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Big co2 problems.

Daz2162

Daz2162

Member
Joined
26 Jun 2013
Messages
120
Hey everyone, im at my wits end and seriously thinking a out scrapping my co2 setup and wasting 100s of pounds!
Whenever i hook up a solenoid my co2 (95g) is lasting a little over a week. Im running it at 1bps for 9 hours a day. Thing is a while ago when i spent 60quid on an inline solenoid the gas lasted about 10 days i took the thing off cos i sure as hell cant afford £13 every 10 days, thats bordering on lunacy! So then i hooked it all up minus the solenoid and it was therefore running 24/7 (as im not always there to turn it on and off) and the canister miraculously lasted well over a MONTH!! I couldn't bloody believe it, but i knew this wouldn't be healthy for my fish, hence why i wrote alot of questions about surface agitation etc. Even though i got good answers about surface agitation which im still doing to this day, im not a fan of running it 24/7 so i purchased another solenoid at a fraction of the cost at £14 and hooked that up, now the bloody canister has lasted just over a week again! Im sooooo confused as to how on this earth this could be happening, my reg is still running the same 1bps but only for 9hrs, so why oh why is it lasting such a small amount of time? Ive tried for leaks and got nothing, so its not leaking anywhere.

Someone please help, i cant afford this so if i can sort it I'll just have to use liquid easy carbo, ei ferts (which im already using) and leave it at that, but im sure my plants wont last on this combo, will they??

Cheers

Darren.
 
Hey darren, sorry to hear you getting frustrated, is this a fire extinguisher your using?
Ill assume it is, then it should last far longer which can only mean one thing, a leak. I had a similar issue a while back where I was sure there were no leaks but was running through a pub bottle in a few weeks.
All I'd say is leaks can be sneaky buggers, I ended up disconnecting the co2 and refitting it all super tight then tested with co2 leak detector spay ( read fairy liquid and water) and it turned out to be the inline atomiser had a teeny weeny pin hole size crack in the casing.

If its not in the bottle and not in the tank you are losing it somewhere :) I'd guess pre bubble counter if its showing 1bps with this consumption.
 
Hi ian, thanks for the reply mate. No its only a little 95g disposable bottle, should be lasting over a month at 1bps and 9hrs/day. I think i will test for leaks again after what youve said, but just cant get why when no solenoid its lasts over a month but two different valves from two different companies have given me the same problem.

Cheers

Darren
 
If i stop using co2 and use liquid easycarbo and ei ferts lights for 9hrs will my plants still, 1)grow well and healthily 2)oxygenate the water 3)will i be limited on types of plants?? I have 12 fish (none bigger than 2inches) in 60ltr tank so they're producing a little co2 but is it enough, plus does surface agitation add co2 as well??

Cheers

Darren
 
95 g of co2 for £13 wow that's really expensive , you can get 2 kg co2 (fe) for about £24 , if you think 95 g will last you a month then invest in a fe and the £24 will last you nearly 2 years , you may have to spend £60 for reg and fe initially but it pays for its self within no time if your spending £13 per month :)
Hope this helps dude
Cheers
 
I think the issue here, and has been seen many times on this forum, is that the smaller disposable bottle "regulators" aren't in fact regulators but really just in line flow control valves, especially where they use the words "flow regulator" in product description. They do not regulate pressure, but control flow which is why they are suitable for a low flow rate (1 bps) into a an in tank diffuser running 24/7.

They won't work with a solenoid (regardless of solenoid manufacturer) as when solenoid is closed the pressure in the pipe "flow control valve" to solenoid will rise to tank pressure (with a proper regulator will rise to only 2-3 bar), which as reported by many people can burst the pipe. Also the solenoid may not cope with this pressure and vent to the atmosphere (via its seals) as again reported here. Also, if pipe does not burst when solenoid opens, all the pressurised CO2 will dump in the tank as well as upset the valve settings producing a different bubble rate every time the solenoid opens. This leaking explains why a solenoid uses more gas for you.

They generally also won't work with an inline diffuser, requiring constant (2-3bar) pressure either.

If you are serious about CO2 you need proper regulator eg http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/easy-aqua-twin-guage-regulatorsolenoid-p-6179.html (my regulator came from CO2Supermarket, a bit cheaper) and a £10 2Kg fire extinguisher. Phone the number on the CO2 fire extinguishers at your work, library etc and see how much they will charge you. If not Ebay £24 odd delivered.
 
Sam, thanks mate, yeah thats pretty much what i thought i should do, just tough to find another god knows how much on tje stuff after ive already spend a fortune on it. Lol. Thanks for your input dude.

Ian, that reply is brilliant, you explained something that i think companies should be reading as i personally think its false advertisingand its criminal, i spent over £60 on my reg and £60 on my solenoid and neither company said that they wouldnt work together properly, they got their money and now thats the end of it as they wont let me return it, one company wants me to return it for them to test for leaks at my own expense, but they wont find a leak unless they set it up all inline and read this thread! absolute joke in my eyes.
I totaly believe what youve said to be true, it makes perfect sense. When the solenoid turns on again theres a big rush of bubbles for a while, then it slows right down, then it sorts its self out, but only after about 5 minutes, for now then im going to be better off running it 24/7 without the solenoid, i still have 1 disposable can left and hopefully that will last a while longer. Trouble is now need to save up for a little while before i go for the aqua essentials reg which to be fair ive had my eye on for a while now and also a fire extinguisher.
In your experience, how long will a 2kg fe last for running at 1bps for 9hrs?

Regards

Darren
 
Daz2162 said:
In your experience, how long will a 2kg fe last for running at 1bps for 9hrs?
Click to expand...
Depends how big your bubble is. The JBL has quite large bubbles and my first Hong Kong cheapy had really tiny bubbles. Anyway in my 180l tank my first 2Kg FE lasted 255 days, 2nd 137 days, shortened by disintegrating bubble counter, 4th 60 days shortened by leak at locking nut and 3rd 49 days due to massive leak at locking nuts...
 
Good lord, stop writing on here and go and sort your leak out! Haha. A tiny leak can make a huge difference really cant it, surprising.
Thanks for your help guys, really appreciated. Hopefully i will find a solution to this 6month pain in the ass! If you spend alot, you save alot, if that makes sense!!

Cheers

Darren
 
That reg on aqua essentials for £89.99 is the same as mine right now but I got mine from eBay for a lot its currently £55 , its basically the the same as the up-aqua a-164 (which I have ) both come from china , but with aqua essentials you get a uk warranty and a good company , you know your in safe hands ,
If you want to save yourself £35 that is.
I ran my 2kg fire extinguisher on 1bps at the most for a year and still had half full :) but that was with lowish medium light .
Cheers
 
Yeah man, really like the look of that reg. Especially the fact that it can take disposable canisters too for when the refillable runs out and is being recharged, i wish all companies did this, makes alot of sense! Lol

Your reg all good then?

Cheers

Darren
 
Yea man my reg all good, like I said I got mine from an ebay seller called u-barn , I thought the solenoid was broke when I 1st got it and he sent a replacement out straight away no questions asked but it turned out the universal plug adapter they sent was crap and the connections inside were not making contact , just bought one from a shop and worked fine and now have a spare solenoid, I offered him £10 less then what he was selling the reg for and he accepted :)

Cheers
 
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