This is a beautiful idea I've gone through the co2 scrubber installation without much help and the media expiring quickly, but this is brilliant. Just ordered some soda lime to try it with some extra parts I have laying around
I’m setting up mine tonight. 3D printed a scrubber. Hoping for similar results as you have. My Ph dropped after I started carbon dosing to lower high nitrates. I’ll keep you posted!!
@@viking_reefing the results are incredible! Along with kalk at night it stays at 8.28 lows and 8.45 high at peak photoperiod. Now let’s see how long the media will last and how long it takes before I see results ( hopefully positive ) on the corals.
Thank you for your video. Fascinating setup and results. But, I must be missing something. The way I see your setup, your inflow air comes through those 3 carbon filled cups through the lid, then to the 2 carbon scrubbers, then to the skimmer into the reactor and collection cup. Some of the scrubbed air will be recirculated, but a significant fraction of the air in the collection cup will be 'fresh air' through the carbon filled cups. Did I get the analysis correct? Your system is scrubbing 'recirculated prescrubbed air' + 'new air'. I suppose the benefit is that the air coming from the bubbles (one can think of it as exhaled by the tank inhabitants') is rid of the CO2 at the scrubbers. But how would that be an advantage vs just venting it and bringing in new scrubbed air. Unless the 'exhaled air' has a lower CO2 fraction than scrubbed outside air. Nonetheless, the results are truly remarkable.
No, no really. It pulls through the skimmer cup in to the air intake. The volume of air will be equal so very little of any outside air will enter the system.
I started experimenting with Kalkwasser last December, initially with a vat of RO/Kalk mixed water added overnight. Then I bit the bullet and purchased a Kalkstirrer and a continous duty dosing pump. I know approximately what my evapouration rate is, however my Kalk dosing is controlled by my pH probe anything under 8.2 and the dosing pump turns on, which is overnight. My pH range is between 8.18 to 8.38. I would like to flatten that curve a little bit more but I have to consider the amount of RO water I am adding. During the day I add All for Reef to take care of the Trace elements and the Mg.
Kalk works great. What I did is that I figured out what my daily evaporation was and made up for about 90% of that during the night. However, I must say that I’m liking the co2 scrubber a lot more as there’s basically nothing to clean or refill. What I found to be a headache is that your evaporation really changes throughout the year based on ambient humidity.
I have installed the system as you described in my 1000l tank on my Redsea Bubble King Delux 200 RDX. How long will it take before I see some results with a higher PH ?
The easiest way for me to think about pH and ORP is pH=-log[H+] where H+ is looking for an electron, thus is an O in ORP. Increasing the pH lowers the H+ and increases the [OH-], thus less O and more R. This is a drastic over simplification and should only be consumed with beer.
Great tank! Why not one larger media container instead of the two? What search term should I use for finding a source for the media in the USA? Or do you have a suggestion?
My thinking is that all the media in camber 2 won’t be spent ones the oh starts to dip. That way I can just refill one of them and move the second to the front. Co2 absorber is generally a safe bet.
Great video ! In the video, you show a red tubes going from the skimmer to the first canister, then the second, then back to the red tube of the skimmer, and then going back into the skimmer at the end. Where is it connected at the end ? Where is the final air without CO2 put back in the skimmer ? Do you have a kind of schematic ? Thanks !
Great video! I have a different question though, hope that's ok. Apparently the Panta Rhei sponge pellets will go out of production. Do you have a suggestion for an alternative pellet? It seems really hard to find a pellet with sponge in it. Thank you.
@@viking_reefing We have this LFS called ``Ocean and Lake` and the guy that works there was saying this. Not sure where he got his information though. I will check.
@@viking_reefing Okay, apparently Panta Rhei announced on 2021 to my LFS that they're going to stop producing. This explains why only the 250ML big size grain is still available :(
Hi , would the extra three holes on the skimmer lid need to be blocked off to make this work correctly , like yours has carbon over them which will restrict the ambient air from entering the skimmer .
I've been running into issues with my ph for a while now. I have a red sea 425xl. Extremely heavy coral and fish concentration. Dosing 50ml of code a&b brightwell. Equipment: reefmat, 150 int skimmer (running 24/7, brs carbon and gfo reactor, and co2 scrubber. My ph is 7.7-8.0 at best. I dont have another chamber to run cheato, however, i do have a santa monica algea scrubber( old school using air pump) im considering using that to raise nightime ph. Furthermore, i just ordered a co2 recirculator for the skimmer. Thoughts any other recommendations?
I’m thinking that since you have a lot of fish and the standard scrubber isn’t working your issue isn’t ambient co2 but rather a high co2 production from within the tank. A recirculating design should definitely help.
@viking_reefing so I obtained a recurculator for my co2 scrubber to my skimmer top with plugs. However, I've actually seen the opposite results. My ph lowered by .1 from its base. With the line off, I am getting peak 8.1 with it on the skimmer peak 7.9.
@@homebredaquatics hmm…strange. Is the skimmer powerful enough to suck adequate amounts of air through the media? You dosing restrict air flow to much with to small a hose right?
Great video! I don't understand exactly why this method works much better than the classic one, it is clear that the media will have a much longer life, but it is not clear why the PH increases so much with this method.
Thank you! It’s rather simple actually: with refusal co2 scrubbing you’re just reducing the incoming co2 from the skimmer. With a recirculating design you allow no ambient co2 in whilst simultaneously removing the co2 produced by the tanks inhabitants.
I am. I have it hooked up to the ozone port of my skimmer. The small amounts of residual ozone escaping in to the co2 scrubber doesn’t seem to effect anything.
I used the skimmer to control PH. If ph > 8.5 skimmer off. But the skimmer was off alot during the day which was ok for me because i had low nutrients already.
@@viking_reefing that’s reasonable. Btw in my case I managed to increase my ph from 7,9 to 8,3 just by extending skimmer intake close to cabinet’s vent.
If you look at his setup the canisters are way higher than his skimmer-any condensation immediately flows back to the skimmer and doesn’t collect in his tubing or scrubber
There is a thought that this method depletes oxygen in the tank. It is also very risky if you get water in the containers, as it will be pure calcium hydroxide going right in your tank, and spike your ph to the roof and kill everything.
Honestly, I think that’s just something people who hasn’t done it are speculating about. A bunch of friends have started doing it with no issues. Yeah, that risk has to be mitigated. I tried filling up my skimmer cup with water to see what would happen and the draw isn’t enough for the water to make it to the containers.
It will depend on how your co2 is introduced. My main contributing factor is the fish inside the tank. Ambient co2 is very low as I have a very effective full house air exchange unit.
