Couple Of Questions About Pressurized Co2

[Amunet]

Lol... I dunno if I want to be distracting the guy filling the tank I probably won't be going to that place anyway. Since they close at 5pm... DH will have to go straight to it from work. I'll get photos of everything else though
DH finalyl got ahold of someone at that place, and they from what he said, they have steel 5lb canisters. And they do CO2 refills for $18.
We just went ahead and bought an aluminum one from beveragefactory.
Also bought one of those aquatek regulators off of ebay.
OO AND we finally got the drop checker in the mail today YAY!

 

[killudead]

i have been doing some checking.
I ended up getting this one.
JBJ Dual Gauge CO2 Regulator w/ Solenoid + Bubble Counter + Built-in Check Valve
i got it on amazon for a steal. 85.00+sh. now they are like 125.
anyway, i am getting my tank and following these install instructions.
Starting the System
Set the working pressure on the Pressure/Safety Regulator to approximately 15 psi.
Switch the Reactor Pump on.
Slowly open the Needle Valve until you get a bubble rate of approximately 60 bubbles per minute.
Monitor the carbon dioxide levels and adjust accordingly to your desired injection rate.

NOTE: For best results, the carbon dioxide injector should be shut off at night. This is because the photosynthesis process ceases when the light level diminishes. In fact, during the night plants can actually release carbon dioxide back into the water.
thats my all i got

Ok,, update got the tank today. got it set to 1bps. I have 2 bubble counters hooked for the time being so i can keep an eye on it. seems to work good.
Total cost was as follows
95 for solenoid
86 for 5lb filled co2 tank (thanks Delo welding)
12.00 for Tom Barrs diffuser method.

just under 200.00..
not bad i guess... now we wait to make sure everything runs good.
I am running out of plugs on my timers. WTH!!!!

 

[Amunet]

Lol killudead.
Yeah the welding place here wanted 80 something for their steel canister.. which is why we just went ahead and got a cheaper aluminum online for 60something. Plus I want to wait until we have the regulator before we get a tank filled up anyway, so *nodnod* It works out...
All of this better be worth the money b/c good god this tank is costing us a freakin fortune.

 

[killudead]

Lol killudead.
Yeah the welding place here wanted 80 something for their steel canister.. which is why we just went ahead and got a cheaper aluminum online for 60something. Plus I want to wait until we have the regulator before we get a tank filled up anyway, so *nodnod* It works out...
All of this better be worth the money b/c good god this tank is costing us a freakin fortune.

my wife and i just had that conversation. LOL

we are up to around 1100.00 total for the tank at this point.

dont get me wrong, it was 86 for the tank, but it is mine. Well i trade it in for like 11 and i get a full one.
No hydrotest or anything like that. Overall, it was around 60.
I like the idea of stability of steel. s/b harder to knock over.
so far so good, i got the system all hooked up. Now i can take out the airstone at night....

 

[Amunet]

Oh I forgot to ask, what is the Tom Barr diffuser method? I went to the forums but didn't see anything.

I don't even want to think about how much money we've spend.... I think we're around 1600-1700. UuuuuUuuUuuugh... and we still have fish we have to get for this tank.


Sigh, well.... hopefully it'll be worth it heh...

So question..... how long do you think a 5lb canister will last for a 125gal tank? Was looking at the other size canisters they had on that website and *shrugs* Just had a feeling we maybe should've gotten a slightly larger one?

 

[aaronnorth]

Tom uses external reactors.

5lb is 2Kg right?
on a 125l/ 20g tank it lasted 4month. So on yours i would say about 1month, no more.
Go for a 5Kg/ 20lb? cannister next time.

 

[Amunet]

Darn, that's what I was afraid of.

 

[waterdrop]

I don't even want to think about how much money we've spend.... I think we're around 1600-1700. UuuuuUuuUuuugh... and we still have fish we have to get for this tank.
Sigh, well.... hopefully it'll be worth it heh...

Hey, its your hobby, you gotta do stuff like this before you die!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Amunet]

Lol... yeah


So I told DH about the size of the canister thing and how long it will probably last and BOY was he not happy lol. Damn.. I knew I should've followed my gut and gotten something bigger!
Maybe later on I guess.
In the mean time... he wants to go ahead and use the little one to see how long it lasts. Maybe we could exchange it for a bigger one or something at the welding place *shrugs* We'll see.
Should be getting the canister on monday or tuesday.. and no idea about the regulator.. probably around the same time.. maybe even later since it's been shipped by the regular mail.

 

[SuperColey1]

YOU may find that if circulation and diffusion is good that the 2kg lasts longer. My 600g cannisters last my 125Ltr 2-3 months with your tank being 4 times as big as mine then you may get about the same longevity from yours.

If not rent the bottles from a gas supplier. The big tall 25kg ones they attach to the beer pumps and welding rigs and then they should swap them when they get empty.

Over here its about £1.50 rental per month and then just pay for the refills.

I wouldn't worry about the cost. Your tanks are cheap My 125Ltr must've cost in the region of $3500 in my first year or so. The days of trying to do things on the cheap means trying 20 different cheap things and then having to shell out for what I should've bought in the first place

AC

 

[killudead]

For my diffuser, i used tom barrs idea with rex riggs parts.
http/www.rexgrigg.com/diy-reactor.htm#regulator
i got all the parts from home depot but i had to get straight barbs instead of 90* barb as shown in his pic. cost me about 12 bucks and 24 hours for that smell of pvc glue to get out. I ended up hooking up and air pump and pumped it all night long.
I also went with 1 1/2 pvc instead of 2 inch and then cut a disk of sponge media and put it in to keep the bubbles in just a little bit longer. I have it gooked inline with my rena xp2. I am not sure where i should have the flow set at, so i have it at 100% right now. at least i will get some circulation out of it.
however, on a side note, my needle valve suxass. i am always having to adjust it. I am thinking about an inline valve, but it defeats the purpose of the bubble counter.
so thats all i got for now

 

[Amunet]

Yeah I think that diffuser is a bit too much work for us heh

Sigh.. just not sure what to do about the diffuser though. I want to make sure that we're getting the most out of every the co2.... but don't want to spend a lot trying to do that.
I'd really like to get some kind of cheap internal filter to diffuse the co2, but not sure what kind would work or be best for it.
Petsmart really didn't have anything. They had a few powerheads but they were a bit pricey.
We're heading across town tomorrow and will be stopping at Superpets to see what they have.

 

[Amunet]

Think we have our diffuser/regulator, whatever you wanna call it heh.
We stopped by Superpets today to see what kind of filters they had and saw this one. W/ tax it came to $18, so not too bad.... sigh.

It has a thing on the top that you can attach air tubing to, so yeah... hopefully this thing works the way we hope.

 

[Amunet]

Haven't updated in a bit....
Freakin shipments of the canister and regulator keep getting pushed back which is really pissing me off. SIGH....

Oh well.. here are some photos of the drop checker...why? *shrugs* Just felt like taking photos of it heh
UuuUuuuUuuugh.. I just wanna get this going already! (Hey there's my feet! heh)

Anyone familiar w/ this brand? How exactly are you supposed to use it?

 

[aaronnorth]

haha, i post pics of anything and everything.

brand doesnt matter. Check my guide in my sig for hopefully everything you need to know on drop checkers.