Co2 scrubber

[Spectorman]

Hey y’all!
I am not a noob at all but I have never had pH issues before. Not like in Florida. It is atmospheric here. We are in the midst of the rainy season. The rain drags the Co2 to the ground and the result is pH problems.
Right now, my Hanna checker read 7.7pH but oddly my DKH is 10.2. Granted it was 9am.
During mid day I am hitting 8pH and 10.5DkH.
Is a Co2 scrubber a good plan for me?
I am having issues keeping some corals alive. My system is 3months old. It’s a 150
4MP40’s
2 maxspect 350’s
3 hydra 32
Running 3/4cup GFO in a reactor
Constantly using aquavitro balance for pH

Temp. 77
SG. 1.026
No3. 7.2
PH. 8
calcium. 535
Mag. 1475
Phos. .05

 

[kharmaguru]

CO2 scrubbers definitely work but I think the media costs add up pretty fast.

That Balance stuff is interesting. I never heard of that.

 

[griss]

I was going from 7.8 at night to 8.0 during the day despite a reverse daylight fuge. I’ve been SLOWLY dosing kalk 24/7 for a couple weeks now and holding steady at 8.0 - 8.2.

 

[Misled]

What corals are you having problems with? A pic may help. I'm wondering with the tank only being three months old, maybe the buffering capabilites aren't quite able to handle it.

 

[Misled]

I was going from 7.8 at night to 8.0 during the day despite a reverse daylight fuge. I’be been SLOWLY dosing kalk 24/7 for a couple weeks now and holding steady at 8.0 - 8.2.

I've always ran kalk. PH was something I never chased.

 

[griss]

I've always ran kalk. PH was something I never chased.

I stopped dripping kalk several years ago in favor of BRS supplements. Since I started dripping again, a lot of my tank issues have gone away. Coincidence?

 

[Misled]

Coincidence?

Personally, I don't think so. I started running it through a stirrer a few tanks back. Used a pump to push a drip constantly and it cleared many of my troubles so just kept it going.

 

[Spectorman]

I used Mrs.Wages pickling lime for a bit. I never chased number’s because at the time I knew nothing of it for years. As I got older and of course the internet I stripped all of my nutrients to zero and that’s where trouble started.
So do we all believe kalk reactor vs Co2 scrubbing? Is that what I am gathering?

 

[Spectorman]

What corals are you having problems with? A pic may help. I'm wondering with the tank only being three months old, maybe the buffering capabilites aren't quite able to handle it.

Maybe I was being a drama queen. I have lost my Orange utter chaos melted but nothing is growing except my Duncan’s and a couple softies.
My chalice hasn’t budged except the mouths look bigger. A couple other SPS look dull and have not grown. I bought a blue devils hand that has been droopy since I picked it up from WWC a week ago. Maybe I DON’T know what I’m doing. Lol

 

[Misled]

Don't worry bout the drama queen stuff. Now first understand, I'm not a big sps person though I've grown a few in the past. At three months on the tank though I don't think things are stable enough. Same with the chalice. The softies are more forgiving, but even they can put things in the tank the LPS and SPS won't like. As the tank matures, it's better able to handle minor changes. That's kinda why I'd like to see a tank shot. I've never used a scrubber, but have played with one at the Pittsburgh Zoo a couple decades ago. I can say they do work, but that one was quite a bit of a system and took up a very large area. You don't mention a skimmer. Do you use one, and if so, what kind?

 

[Spectorman]

Don't worry bout the drama queen stuff. Now first understand, I'm not a big sps person though I've grown a few in the past. At three months on the tank though I don't think things are stable enough. Same with the chalice. The softies are more forgiving, but even they can put things in the tank the LPS and SPS won't like. As the tank matures, it's better able to handle minor changes. That's kinda why I'd like to see a tank shot. I've never used a scrubber, but have played with one at the Pittsburgh Zoo a couple decades ago. I can say they do work, but that one was quite a bit of a system and took up a very large area. You don't mention a skimmer. Do you use one, and if so, what kind?

Ask and you shall receive. The tank has a reef octopus 150int. It’s not going to be enough for this system sooner than later.
I agree the system is young. I also agree the SPS will not be as hearty as the softies in a normal situation. Living in Florida I had my LFS Service fill the tank with water from the ocean. The rock was cultivated by the LFS and my sand was 80lbs dry and 80lbs of carrib- sea live sand. A bio bag from the LFS. I cycled for less than a week and in 2 weeks I was confident the tank could take more pods and a pair of clowns.
1 scribbled rabbit
1 fox face
1 hippo
1 tomini
1 Royal gramma
3 yellow and blue damsels
3 clown gobies
2 conch
3 hermits
4 turbos
1 engineer goby
1 fairy wrasse
2 maroon and gold clowns
2 cleaner shrimp

 

[Spectorman]

CO2 scrubbers definitely work but I think the media costs add up pretty fast.

That Balance stuff is interesting. I never heard of that.

It’s supposed to lift your pH without disturbing the alk. Seems to work as prescribed but it’s $50.00 a month. There must be a better way? Lol.

 

[darrick001]

I chased PH for a long time. And could never get it above 8 consistently. About 7 years ago my skimmer died and I was not able to pick up a new one right away. Within a few days my PH went to 8.2 and I realized that adding air to the water was actually decreasing my PH. After some testing to prove my theory I was able adjust my ph down just by adding more air into the water. The refugium was removing the CO2 from the water but the skimmer was adding additional CO2 back into the water collom. The next step was figuring out how to raise PH even further. So I added a larger refugium and it helped a little. I then added much stronger lighting to the refugium and my ph jumped to 8.4. This has been running for 5 years in the current setup and my PH runs from 8.3-8.4 day and night. So my advice to you is add a stronger light to your refugium. I would say your refugium light should be equal or greater than the lights on your display. You will be able to tune your PH by adjusting the amount of time your lights are on. I run the same lights on my refugium as my display but they run at 100% on my refugium and 50-60% on my display.

 

[darrick001]

Just realized you don't have a refugium so I would say add one if you can. It was the best thing I have ever added to my system.