Which air pump to raise pH ?

[CTaylor]

Hi
My pH is a bit low in my reef. Its 7.65 at night. Probably about 8 if im lucky peak daytime. My chaeto filled fuge in on reverse day/night cyle. I’d hate tonsee the night pH if it wasnt!
Im running a relatively chreap air pump tubed from my patio to supply air to my REef oct skimmer. I know I have too mich CO2 in my apt lowering my pH. I did an experiment lol. I even have my bathroom fan always on and window partly open for ventilation. Is not enough.

*** what pump shoild i gwt? It doesnr have to be very silent as its on the patio but not too loud. My tank is 108 gallon and 20 gallons of water in sump. I think if i can get enough fresh air into the skimmer i can get another 0.1 or so on my pH.

Ty!

[CTaylor]

How about this pond air pump? https://www.target.com/p/active-aqua...yABEgJy9vD_BwE

Ty

[RBU1]

I am always afraid to run air from outside into my skimmer. What if someone sprays a chemical outside that gets sucked into your tank? I would rather have low ph then a dead tank. Just saying.


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[CTaylor]

It wouldnt make a big difference in my situation. The ventilation Window is next to my tank. Its open even if my ph was fine bc I work at home and high CO2 levels arent great for you. I have house plants. Doesnt do much.

Is that pump the one to get, anyone?

Ty

[rayjay]

Increase the turbulence of display tank surface. You can have ideal air surrounding it but if there isn't enough water motion to aid the gas exchange, the pH will remain low.

[CTaylor]

I have high surface agitation. My ambient CO2 levels are still high in the air of my apt.

[CTaylor]

I'm also trying to figure at mostly practical way to reduce the CO2 in my apt. I have a tiny apt and I work at home. Im' probably in my apt 20 hrs a day if note more! The CO2 is not great for the tank, and it's not great for me either lol

[bertoni]

You could consider trying a carbon dioxide scrubber, but I suspect that the media will get costly. Opening a window a bit is about all I can recommend. For a house, an air exchanger could do a lot, but I don't know of a unit that's practical for an apartment.

[CTaylor]

off subject, but related, I'm going to test CO2 levels indirectly. I was going to get a meter, but they all have bad reviews on accuracy unless you pay several 100$. I'm going to test salt water in a cup aerated outside as opposed in my apt with and without some ventilation (windows part open). I still have lower pH with partly opened windows. But Im home all day except 2 hours a day, and I probably breathe out a lot of CO2, which is heavier than the rest of the air I think lol. I'd rather open the windows more and have a higher ac bill than pay $20+ a month on CO2 media. And then when i move to a larger place then think about a ventialtion system for the townhouse.

But I"m getting the Pump, it should be here in 1-2 days. If it doesnt work well I'll return it back to target :-D . I'll be happy with 0.15-0.2 boost for now.

[bertoni]

Maybe there's a pH measurement issue. It'll be interesting to see how some water aerated outside measures.

[CTaylor]

Originally Posted by bertoni

Maybe there's a pH measurement issue. It'll be interesting to see how some water aerated outside measures.

Yes, I was thinking the same on pH measuring issue.. So I'm going to soon order a new reagent test kit, salifert. And I have new fresh calibration fluids coming. I dont know how long the shelf life is. I'll be satisfied if new reagent for test and calibration for the digital meter both end up with similar readings. The pH seawater test in and outdoors will indicate how much CO2 I have inside and then with windows partly open a few days. I bet I still have pretty high CO2 even with what seems like good ventilation. Air isnt always just flowing in and out of my apt even with windows open. I need a lot of house plants :-D , but i have super low light in my apt lol. I guess I can get more lights for the plants lolol. It's not a horrible idea actually if it would work to reduce CO2 while not having to open all the windows all the time.

[biecacka]

What if you tried bubble scrubbing. Get an air pump and a wooden air stone. Put it in sump and see if that helps

Corey

[CTaylor]

I got the pump and attached it. It didnt make a difference at all, even after 24 hrs. There are two ports on the silencer /air input of the skimmer. One of which I tubed the air pump to. the other was free, just expelling air it felt like. So it didn't seem like ambient air was entering the skimmer. But I figured why not tube both ports to the outside. I jsut did that, and the skimmer water level didnt change, so it's not a change of air pressure with both ports having a tube on it. I doubt my pH will raise since the pump didn't do anything. If it doesn't then I'm at a loss of why my pH is too low when others get proper pH when the have normal level CO2 air fed to their skimmer. We'll see if I'm wrong and the pH goes up now.... TBC (to be continued). At least it looks like I can return the pump

[CTaylor]

Originally Posted by biecacka

What if you tried bubble scrubbing. Get an air pump and a wooden air stone. Put it in sump and see if that helps

Corey

I dont see how that would help since the skimmer is a massive bubble machine and whether it's on or off (as I'm thinking now) the pH actually doesnt change much over many hours. << that seems odd.

[bertoni]

The tank might have plenty of aeration without the skimmer. That's not unreasonable. The pH would then be a function of the carbon dioxide in the ambient air.

[nematode]

If the major issue is wanting to raise pH, you could try other approaches. Are you dosing alkalinity? If you are using bicarbonate, could switch to sodium carbonate instead of bicarbonate and that might raise your pH. Or dose some lime water to replace some of your water evap. Both of those measures should raise the pH with lime water being more effective (and more of a pain).

[CTaylor]

Originally Posted by nematode

If the major issue is wanting to raise pH, you could try other approaches. Are you dosing alkalinity? If you are using bicarbonate, could switch to sodium carbonate instead of bicarbonate and that might raise your pH. Or dose some lime water to replace some of your water evap. Both of those measures should raise the pH with lime water being more effective (and more of a pain).

Well the pump didnt make any difference at all. I might have already said that. I thought that was odd.
I'm waiting on the CO2 meter to get here, it might tell me something. But Even whtn I aerate water out side it hits only 8. So those with 8.3 pH have alk 10+? And those with alk 8 and less like me will have pH less than 8? I cant havfe higher alk otherwise my acros die. I have to keep lower alk to balance my very low phosphate.
I'd rather not put a bandaid on issue with kalk, etc. I'd want to figure out why my pH is low. Only thing I can see is my Mg is nearly 1500. I know Mg + OH- >> Mg(OH)2. I think. Well, Mg takes up OH to some degree. OH = higher ph. Taking it up lowers pH. ...

[bertoni]

How long did you aerate the water outdoors? If it doesn't get higher than 8 for pH, I suspect a measurement problem. A sample can take a few hours to aerate, though.

[CTaylor]

Originally Posted by bertoni

How long did you aerate the water outdoors? If it doesn't get higher than 8 for pH, I suspect a measurement problem. A sample can take a few hours to aerate, though.

It really seemed to stop absolutely increasing after an hour maybe 2. It was less than 16 oz sample. I really do want to get a fresh basic pH reagent test. I was in petsmart.. they only had multi test kits in the actual store, ugh lol.

I have fresh pinpoint reagent, but they have no exp dates.. I should have gotten Hanna, I think they have dates on them (?). I'm goign to guess my 8.0 might be really 8.2 ... mystery continues! lol.. at least I can return that $35 air pump to target

[bertoni]

Okay, I can't tell whether the pH measurement is having problems, the alkalinity kit is bad, or maybe the sample needed more aeration, but something seems off there.