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Help please, no CO2 from UP inline atomizer

Wisey

Wisey

Member
Joined
19 Jul 2014
Messages
1,061
Hi All,

Last week I set up all my equipment, filled the tank with water, primed and started the filter then I set up my CO2, switched it on, all seemed good, loads of micro bubbles in the water, switched it off, bubbles stopped. I therefore switched everything off, drained the tank, left it for just over a week until today.

Today I have done my hardscape and planted, then flooded the tank and started up my filter and the CO2 again, but I am getting no CO2 going in to the aquarium. I have the CO2 Art duel stage reg, working pressure set to 40 psi, then a bubble counter and I can see loads of CO2 going through the bubble counter. I had about a foot of CO2 tube then a check valve, then a few more inches of tube and my UP inline atomizer.

After messing around trying to get it to work, I ended up with a little water from my bubble counter in the CO2 tube. When I switched it back on, the pressure easily pushed that as far as the check valve, then it spat it out the other side in bits and it just sat in the tube. I thought maybe there was a problem with the check valve, so I just removed that and so I am now going straight from the bubble counter to the UP inline. I have put soapy water on all the connections, don't appear to have any leaks anywhere. When I cut the hose off the atomizer before, I got a spurt of CO2, so it's getting there, it just does not seem to be getting in to the water. It must be going somewhere thought!

Does anyone have any ideas please?
 
So you can see there the working pressure and the fast stream of bubbles at the bubble counter.

Could something have happened to the ceramic tube in the week that it sat empty? There may well have been some water in there still during that period, but no dirt or anything and I have had that apart today and all looked clear.
 
Hmmm, it does now appear to have kicked in, so maybe it is something to do with the one way valve I have now removed. It's on of the metal ones so you can't see inside it.

I have a one way valve built in to the bubble counter, does it matter that I don't have one between the bubble counter and the atomizer?
 
Sometimes these atomizers need a 30min soak in 1:1 bleach and water to get rid of manufacturing residue...mine did before it started working properly. Now I regularly soak it in limescale bleach - it gets rid of organics and limescale.
 
Interesting, ok, think I'll order up a second ceramic so I can have one in use and one being cleaned. It does seem to be working now, have cranked up the rate to get things going. Drop checker has gone from blue to turquoise, so that's progress. Was worried there for a while. Time for a beer! 🙂
 
Yep, I need at least 3 bar for it to work consistently...cheers...hic:wacky:
 
When you use them for the first time, they are dry to the bone and because they are porous and dry, low working presure will easily push through and only needs to push air out and another gassy substance in it. When Co2 is shutt off the water will replace the co2 in between the porous mass after a while. The ceramic is very dense but still will suck up water like a spounge and when sucked full it will need some time and or some force to get it out again. Hence there is some water in your hose.. I never used them, this is just physics it works the same for the glass diffussers but they are not so dense. 🙂 And as Troi already says, he needs 3 bar to get them to work propperly. So that can only mean they have very dense ceramics.

Actualy i don't realy see the pro's in the more expensive very dense ceramics especialy not when you put 'm in line. The only profit in it i see is when you put them in the filter outlet hose.. But still you would be more sufficient with putting it in the inlet hose and let the co2 pass trough the filter media. The co2 dessolves there the best i guess.

And see 🙂 because thats the way i do it with my cheapo bubbling (instead of misting) glass diffuser where every bubble is sucked into the filter inlet. No matter how hard i look i never have seen a bubble leaving from the filter outlet..
 
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mine is set at 1.5-2 bar and I have no problems when it starts the following day. I used to have problems until I sorted all the leaks and got rid of all the rubbish aquatic check valves. if you have any water in your co2 line before your co2 turns on in the morning then you HAVE got leaks and/or rubbish check valves.
my check valve is between the solenoid and needle valve in this pic every other type of check valve, I've tried, has failed in a very short period of time but this one has been good for over 1.5 years and was the cheapest one I've bought
9DE8970D-8E2E-4C9F-8C58-53B101D518D9_zpsopqyeupm.jpg
 
Thanks Big Clown, you were right. I did have some water in the tube before startup yesterday. Just been along with soapy water and found a very slight leak between the solenoid and needle valve. The instructions said hand tight, it may have come undone a little while I was trying to get things working on Saturday. Just tightened up with a spanner and leak gone.

The only check valve in my system now is the one built in to my bubble counter which pushes straight on to the needle valve with an adapter.
 
I had this valve a few inches from the atomiser, my theory being that it would keep water out the system and I could also remove the tube from this instead of the atomiser itself and not risk breaking the nipple on the atomiser. Removed it when I was having issues on Saturday though.

2bd677ac94589b66032ac56ef9efa18d.jpg
 
Did anyone of you experience breakage with the plastic of this atomizer? Is it well build and reliable? Thanks.
 
It is well built and reliable when new, unfortunately mine still failed after a year, pressure cracks were noted on both side walls when I replaced it with a new one. I run it with a pressure of 30psi.

My symptom was the tank not reaching target CO₂ levels by lights on, got worse over the space of a week, luckily I had a replacement to hand that I could swap out. The cracks I experienced may have been caused by the atomiser blocking and requiring cleaning, when the blocking increased the pressure within the device also increased (even though the line was not pressurised beyond 30psi the device appears not to be able to contain this pressure if it can't escape through the ceramic into the water stream) causing the device to balloon slightly allowing surface cracks to form, start of blocking symptoms to replacement of device was about 3 weeks, first two weeks symptoms were mitigated by starting CO₂ injection an hour earlier, by the third week the needle valve was turned to increase the flow (line pressure still at 30psi) the increased flow made little extra difference, this is when I swapped out the device and noted the cracks.

Until a more robust device appears on the market, stainless steel or whatever, there is not much else to choose from for this type of atomiser.
 
Thanks for your reply. Did you experience this with the new line, with the replaceable ceramic?

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk
 
I've had this happen with two devices, first was the all sealed unit replaced a year ago, the latest failure is the device that can be unscrewed from the hose connectors to be disassembled to allow the ceramic to be removed or replaced. So yes new type in design but not sure if the plastic formula has been changed for new devices within the last year I have used this. When I replaced this device last year I had to unscrew the hose connectors and put PTFE gas tape on the threads as it leaked like a sieve from there, once I had done this it was super gas tight and was really happy with it. I'm happy to use the same again as a replacement but I'll need to get a spare just in case. I'd rather not treat it as a yearly consumable so eventually it will be replaced by a more robust option if and when that ever happens, not usually in a manufacturers profit interest to build things that last a life time, I would quite happily pay for the ceramic insert yearly as replaceable component though if a more robust option was offered (provided it's low cost enough to save me having to clean the one being replaced).
 
True, companies do not make long lasting products anymore. A stainless steel atomizer would be nice though..

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