Aquatek regulator problem?

[Tobykourtney]

My premium aquatek came in the mail today. I hooked it up and set the working pressure to 20. It keeps slowly dropping to 18 then jumping back up to 20. The bubble count is consistent the entire time. Is this a major problem?

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I would contact Aquatek's customer service and see what they say. My mini Aquatek regulators for paintball had finicky needle valves at first. They'd almost never keep a steady bubble rate and I would have to readjust it every other day or so. But after a break-in period of sorts, miraculously all of them have been accurate and are keeping steady. Might be a totally unrelated issue, but who knows, your working pressure might fix itself like my needle valves did.

 

[Rivercats]

I had the same issue with one of my Aquatek regulators but mine was jumping 5 or 6 points and it did affect my bubble rate making it go more then less constantly. I'd wait and watch it for a week or two and if it gets worse or gets like mine making your bps go up and down then email where you got it from and get the return info. I had to send mine back and got a new one.

 

[sodbuster95]

I just purchased an Aquatek regulator and am seeing the same thing. My working pressure varies about 5 lbs between 20-25. The bubble count rises and lowers pretty dramatically as a result and I have to manage the rate as a function of bubbles per minute as opposed to per second to get consistency.

I just assumed that's how they worked. Guess I'll be emailing Aquatek.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I just purchased an Aquatek regulator and am seeing the same thing. My working pressure varies about 5 lbs between 20-25. The bubble count rises and lowers pretty dramatically as a result and I have to manage the rate as a function of bubbles per minute as opposed to per second to get consistency.

I just assumed that's how they worked. Guess I'll be emailing Aquatek.

I replaced my bubble counter fluid with water and its working right now or maybe it needed to be broken in. It's sitting at 22 psi now. Or maybe the bubble counter originally didn't have an airtight seal causing a leak that made the working pressure fluctuate?

 

[Tobykourtney]

I had the same issue with one of my Aquatek regulators but mine was jumping 5 or 6 points and it did affect my bubble rate making it go more then less constantly. I'd wait and watch it for a week or two and if it gets worse or gets like mine making your bps go up and down then email where you got it from and get the return info. I had to send mine back and got a new one.

If I don't set the needle valve and the pressure exactly right it'll fluctuate. It threw me off because I didn't realize how big the bubbles in the bubble counter were until my wife pointed it out. I accidentally almost gassed out my fish at a little over 2 bps in a 75 gallon tank :-(

 

[sodbuster95]

I just purchased an Aquatek regulator and am seeing the same thing. My working pressure varies about 5 lbs between 20-25. The bubble count rises and lowers pretty dramatically as a result and I have to manage the rate as a function of bubbles per minute as opposed to per second to get consistency.

I just assumed that's how they worked. Guess I'll be emailing Aquatek.

For anyone paying attention,

I emailed Aquatek on this issue and they suggested I kick my working pressure to 55 lbs. That is markedly higher than most other information I've seen (which suggests an appropriate working pressure of 20 lbs or so), but seems to have (somewhat) corrected the issue.

On the plus side, the bubbles per second rate is now steady and very consistent. I'm also noticing that the bubbles themselves seem to be more uniform in size. On the negative side, though, the fluctuation in working pressure remains and now varies between 50-55 lbs.

 

[Tobykourtney]

For anyone paying attention,

I emailed Aquatek on this issue and they suggested I kick my working pressure to 55 lbs. That is markedly higher than most other information I've seen (which suggests an appropriate working pressure of 20 lbs or so), but seems to have (somewhat) corrected the issue.

On the plus side, the bubbles per second rate is now steady and very consistent. I'm also noticing that the bubbles themselves seem to be more uniform in size. On the negative side, though, the fluctuation in working pressure remains and now varies between 50-55 lbs.

Yea they told me the same thing and now my working pressure is varying between 60 and 55 I hope this isn't a huge problem. Does anyone else have huge bubbles in the bubble counter? 1 of my bubbles is the same as 4 on my GLA reg.

 

[mohican]

I run mine at about 30 psi. Whenever I had a slight leak, it would bounce. Seems you may have noticed that too. Give it a couple days and see if it levels out. Double check connections too. The slightest leak can throw things off.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I run mine at about 30 psi. Whenever I had a slight leak, it would bounce. Seems you may have noticed that too. Give it a couple days and see if it levels out. Double check connections too. The slightest leak can throw things off.

