Air pump

[crumbletop]

Does anyone here use an air pump to bubble air in your system? My pH runs ~ 7.9 - 8.1 even with a kalk reactor (Alk 3.0 meq/l). I'm thinking about bubbling air to get better CO2 exchange. I'm interested others' experience with this.

Jack

 

[platax88]

I had the same problem and what i did is run air tubing from outside (through a small crack on the window) to the intake of my needlewheel pump on my skimmer, a ventury model would work too... now i am at a constant 8.3!

hope that helps

Jack

 

[crumbletop]

That's what I'd like to do, but I don't have an air intake for my skimmer (it's an AquaC Remora). I can probably achieve the same thing with a straight air pump. Any recommendations for a quiet pump that would allow me to pull air through an input tube?

 

[platax88]

I dont think that an air pump will help you because, unless you dont have much surface agitation, it seems like you might have a build-up of C02 in your home (like i do). Putting an air pump and stone in will just be drawing the same air in your house.

There is an air stone test you can do to see if the cause is C02 build up in your home. If i recall, what you do is take a PH reading of your tank, then take a cup of tank water and place it outside with an airstone and test that water after 20 minutes. If the ph is higher, it will indicate that there is C02 build up in your home.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

 

[Fanof49ASU]

I have a tall 30g, that I run bubbles at night only (timer).

 

[c_stowers]

Jack, Have you tried shaking up your kalk reactor ever few days? If CO2 is building up in your home during the summer, then you probably need to address that isssue since it could be a threat to your family. Usually people have these types of problems only in the winter when fireplaces are run.

 

[crumbletop]

I was thinking of running the bubble test with outside air and inside air. It may be that I don't have good exchange even with my inside air. In either case, I'd like to hook up a pump that pulls the air in through a tube. That way I could run the tube outside if I needed to. Anyone know what pump would be able to do that (hopefully a quiet pump)?

Mark, what pump are you using, and are you using an air stone?

Jack

 

[crumbletop]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7943991#post7943991 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by c_stowers
Jack, Have you tried shaking up your kalk reactor ever few days? If CO2 is building up in your home during the summer, then you probably need to address that isssue since it could be a threat to your family. Usually people have these types of problems only in the winter when fireplaces are run.

Yeah, the shake up is helping a little, but not as much as I'd like. I'm not sure yet if it is CO2 build up or not. I need to double check my pH probe calibration first

 

[Angela Short]

be carefull running it outside and make sure your city doesn't routeinly spray for sceeters at night. It could nuke your tank if they do close enuoph. i am always afraid of what might be lurking in "fresh" air. people use so many pesticides for everything now a days that can easily be carried on the wind.

 

[platax88]

good point angela

 

[Fanof49ASU]

Jack, I just looked, and I can't get to it.... : )
It's nothing special at all....just the average one you'd pickup anywhere.
Yes, I'm using an airstone. I almost got the wooden (air stone) type at the meeting. I've heard it's supposed to produce smaller bubbles.

 

[crumbletop]

Thanks for all the replies. Dummy me, I just realized today that my ball valve on the output of my kalk reactor was almost all the way shut. I opened it up all the way and my pH is doing much better. I may yet need to do some bubbling, but I'm hoping it was just this dumb move on my part...

 

[crumbletop]

Just an update:

Yes, dummy me -- My kalk was running low (not much left in the reactor), and the valve was closed most of the way so there wan't much mixing going on. I remedied both situations and my pH now runs 8.2 - 8.4.

Jack

 

[platax88]

glad to hear that!