CO2 and Skimmers

[MJB]

Randy, I've seen a few threads suggesting that dripping the effulent from a Calc reactor near or directly into a skimmer can facilitate removal of excess CO2. It seems like I read somewhere that lowering the pH inside the skimmer will negatively impact foam production. Conversly, dripping Kalk will improve production. Do I have this backwards or does it make a difference? Thanks in advance--MJB

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

MJB:

I too have seen for years the claims that higher pH leads to better skimming. OTOH, I've never seen any actual result that showed it to be true, and I never heard nor can I think up any good reasons for it to be true. So I'm skeptical of how important a high pH is to skimming.

It is certainly true that a skimmer will help blow off some excess CO2 if the air is not unusually high in CO2. How big of an effect if has will depend on many things, but it will not bring the pH of the effluent up to tank levels.

Here's a recent discussion on this topic:

http://www.reefcentral.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=63779