CO2 scrubber

[SkiFletch]

Aren't the DI canister filters capable of handling high water pressure? If so, a near zero air pressure should result in an in-line air flow through the canister. Here is a link to the canister.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store...cessories/the-co2-scrubber-kit-raises-ph.html

Well yeah, that scrubber kit would work great. But notice there's a tube in the middle of the filter itself, allowing air to be drawn through large parts of the media at once. For anyone who wanted to buy bulk sodasorb you'd have to re-create this tube yourself either from plastic, cardboard, etc. Air comes in through the middle, and down out through the tube and the sides of the container, scrubbed, and then out. You unfortunately can't just pack the cansiter full of media, screw it on and hope for it to work.

We use similar designs for our own custom acrylic canisters. If you want something nice and pretty, you could do that, but if you want something that works and is cheap, the 2L bottle method is probably more where it's at

 

[SaraB]

Sarah B. I run two skimmers and introduced it to one at a time. The tee in the air line really can give you fine tuning if the ph is going to high but I haven't needed it.

As for the calcium reactor, FWIW, I've had mine off line for about 2yrs now and corals have never been better.
Alk is very constant with kalj dosing I did use it alongside kalk dosing and now do quite well with just fully saturated kalk 24/7 from a still reservoir for a system loaded with growing sps. Once every two weeks or so I tweak it with a tablespoon of baked baking soda to maintain alk at around 9.6 on the 600gallon system. I also add 3/4 tblspn of calcium chloride to balance with the carbonate alk.

Thanks, I'll start with one pump/line and go from there as I watch my levels.

I've never had ALK stability with my Kalk reactor. Granted I have it stirring only 4 times a day for 20 minutes so maybe I have not saturated my top-off water enough. With the CA Reactor online now, my SPS is growing like mad, so I'm seeing positive results myself and my parameters are again stable.

 

[tmz]

Glad the calcium reactor works for you. Many have success with them.

I dose kalk from a still reservoir brute garbage can ,stirred once a week and make sure stuff settles out for couple of hours with the peristaltic dosing pump off. It has been very consistent over the years.Unlike some kalk reactor applications teh still reservoir doses only clear kalk water at a constant saturation.

 

[HiggyBrew]

Some info from Molecular Products: Sofnolime will absorb ~ 110-140L of CO2 per Kg.

I'm waiting for a reply from a local retailer about the cost of a 5 gallon pail. I have a Vertex IN-280 that draws in outdoor air thru the soda lime (old kent phos reactor). It seems to only last a few days - so this may be too expensive for me to keep up. I guess I could put a "T" inline after scrubber to draw in some raw air (lowering the amount drawn into the scrubber), but that defeats the purpose...

 

[low riderr]

i am waiting for my box so i can give this a try.the airgas outfit here in ithaca also offers it in 3lb bags but you had to buy the entire box of 12.same price as the bucket and its suposed to weigh about the same.the idea of the bags i guess is to keep it fresh.

 

[frofan]

Ordered 5 3lb bags online from http://www.shopmedvet.com/product/soda-lime-3-lb-bag/anesthesia-products and the re-usable DI filter from BRS. The BRS DI filter should work perfectly, as the air will enter the cartridge on the outside of the re-usable filter and run up the filter from the bottom up. I'll post up some pictures once I have everything hooked up.

 

[redrider911]

Is everyone just dumping a bunch in the container so it last longer, or a little at a time so it doesn't go bad?

 

[tmz]

I use about 2/3 liter( about 4 inches) in the container. I think the length/height of media the air passes through may contribute to it's effectiveness in pruging CO2 but don't know for sure.

 

[denverhoss]

...I burned through the stuff pretty fast though. About 1.5 lbs for me lasted for six days which is when the pH wouldn't max out as high. I am one guy in a 1 bedroom apartment who is gone 9.5 hours per day for work with the windows closed 24/7.

I wonder if a container with too many intake holes might cause the media to deplete faster? If the intake is significantly larger than the output line, would room air enter the container and then drift back out into the room without being pulled into the output tube? A worst case example would be putting the media in an open bowl, with the skimmer tube pulling air from the bottom of the bowl. Sure, the air that reaches the tube would be processed by the media, but the media surface exposed to the room air at the top of the bowl would deplete almost immediately. I'd think you'd want the openings in the container to be just slightly larger than the cross-section of the tube leading to the skimmer. Thoughts?

 

[frofan]

I agree that their is no reason for the entry hole to be larger than the size of the tube. A long narrow chamber with the media should be most effective.

 

[lucidvtec]

any body got some links....that soda lime is expensive

i just need some for a 30gallon tank

thx

 

[GMaquarium]

So the other night as I am working on a sump, I realize Im gonna have two systmes inches away from each other and one is a planted freshwater tank with lots of injected Co2. Just saw this thread and remembered what to do. Thanks Tom for the idea.

 

[pascal32]

any body got some links....that soda lime is expensive

i just need some for a 30gallon tank

thx

for smaller volume purchases this seems reasonable: http://www.shopmedvet.com/product/soda-lime-3-lb-bag/anesthesia-products

 

[low riderr]

maybe i am crazy but it seems when my ph starts to drop a bit i give my home made scrubber a shake and a little bit later the ph is back up.give it a try see if you can extend the life of your soda lime.let me know if iam goin nuts, or if it really works for you to.

 

[pascal32]

maybe i am crazy but it seems when my ph starts to drop a bit i give my home made scrubber a shake and a little bit later the ph is back up.give it a try see if you can extend the life of your soda lime.let me know if iam goin nuts, or if it really works for you to.

the air might have a path through the media which results in depleting the reactive material in the soda lime while leaving un-reacted soda lime in other regions.

 

[tmz]

I shake mine once in a while too.

 

[sandgoby]

Hello,
After reading this thread I decided to give this a try, a local scuba store had a blow out on their soda lime so I got a 5 gal jug. After 24 hours I have had a pH increase of 1.0 overall! I have never been able to get my pH over 8.12 no matter what I did. As of right now my DT is running 8.2. Great thread I will post a few ideas once I have had a chance to try them out. One in particular is to have a 12V solenoid switch open and allow room air to enter the skimmer once a max pH target is reached. This of course is to avoid pH levels over 8.4. Once I have it all working I will post some pics.

S

 

[tmz]

thanks for the post.

 

[edandsandy]

Any updates anyone?

 

[Jakef150]

Always stuck at 7.8

Will it work with tunze 9002 the smaller skimmer for my biocube 29 ?

I m guess to use SMALL media of lime for 29g ? I don't want it to pike it Hugh over 8.3

I want stay around 8.2

How often do I change the media for small tank 29g?

The link above 3lbs soda lime- how long do you think it will last ?

Thanks
Jake