# How long does your 5kg co2 bottle last



## Puntius (1 Sep 2017)

Good day all.

I know this will be different on each tank. But to just get a rough estimate should be good.

So only started my c02 on my tank nearly 3 weeks ago.. Bought a 2nd hand c02 bottle 5kg one. Person I bought it from had it in his garage for the last 1 1/2 full apparently.. We'll to say this my bottle dropped from 5 to 4 in about two weeks which is acceptable. But while doing a water change last night I saw it was on 0 but still had a little co2 in as diffuser was still diffusing crazy. Taking bottle in to be filled today... So if it uses 1kg every 2 weeks my 5kg should then last about 3 months.. Just wanted to say my co2 regulator is a brand new dual Guage Saga regulator.. 

Inputs welcome. 



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## doylecolmdoyle (1 Sep 2017)

Going to depend on your bubble rate and how long you are actually running the co2 for each day, like you said every tank is going to be different, check for leaks to make sure you are not wasting co2, a small 500g bottle last me about 3 months. 

If you got the bottle when it was half empty its going to hard to judge, just see how long it last now its full.


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## zozo (1 Sep 2017)

Also depends a lot on the size of the tank ofcourse, but with my effective 42 litre tank and a average 0.5 Ph drop and a 12 hour cycle my 5 kilo bootle did last 18 months.

But to get the best estimate find a good household scale, weigh the bottle to the gram, use it for a cycle and weigh it again. The difference obviously it's what you use, devide the 5000 grams with that result and you have your days to go.  Can't get it more precise than that..


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## Puntius (1 Sep 2017)

All sounds good so far will definitely do that thanks for your valued input.. The more knowledge the better. Come on peeps info added is always good. 

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## Zeus. (1 Sep 2017)

On my 500L tank on third 6Kg bottle this year, but it doesn't have a BBS its more of a column of bubbles.


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## Puntius (1 Sep 2017)

Zeus. said:


> On my 500L tank on third 6Kg bottle this year, but it doesn't have a BBS its more of a column of bubbles.


So that is roughly between 2.5 to 3 months per bottle... Mine also a rush of bubbles lol... 

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## agol77 (1 Sep 2017)

On my 1200litre system, a 5kg bottle only lasts six weeks, but I have a sump with fluidised media in it, so losing a lot of CO2 down there. Just recently switched to a 20kg FE, which is a beast! 


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## ian_m (1 Sep 2017)

My tank gets through 15gr per day on a 2Kg FE (that's about 130 days) with a nice green drop checker.

So for 8 hours and 180litres it is 0.01gr CO2 per litre of tank water per hour.

So for agol77's tank of 1200 litres and assume 8 hours a day, a 5Kg bottle life will be 5000/(0.01 x 8 x 1200) = 52 days = 7.5 weeks. So 6 weeks and a sump is quite good really.


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