I inject outside air into my skimmer. It keeps my pH in the 8.1-8.3 range. I use a 3/4” piece of soft tubing that connects to 1/4” on the skimmer end, and a hard piece of PVC on the outside end. It sits in the windowsill, and the rest of the open window is blocked by a piece of board that rests just above the tubing. Very little outside air gets in the tank room, but just enough to keep it cool and fresh in the tank room.
CO2 Scrubber/Adding outside air to the tank (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter BlindSwordsman
- Start date
@reef junkie my air exchange unit is in the room next door to my tank room. Is there any reason why attaching an airline hose from that to my skimmer wouldn’t accomplish the same thing as running it to the outside?
I tried to look this up on R2R but couldn’t find anything so maybe I’m just dumb and that’s way different but I would think as long as you connected it to the vent that has the fresh air coming in it would be the same.
I tried to look this up on R2R but couldn’t find anything so maybe I’m just dumb and that’s way different but I would think as long as you connected it to the vent that has the fresh air coming in it would be the same.
Yes that would accomplish the same thing.
Many air exchangers use insulated flex duct so the hardest part may be figuring out a clean way of connecting your tubing. Easy way would be to just cut a slit to the inside of the duct, insert your tubing and then tape around opening. Not very pretty but it would work.
Many air exchangers use insulated flex duct so the hardest part may be figuring out a clean way of connecting your tubing. Easy way would be to just cut a slit to the inside of the duct, insert your tubing and then tape around opening. Not very pretty but it would work.
reef junkie
Senior Member
I’m no hvac expert. So not sure if there are any issues doing this. But if it was my house I would definitely give it a try. Making sure to pull air from the inlet from the exterior side of the exchanger. Maybe filter the inlet at the inside junction as well. I know my exchanger gets tons of bugs and pollen built up on the filter.
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BlindSwordsman
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I think the problem is: We are poorer than you guys. @Joe M's house is probably like mine, older than your houses. We don't have fancy systems like yours. Our houses are also not well insulated like yours and there is probably a draft of fresh air coming in always, so our tanks benefit from that 
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Not necessarily an HVAC expert but you definitely know more about homes and the inner workings than I do
thanks for the input I may give this a try. And yeah mine definitely gets a few bugs as well so will have to filter it for sure.
reef junkie
Senior Member
Not necessarily an HVAC expert but you definitely know more about homes and the inner workings than I do
I added some left over screen top material to the exterior intake on my air to air to help keep the critters out. But has to be cleaned monthly or at a minimum looked at to make sure its able to take in fresh air. Maybe between adding that and something at your hose connection would do the trick.
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