DIY CO2 scrubber with reef glass skimmer

[new2saltyfish]

Hey everyone. Currently have a 5 gallon reef tank with a reef glass protein skimmer. The skimmer is basically a glass tube that has an air pump which pushes air through an air stone creating the skim which rises towards the top and moves forward through a line down into a collection cup below the tank. Looking to make a CO2 scrubber out of a VOSS water bottle and have the following questions.
1.) Would this work with this type of skimmer?
2.) If this would work, would I just have two ports into the top of the bottle, one for air in from the air pump and one out that leads to the tube that brings air into the mini skimmer?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DylanCameron]

Obligatory: don’t chase pH, CO2 scrubbing media becomes extremely expensive in the long run, etc

BUT, to answer your question, yes a scrubber will work on that style skimmer, and your setup is correct. If you end up implementing the scrubber I would love to see your results and a before/after of pH

 

[new2saltyfish]

I’ve heard don’t chase PH. Lately having a difficult time with any acro that goes in the tank (switching up a few things) and asked another reefer who has an amazing tank for help and that was suggested. Also considering adding a small fuge as well. Here are a few pictures of the current tank ( not a photographer ) haha.

 

[DylanCameron]

Looks good! I’m always a proponent of more “natural” ways to raise pH / lower CO2, a fuge never hurts. Have you actually lost any acros, or is it more of a growth / coloration problem? Thoughts on kalkwasser to supplement your calcium / alk demand? Also curious as to where your params are, alk/ca/po4/no3 EDIT: forgot to ask what your pH min and max are and what you’re using to measure it

 

[new2saltyfish]

They seem to rtn rather quick. I’m wondering if my acclimation process sucks. Digi’s and pocillopora seem to so just fine. Color is great and small amounts of growth. I have a ponape birdsnest that is doing “ok”. Lost it’s yellow color but it’s been alive for a few months. Wondering if it’s too intense of a light spot at the moment ( 200 par where it is). I just started dosing all for reef. Currently at 2 ml/ day. My alk is around 8.5 ( does dip down to high 7’s without 2x week water changes ). Trying to get it more stable with the all for reef that i started 2 weeks ago now. Ca is around 420, phos was “low” but haven’t tested in a while. Nitrates same deal. Have a salifert ph test kit which shows ph on average at 7.8-8

 

[ifarmer]

very nice

 

[DylanCameron]

They seem to rtn rather quick. I’m wondering if my acclimation process sucks. Digi’s and pocillopora seem to so just fine. Color is great and small amounts of growth. I have a ponape birdsnest that is doing “ok”. Lost it’s yellow color but it’s been alive for a few months. Wondering if it’s too intense of a light spot at the moment ( 200 par where it is). I just started dosing all for reef. Currently at 2 ml/ day. My alk is around 8.5 ( does dip down to high 7’s without 2x week water changes ). Trying to get it more stable with the all for reef that i started 2 weeks ago now. Ca is around 420, phos was “low” but haven’t tested in a while. Nitrates same deal. Have a salifert ph test kit which shows ph on average at 7.8-8

Based on this info I would advise focusing first on keeping your other parameters stable before worrying about pH - 7.8-8 is fine, that test kit is better than some other but unless you’re monitoring it over the course of 24 hours with a recently calibrated pH probe I wouldn’t worry about measuring. Things like no3 and po4 are going to be important to keep track of, and “low” is a bit different for everyone. You’ve got a good amount of calcifying corals in that size water volume, so I would personally try and ween off the 2x week water changes as you dial in your dosing and make sure that you have enough nutrients in the water, because your ratio of fish to corals is pretty low.

Is there an overflow chamber in the back?

 

[new2saltyfish]

Based on this info I would advise focusing first on keeping your other parameters stable before worrying about pH - 7.8-8 is fine, that test kit is better than some other but unless you’re monitoring it over the course of 24 hours with a recently calibrated pH probe I wouldn’t worry about measuring. Things like no3 and po4 are going to be important to keep track of, and “low” is a bit different for everyone. You’ve got a good amount of calcifying corals in that size water volume, so I would personally try and ween off the 2x week water changes as you dial in your dosing and make sure that you have enough nutrients in the water, because your ratio of fish to corals is pretty low.

Is there an overflow chamber in the back?

Thanks for your input! Yes, there is an overflow in the back where I have a carbon filter and a reef glass protein skimmer. Only reason I was doing twice weekly changes was to try and keep nutrients low because I question the effectiveness of the reef glass skimmer. I'll cut it to once weekly. Usually do a 50% or so water change. From what I've seen online that seems to be the way to go with a smaller system; maybe I should do 50% once per week. I'll have to get a new nitrate test kit. I have a salient Phos kit and it reads as 0 but I was told that that kit isn't really accurate. It is definitely not 0 as there is algae growth.