# Bubble counter liquid?



## chrisjj (6 Dec 2011)

Another CO2 newbie question!

What liquid goes in the bubble counter?


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## MrLarner (6 Dec 2011)

just plain old water from the tap.
its only to count your bubbles per second, none of it goes into the tank.
so water is fine.


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## chrisjj (6 Dec 2011)

That's what I thought.  Just checking!

Cheers


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## freelanderuk (7 Dec 2011)

i used water but the bubbles where to fast to count so i now use glycerine it seams a lot better


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## RudeDogg1 (7 Dec 2011)

Now you won't be getting an accurate reading doh lol if they were to fast u had it turned up to high


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## MrLarner (7 Dec 2011)

freelanderuk said:
			
		

> i used water but the bubbles where to fast to count so i now use glycerine it seams a lot better


using glycerine your not going to slow down the c02 going into the tank, you'll just get a wrong reading to how many bubbles your producing.
plain old tap water is your friend when it comes to bubble counters.
and as the previous said, if it was producing to many bubbles with water, you need to turn it down.


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## ghostsword (7 Dec 2011)

It is a good question. I use plain water but every few months I need to top it up.

May try glycerin, as I do not use the bubble counter to manage the co2 into the tank but the speed of the needle valve. So if my fish are struggling I will just turn it down, from say three bubbles to two bubbles.




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## freelanderuk (8 Dec 2011)

on a five foot tank trying to count 6 bubbles a second , it was way to fast with water , i left my reg and pressure the same and just added the glycerine , larger bubbles seamed to be emitted from the tube in the bubble counter and slower, my drop checkers where the same colour , i now get 3 bubbles per second


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## foxfish (8 Dec 2011)

Interesting concept, I am trying to think of any issues that might arise but without further knowledge, glycerin sounds like a good idea to me.


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## Stu Worrall (8 Dec 2011)

I used to have a Sera Bubble counter that was semi sealed with Glycerin so its not a new thing and it wont affect your co2 delivery so not sure why people are saying this.  Every bubble counter is different so will produce different sized bubbles at different rates anyway?  You should be using a co2 indicator to get green/lime green to check your co2 anyway?


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## ghostsword (8 Dec 2011)

stuworrall said:
			
		

> I used to have a Sera Bubble counter that was semi sealed with Glycerin so its not a new thing and it wont affect your co2 delivery so not sure why people are saying this.  Every bubble counter is different so will produce different sized bubbles at different rates anyway?  You should be using a co2 indicator to get green/lime green to check your co2 anyway?



Correct, very good point, each bubble counter is different, and the bubbles per second really don't mean much on the wider sense, only a personal measure of how much co2 you are dosing on your tank. 


___________________________

I don't know what is the secret of success, but the secret of failure is trying to please the world!


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## AverageWhiteBloke (8 Dec 2011)

I've seen youtube videos with some gloopy mixture in the bubble counter, the bubbles seemed to be going slower because they were larger than when used with water. Even at that though 6BPS sounds like a lot of co2 to be putting in the tank. My tank is rubbish at holding co2 and gases it out with the wet/dry filter and I manage to maintain a reasonably good dc on about 2/3 bps but again that all depends on the size of the bubbles in the DC. How longs a piece of string, like you say it's just a personal ref as oppose to a means of what's going in the tank to let you know whether that little turn you just did on the needle valve actually equated to something.

The Dc's in the same boat as well depending on how accurate the 4dkh mix is, its positioning in the aquarium and how much co2 is getting put in it straight from the diffuser.


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## freelanderuk (8 Dec 2011)

6bps was only on one bubble counter , i had twin up atomizers fitted , 1 on each filter with 6bps on each out let and my drop checkers where lime green,  the  glycerine has helped only in the fact that i now have the ability to count bubbles and use this when i change bottles or as i have just done and gone to twin co2 reactors


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## AverageWhiteBloke (8 Dec 2011)

Twin diffusers that would explain it


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## freelanderuk (8 Dec 2011)

and twin bubble counters


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## AverageWhiteBloke (8 Dec 2011)

Doubling up on everything could possibly mean having the co2 twice as fast giving each about 3 bps to each but that's just a stab in the dark.   Back on topic, I have seen something about mixing glucose with water to put in the bubble counter, sounds like a bit of a nightmare to clean though when it gets gammy.


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