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View Full Version : Wow-the affects of house guests and pH

PoonTang
10-12-2010, 04:58 AM
I had a dozen people or so over for the afternoon and supper and my pH alarm on my Apex started going off. I figured no biggie, just a bad reading or something, but it kept slowly going lower and lower. Finally It dawned on me that it was all the people in the same room as the tank and the build up of CO2. This is the first time I have had a large group over while having the advantage of continuous online monitoring. The drop was quite dramatic, .2 in just a couple of hours, but I was able to change the direction by opening the door. I never had any idea that the change would be quite that drastic.
scherzo
10-12-2010, 06:59 AM
I wonder if this is why people run their skimmer intake to the outside?

I just built an in-wall tank that backs into the HVAC room. I hope when I fire up the furnace for the winter that I don't have the same experience as you.. Yikes!
Milad
10-12-2010, 07:19 AM
mine dropped from 8.14 to 8.05 within 2 hours
about 30 people where in a 700sq ft area dancing. We even had the doors open.
christyf5
10-12-2010, 02:31 PM
I remember going to a reef meeting in vancouver at someones house once and the same thing happened. We just opened the door there too but there was some frantic fumbling as to what to do before someone mentioned about getting some fresh air in :biggrin:
Delphinus
10-12-2010, 03:08 PM
Funny you mention this .. I was just looking at this the other day and thought it was a neat idea:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/the-co2-scrubber-kit-raises-ph.html
Coleus
10-12-2010, 03:48 PM
Funny you mention this .. I was just looking at this the other day and thought it was a neat idea:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/the-co2-scrubber-kit-raises-ph.html

Placed order, thank you, thank you.
daniella3d
10-14-2010, 05:11 AM
From 8.1 to 8.0??? is that supposed to be a big leap?

Looks like nothing really. Mine drop and raise much more than that during the day and during the night, going from 7.9/8.0 to 8.3/8.4

mine dropped from 8.14 to 8.05 within 2 hours
about 30 people where in a 700sq ft area dancing. We even had the doors open.
PoonTang
10-14-2010, 05:59 AM
From 8.1 to 8.0??? is that supposed to be a big leap?

Looks like nothing really. Mine drop and raise much more than that during the day and during the night, going from 7.9/8.0 to 8.3/8.4

Its a pretty significant drop for a 2 hour time span, more so than .4 over the course of a day.
daniella3d
10-15-2010, 03:19 AM
What I meant is that it's probably not going to affect anything in your tank, as it is too little shift even in 2 hours.

It's very little, it's not even .1, it's .09


Its a pretty significant drop for a 2 hour time span, more so than .4 over the course of a day.
globaldesigns
10-15-2010, 03:30 AM
I actually never realized this could happen. Very interesting.

I guess I never experienced it because I run 2 big air stones in my sump. But good to know, and I won't be taking those air stones out any time soon.
Ya Dude
10-15-2010, 03:35 AM
nodout hardly anything to be concerned about seeing how you know those people arent stayn forever and you figured out the open door trick
PoonTang
10-15-2010, 04:58 AM
I actually never realized this could happen. Very interesting.

I guess I never experienced it because I run 2 big air stones in my sump. But good to know, and I won't be taking those air stones out any time soon.

Running airstones may actually make it worse unless they are supplied with air from outside the house. All they would be doing is airating the water with the room air which has too high a CO2 level from all of the people.
globaldesigns
10-15-2010, 05:01 AM
Running airstones may actually make it worse unless they are supplied with air from outside the house. All they would be doing is airating the water with the room air which has too high a CO2 level from all of the people.

Ahh, actually a valid point... Hmmmm, what to do?
globaldesigns
10-15-2010, 06:04 PM
Running airstones may actually make it worse unless they are supplied with air from outside the house. All they would be doing is airating the water with the room air which has too high a CO2 level from all of the people.

Hey,

It actually dawned on me, I probably won't have issues with running airstones and CO2 in the home environment. What you brought up is a valid point for most, but in my case I have a full home climate/environment control system with HRV, air transfer, and whatever else. So running airstones is probably ok for me, and I run them because I have alot of BioPellets and one result is lack of O2, so I use airstones to assist in aeration, along with chemical transfer via water movement and also aeration from skimmer.

Good advice though, and we all should remember that. thanks.