Quote:
Originally Posted by dreaminmel
Tom, Are there any other benefits to using it or is it strictly related to CO2? My pH runs at 8.3-4 consistently but because some of this chemistry stuff still escapes me, I thought I should double check. It used to run lower over a year ago so I stocked up on the 2part Alk that raises pH and now have to dose carefully to keep it from going higher. Haven't actually dosed in over a month and pH isn't going down.
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Don't mean to butt in on Tom's thread, but no - there will be no other benefits. The only people who would benefit from a CO2 scrubber would be people who can't keep their pH high enough through other means.
IMHO pH is over-complicated by people in this hobby. Someone with a more formal chemistry background will shoot me for this, but think of it as a ratio between CO2 and alkalinity. You can change the pH by altering either side of the ratio.
Every reef tank should be maintained to a specific alkalinity. So, in essence, that side of the ratio
should be fixed. If you are doing a good job at maintaining alkalinity, and you still have "pH problems," it essentially means you have a CO2 problem. If you can't or don't want to solve it by the methods Tom mentioned in his first post (bringing in outside air, reverse photoperiods on a macroalgae refugium or turf scrubber, etc.) then a CO2 scrubber is a great solution. If you don't have pH problems, and your alkalinity is in line, then a scrubber won't help your tank.