.

As far as a CO2 scrubber, it brings with it other issues. When you have new media, it basically sucks all the CO2 out of the skimmer air intake. This then raises your ph but also your alk/Calc consumption. Requiring you to make adjustments to your dosing. Then when the media starts to get exhausted, your ph and consumption start to drop. Requiring more dosing corrections. It’s an up and down battle. There is also the long term potential problems of increased ph, consumption and growth bottoming out your nutrients.
All in all, the CO2 scrubber is too tedious for my liking.