When I setup my new reef tank and its corresponding frag tank, both suffered from extremely low pH.
fig1. pH of display aquarium situated in the living room Jan 30 - Feb 6
I let it be for many months hoping that the system would balance out but nothing changed and I would notice the pH would go up a quite quickly as soon as myself and my partner left the condo.. (not something that has happening a lot during COVID). With this in mind I decided to test out using CO2 scrubber media on the skimmer intake and see what the results where. Locally I acquired some Two Little Fishies CDX from Marinescape, and repurposed an extra media reactor I had laying around. A quick purchase of 1/4 to 1/2 barb fitting to adapt the skimmer air intake to the media reactor intake and I was in business. I didn't have to wait long to see a change.
fig2. pH rise directly after adding CO2 scrubbing to the display aquarium
I was overjoyed at this result! But I had questions.....
How often am I going to need to replace the media?
How much is this going to cost me?
How much CO2 do I really have in the room!?
Is there things I can do to reduce that level of CO2?
The first batch of media in the reactor lasted just under two weeks. This was confirmed both by the colour change that occurs in the media (from white to purple) and the pH began to drop again (beyond the diurnal natural swing). Replaced the media and ran again to confirm