I think I finally got my PH problem under control!

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by rcflyer1388, Oct 22, 2014.

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  1. rcflyer1388

    rcflyer1388 Bubble Tip Anemone

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    So...I think I finally finished solving my PH issue with my tank and it should work any time of year. As I wrote in a few other posts, my main issue was during the summer when the windows in my apartment are closed and too much darn CO2 inside making my tank a huge calcium reactor! I tried kalk, skimmer line outside, reducing surface water agitation...All of this was a bandaid until today when I thought of the bright idea to tap the top overflow hole on my drain to a "T" fitting on my skimmer air line that runs outside the window. I don't know how I didn't think of this before. This all started when my drain started making too much gargling noise and that little piece of filter floss that I stuck in the hole of the durso just wasn't cutting it. So thinking about the noise I decided to run a "T" on the skimmer line to basically make the vacuum noise from the durso go outside and not in the room. To my surprise my PH jumped from 8.09 to 8.24 in a matter of 3 hours! I think this finally did the trick and can't wait for a day where I will close all my windows and put it to the test overnight when things drop normally.
     
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  3. Pickupman66

    Pickupman66 Tassled File Fish

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    man, that's great news. its amazing how much air a durso inhales.
     
  4. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

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    That is great, but isn't it still just getting the air from outside? What did I miss.

    MY Ph problem is essentially fixed too- cause I never check it!
    I know, that is a smart a$$ comment- but it's true.
     
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  5. rcflyer1388

    rcflyer1388 Bubble Tip Anemone

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    My skimmer was getting air from the outside originally, but that wasn't quite cutting it at night with all the windows closed. The durso on my setup was still pulling air from the inside of the apartment. So what I did was run a line with a "T" from the durso and connect it to the outside air line that the skimmer also uses. I put some studio quality iphone pics to kind of explain lol. Ignore the mess of wires on the floor. I'm still working on putting together a cabinet to hold everything nice and neat. photo 1 (1).JPG photo 2 (1).JPG
     
  6. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

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    OH, Duh on my part, now I completly understand- you're pulling you adjusting durso overflow air from the outside also! Brilliant!
    I'm not being sarcastic- hard to know on posts.
    Are you going to patent that?

    ;)
     
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  7. Pickupman66

    Pickupman66 Tassled File Fish

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    I was looking at your pictures this morning and got to thinking that you'd have an issue with this setup. If your drain clogs your tank will most likely overflow unless you have an emergency drain. The design of a durso with the air intake is that if the drain slows water will rise and cover the air inlet and then causes the entire drain to flush.
     
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  9. rcflyer1388

    rcflyer1388 Bubble Tip Anemone

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    lol. right, I should patent that lol. I'm sure someone else also did the same thing and I just haven't seen it online yet. I'm more for if it helps someone else with the same issue then I'll be happy.


    You are absolutely correct on that. However I already implemented a fail safe somewhat a while ago. If you look at the picture with the durso, behind it you will see a float switch. That float switch is connected to my apex that is setup incase that compartment fills up. It will shutdown the return pump and send me a text message. And the float switch is far down enough that it will activate before the water level reaches the top of the durso.
     
  10. Pickupman66

    Pickupman66 Tassled File Fish

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    Good deal man. Just wanted to make sure that was clarified before anyone else did it without a fail safe.
     
  11. rcflyer1388

    rcflyer1388 Bubble Tip Anemone

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    yea man definitely.
     
  12. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

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    Very cool fix rc. That has be pulling a lot of air that way. I don't have a durso but I have been eyeing my skimmer air line as there is a window nearby. When I do something I'll post with pics and notify you.
     
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