Reactor effluent into refugium

[Sherman]

I've finally started monitoring pH on my new-ish 120g, and just like the old 38g, I'm having a problem with my air tight home being oxygen deprived and having too much CO2. That means: pH is always too low. As you may recall, my 38g had no sump, and no refugium. PH swings were pretty drastic. They were worst in the winter, when the house was all closed up and we were always in the house, breathing. Winter pH on the 38g was typically peaked at 8.05 and dropped to 7.60 in the early morning. If I challenged the winter and opened up the house for a while, pH would increase to 8.35 within a couple hours. It's a long story, but the base problem is a newer house with great climate efficiency. The downfall is never having fresh air in the house.

Now, the 120 has a refugium, and I'm noticing what a huge difference this makes in offsetting the night time pH. Last night, pH peaked at 8.06. This morning, just before the lights came back on, pH was still exactly 8.06. By the end of today, pH peaked at 8.10. The refugium definitely works, but my house still has too much CO2. I'm considering punching a hole behind the tank (the tank is against an exterior wall) and piping in fresh air to the skimmer. But that's another topic. So now... to my question:

I currently drip my calcium reactor effluent into the sump, right at the bubble trap. Obviously, reactor effluent is loaded with CO2. I'm thinking about dripping it into the refugium, so the chaeto has a chance to scrub off some of that CO2. I notice the top of my chaeto is always loaded with air bubbles, and I'm presuming this is oxygen, a natural by-product of plant life. Freshwater planted tanks are purposely dosed with CO2 for plant growth... so it seems like I'd accomplish two goals, if I'm guessing correctly:

1: Scrub off that annoying CO2.
2: Increase growth in the chaeto, therefore increasing nutrient export.

Has anyone ever dripped their calcium reactor effluent into the refugium?

 

[CarlaW]

I have heard alot of people drip the effluent into their skimmer intake. I am new to Ca reactors, so I may be wrong. I am just gonna hang around and see what other folks have to say too.

 

[Sherman]

I used to drip the effluent into my old skimmer, as well. This may help with initial gassing off of the CO2, but the air still comes out the top of the skimmer, so I'm still introducing the CO2 into my house just the same. I need to find a way to scrub that stuff off, so I was thinking the chaeto might do that for me.

And I still need to get a fresh air intake for the skimmer....

 

[theJ]

I have heard dripping kalk into your skimmer intake can aid in phosphate removal, not sure about a carx, bt the extra co2 idea sounds cool. I would imagine you would need a semi decent sized sump/ball of cheato to make use of the co2 though.

 

[DonW]

I have heard dripping kalk into your skimmer intake can aid in phosphate removal, not sure about a carx, bt the extra co2 idea sounds cool. I would imagine you would need a semi decent sized sump/ball of cheato to make use of the co2 though.

You dont want kalk in your skimmer especially if its a recirc. Dripping carx effluent into a fuge is iffy. It depends on how the fuge is setup for flow and either way has its cons.
Dripping carx effluent into a slow flow fuge will cause pooling and possibly precip. Dripping into a high flow fuge will defeat the purpose that your going for. I think just getting the fuge growing well and dripping the carx into the skimmer is the best option.


Don