[ChrisP]

I was wondering why my pH was staying low (about 7.8) in both my 34 and 12 gallon reefs despite buffers, water changes, etc.
I did a CO2 test. A cup of tank water aerated outside for one hour went from 7.8 to 8.8. A cup of tank water aerated inside stayed at 7.8. So the result means that I have excess CO2 in my house.

Is this common in the summer or winter with windows and doors shut and A/C or heat running all the time? Do I need to get it checked out somehow? If so - who checks this sort of thing and how can it be fixed?

By the way, I just bought a new whole house air conditioner (heat pump) a few months ago. Could this have anything to do with it? Do A/C companies usually have equipment to check CO2 levels in a house?

I'd really appreciate any advice you might have.

Thanks!
Chris

[stephaniesquires]

You might try calling your local hardware store - Home Depot or Lowes... They might have a test kit. I dont think it's your air conditioner. CO2 is produced by burning fossil fuels.

[e_baer]

you can put a tree in your home. or at least a bunch of plants.

[Tonz of fun]

lol elliot haha. You can by blug in testers that will monitor that. I think like 30 bucks from the LHS

[stephaniesquires]

Do you live near a busy street, have a bad exhaust system on your car?? Test again but in a neighbors house - maybe it's your neighborhood? and then like e-baer said - buy some plants - but they only absorb C02 when they are in a growing cycle - I dont know if this helps - it may just be a fluke, try it again a few times, especially in the early morning

[glampka]

With all this energy conservation that has been going on for the past few years houses have been built tighter & tighter to stop air infiltration. As a result the inside air is becoming more & more contaminated - I'm sure you've heard the term - sick house syndrome. Sources of CO2 would be burning fossil fuel, breathing and even plants. Plants don't always produce
O2. Normally air conditioners simply keep recirculating the inside air, cool it & remove the humidity from it. They now sell special units that introduce fresh air into your house but pass it through a heat exhanger to either heat or cool it before introducing it to the house. They're not cheap. You're looking at a couple grand for them. You might want to check with local testing labs. They can bring in "sniffers" to take samples of the ambient air & can let you know the make up of it.

[e_baer]

plants only produce o2 when they are getting light. when it is dark, the release co2.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

If you have a lighted fuge and are running the fuge lights on the same cycle as tank lights ther co2 can go thru the roof overnight.