Room CO2 impact on PH

[Meshmez]

I know it has been talked about, but I'm able to pretty drastically change my room CO2 quickly and wanted to share some graphs. I always find this stuff interesting, and figured others may as well.

I change CO2 by opening widows and running the whole house fan. It's pretty effective, but obviously dependent on outside weather.

My skimmer is not even on during this time, so this is just air exchange from water surface disruption.

Pretty obvious when windows were opened after being closed up all day...

When CO2 drops the slope of the PH changes almost immediately. You can also see the PH start to level off as CO2 builds through the day. Lights on at 12.

A couple shots to show alk drop in relation to decreased co2/increased ph, though this is also during peak lighting, so maybe not as convincing as the CO2/ph affect

 

[Wlachnit]

Cool... pretty powerful depiction of the impact of CO2 in the air.

 

[H2OPlayar]

Cool! I am a sucker for data. What are you using to measure local CO2? And Trident for alk I assume?

 

[Srt4eric]

Cool! I am a sucker for data. What are you using to measure local CO2? And Trident for alk I assume?

Khg for Alk all day!!!

 

[Meshmez]

Cool! I am a sucker for data. What are you using to measure local CO2? And Trident for alk I assume?

KHG for Alk.
CO2 is a little on the diy side. You need an apex ASM and then a co2 meter with a 0-5v output, they're commonly HVAC components.

 

[Bruce Spiegelman]

KHG for Alk.
CO2 is a little on the diy side. You need an apex ASM and then a co2 meter with a 0-5v output, they're commonly HVAC components.

You can also buy a commercial tester and they are not expensive.

 

[Meshmez]

You can also buy a commercial tester and they are not expensive.

Yes you can buy a stand alone and plot it on your own.

 

[JVU]

Where are you measuring CO2? Next to the tank? Have you checked in the sump cabinet? I bet it changes less drastically in there if it is mostly closed like mine, and if the skimmer is on and using the standard air intake, the CO2 in the sump air matters more than the room air.

 

[Meshmez]

Where are you measuring CO2? Next to the tank? Have you checked in the sump cabinet? I bet it changes less drastically in there if it is mostly closed like mine, and if the skimmer is on and using the standard air intake, the CO2 in the sump air matters more than the room air.

It's in the cabinet. Please ignore the mess...

 

[Srt4eric]

It's in the cabinet. Please ignore the mess... View attachment 26968

The more cabinets I see the less I feel bad about my cable management.

 

[Meshmez]

The more cabinets I see the less I feel bad about my cable management.

What did I say about the mess...

 

[H2OPlayar]

The more cabinets I see the less I feel bad about my cable management.

You and me both

 

[Meshmez]

Glad I could be of service...

 

[Meshmez]

Today I was able to open up in the morning, and you can see it boosted the PH before lights were on. Skimmer was on during that time, with co2 scrubber... While I do believe the co2 scrubber helps, it's limited. Probably need higher flow through it.

 

[Mike Yasin]

Today I was able to open up in the morning, and you can see it boosted the PH before lights were on. Skimmer was on during that time, with co2 scrubber... While I do believe the co2 scrubber helps, it's limited. Probably need higher flow through it.

View attachment 26975

I'd love for my minimum pH to 8.18.... jeez

 

[Meshmez]

I'd love for my minimum pH to 8.18.... jeez

Open up your house

It probably helps that I have a healthy (unhealthy?) amount of algae...