I checked with soapy water and had no leaks. Hopefully it levels out because its pretty annoying to have my working pressure bounce around.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I run mine at about 30 psi. Whenever I had a slight leak, it would bounce. Seems you may have noticed that too. Give it a couple days and see if it levels out. Double check connections too. The slightest leak can throw things off.

If it was leaking once the solenoid shuts off wouldn't the working pressure slowly go down to 0?

 

[aqua_chem]

I had the same thing happen on a Milwaukee regulator, but I don't remember what I did to fix it. Double check that the CO2 valve is all the way open. You might just run it at a bit higher pressure for a few days to see if that clears it up.

 

[Rivercats]

For anyone paying attention,

I emailed Aquatek on this issue and they suggested I kick my working pressure to 55 lbs. That is markedly higher than most other information I've seen (which suggests an appropriate working pressure of 20 lbs or so), but seems to have (somewhat) corrected the issue.

On the plus side, the bubbles per second rate is now steady and very consistent. I'm also noticing that the bubbles themselves seem to be more uniform in size. On the negative side, though, the fluctuation in working pressure remains and now varies between 50-55 lbs.

I was told to up the pressure, reinstall it, and I forgot what else and nothing stopped the fluctuating pressure. I finally told them I was sending it back as it was obviously defective. It only has a 90 day warranty from date of purchase.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I had the same thing happen on a Milwaukee regulator, but I don't remember what I did to fix it. Double check that the CO2 valve is all the way open. You might just run it at a bit higher pressure for a few days to see if that clears it up.

I double and triple checked everything. How consistent does co2 have to be for our applications though? Would a 5 psi fluctuation cause any real problems down the road?

 

[Rivercats]

It doesn't matter IMO unless your bps is affected like mine was. After upping the pressure it never stabilized nor did my bps. My other Aquatek requlator never has done that. The needle has always stayed right where I put it.

 

[Tobykourtney]

It doesn't matter IMO unless your bps is affected like mine was. After upping the pressure it never stabilized nor did my bps. My other Aquatek requlator never has done that. The needle has always stayed right where I put it.

It's running between 90-95 bubble per minute consistently so no crazy fluctuation. I'm still going to email aquatek though and see If I can trade it out

 

[Tobykourtney]

I had the same thing happen on a Milwaukee regulator, but I don't remember what I did to fix it. Double check that the CO2 valve is all the way open. You might just run it at a bit higher pressure for a few days to see if that clears it up.

They said water got in the regulator. I run a check valve before and after my bubble counter so its highly unlikely. It seems like they are trying to blame it on me at this point. Hopefully the problem gets fixed or they replace it.

 

[sodbuster95]

They said water got in the regulator. I run a check valve before and after my bubble counter so its highly unlikely. It seems like they are trying to blame it on me at this point. Hopefully the problem gets fixed or they replace it.

They must be running through a stock response, as they told me the same thing: Water getting in the regulator. I also have a check valve and mine runs 24/7, so that's pretty unlikely.

They also asked me to check the O-ring on the regulator. Not sure how the O-ring on the high-side would have anything to do with the working pressure.

Anyway, mine is getting worse and the fluctuation is now running between 45-55 lbs. I'm going to return mine through Amazon and get another one.

 

[Tobykourtney]

They must be running through a stock response, as they told me the same thing: Water getting in the regulator. I also have a check valve and mine runs 24/7, so that's pretty unlikely.

They also asked me to check the O-ring on the regulator. Not sure how the O-ring on the high-side would have anything to do with the working pressure.

Anyway, mine is getting worse and the fluctuation is now running between 45-55 lbs. I'm going to return mine through Amazon and get another one.

I got mine through an eBay seller that I'm pretty sure is aquatek so hopefully they let me return it.

 

[Rivercats]

They said water got in the regulator. I run a check valve before and after my bubble counter so its highly unlikely. It seems like they are trying to blame it on me at this point. Hopefully the problem gets fixed or they replace it.

Hey I'm sure I'm not the only one who contacted them. They know this is a problem with this batch. One I bought a few months before the defective one works perfectly. I simply emailed and told them I did everything they said and it's not right, it has a 90 day warranty so please send me the return/warranty address as I obviously had a defective regulator. I would also add that someone you know had the exact same problem a few months ago and sent their defective regulator back for an exchange. They won't offer an exchange and actually told me to "wait" awhile... yeah so my 90 day warranty would run out and they wouldn't have to exchange it. You have to be firm and not let them try to blame it on you especially considering others are having the same issues with some of the regulators.