co2 help

[daneek155]

i need help setting my co2 system up. i went direction by direction on the co2 tread in this forum.
i have a 55g tank. milwakee regulater/5lb co2 tank/glass ceramic diffuser.
so when i first start it up in the tread it shows to open the valve on the bubble counter all the way than i should have 10 pounds of pressure i tried that and i had a million bubbles per second and the right guage was at zero. if i close the bubble counter valve some and open the main valve i can get my pressure up on the right guage.

when i set my bubbles to like 2 bubbles per second i have a very very fine line of bubbles coming out of the dffuser so i dont know if that is normal. now my next problem i set my bubble counter it works good than about 2 hours later no bubbles come out of the diffuser??? but bubbles are still coming through the bubble counter???? so whati am doing wrong??? any help will be appreciated thanks

 

[daneek155]

So this morning I plugged in my solenoid and the bible counter was showing like 2 bps. But nothing came out the diffuser. I waited 15 min. So I turned the main valve up so it started lots of bubbles than turned it down to 2 or 3 bps and it came out the diffuser for about 5 min than stopped....I followed the instructions what is going on

 

[Fdsh5]

Wow, 2 bibles per second. Lol you have to love autocorrect

 

[blert]

Open up the main valve and use the needle valve to control the bubbles.

 

[daneek155]

ok so i open the main valve on the regulator to about 10 pounds and use the valve on the bubble counter to adjust the bubbles. so when i set my diffuser up first time it broke on me. it was a glass one from eBay. so i hot glued it together but it was still getting full of water than i tried a air stone and it works fine. its been working for like 2 days and the right gauge still shows 0 but i was told that the right gauge doesn't matter. the air stone i put on is temp... would i need a diffuser if i was to buy this????Aquarium CO2 Reactor: ISTA Max Mix CO2 Reactor if so who has tried these and are they worth it. thanks

 

[blert]

ok so i open the main valve on the regulator to about 10 pounds and use the valve on the bubble counter to adjust the bubbles. so when i set my diffuser up first time it broke on me. it was a glass one from eBay. so i hot glued it together but it was still getting full of water than i tried a air stone and it works fine. its been working for like 2 days and the right gauge still shows 0 but i was told that the right gauge doesn't matter. the air stone i put on is temp... would i need a diffuser if i was to buy this????Aquarium CO2 Reactor: ISTA Max Mix CO2 Reactor if so who has tried these and are they worth it. thanks

The right hand gauge is at zero? I'm not familiar with the Milwaukee. Is that the tank pressure gauge or the output gauge? If its the tank pressure gauge then your tank is empty (or very near). If its the output pressure then just adjust the main valve some more until it reads ten again.

That reactor will need to be hooked up to a canister filter or a power head to work. Other than that it looks like your basic power head plus modified gravel vac DIY reactor. It should work fine.

 

[daneek155]

yeah the right gauge is the output gauge because my left shows like 50 something. ok when i turn the main valve more open i can get it to 10 but in my bubble counter is going crazy like 50 bubbles per second. i can adjust that down with the knob on the bubble counter down to how many ever bubbles per second i need with the output gauge staying at 10. but the reason i am asking this is because i read somewhere that if the bubble counter valve is not open all the way it can get clogged up??? i do have a canister filter but would that reactor eliminate me having to buy a diff user???what would you reccomend for me to do?? this is my first co2 set up ever....

 

[mudraker]

i read somewhere that if the bubble counter valve is not open all the way it can get clogged up???

I've been running my Milwaukee for almost a year that way with no issues.

i do have a canister filter but would that reactor eliminate me having to buy a diff user???what would you reccomend for me to do?? this is my first co2 set up ever..

I have this reactor and love it. Do be sure you have the correct tubing size on your canister to match it. The ISTA sold by FostersSmith connects to 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch canister filter tubing.

 

[mudraker]

Oh yes, the reactor eliminates the need for a diffuser.

 

[daneek155]

ok i will do that thanks alot for the help.... what do you set your guage to normally???? and just to make sure i am going off of the bottom numbers on the right guage??

 

[mudraker]

I don't regulate by the gauge, but by the bubble count.

Right now, I have it set at two bubbles per second, but sometimes at three per second. Three per second is usually recommneded for maximun plant growth.

 

[aqua_chem]

Bubbles/second isn't metric that can be compared from one tank to another. There is absolutely no 'recommended' bps, and anyone that claims there is one probably doesn't know much about CO2 and CO2 regulators. Rather, the bps you want is whatever makes your drop checker turn that nice green color.

 

[daneek155]

so what would be better a drop checker or get a kh tester and use the ph tester to determine co2?

 

[blert]

Drop checker. You can make one depending on what you have on hand. Search 'DIY drop checker'.

 

[meegosh]

Like blert said, DIY drop checkers aren't hard to make, nor is the 4dkh solution. You can get a rough idea of how much CO2 you have by measuring kh and ph and using a chart online. I don't think it is very accurate and a lot of things can give you false readings.

I too use my needle valve to control bps. While I agree with aqua_chem that bps varies, I still think 2 bps is a good starting point for someone setting up a new tank. Obviously it will need tweaking depending on tank size, diffuser efficiency, off gassing, etc etc.

 

[mudraker]

There is absolutely no 'recommended' bps, and anyone that claims there is one probably doesn't know much about CO2 and CO2 regulators

Read what Meegosh said. Even Tom Barr - arguably one of the top experts on planted tanks - does not fully endorse the drop checker method as an accurate CO2 measurement.

It is arrogant, misleading and uninformed to state there is no recommended starting point for counting bpm or to say someone using this method as a starting point doesn't understand CO2.

In the end, the most accurate way to access if you have enough CO2 in the water column is the health of your plants.

 

[aqua_chem]

There absolutely is no recommended bps for 'maximum plant growth' because a bubble is a non-standard an subjective unit. Many diffusers or reactors can work at atmospheric pressures, around 15 psi. I run a higher pressure diffuser, so I run my regulator at around 30 psi. What the difference? As Boyle's Law will tell us, twice the pressure is twice the volume, so 2 bps for me is about 4 bps for a reactor. See the issue? Water consistency also plays a role, as does bubble counter bore size and orientation. While 2 bpm might be a good starting point, it ultimately only serves as such to find the bpm rating that is unique to your tank and setup.

Tank size is also important. 2 bpm could do significant damage in tanks of less than 20 gallons and be trifling in larger tanks.

And while Tom Barr recommends an observation based system to find good CO2 levels, one can hardly recommend it to someone who is setting up their first system and is unfamiliar with the effects of both too little, which are often slow to materialize, and too much CO2, which can happen suddenly without the advance warning of a drop checker.

 

[daneek155]

man theres alot to getting the co2 right...... i still dont understand the deal with 2 bps coming out with the output guage at 0 or 2 bps with the output guage at 10 adjusted by the needle on the bubble counter on how it is differant. well i got mine set up right now at 2 bps with the output guage at like 15 now i will find out about making a drop checker... also i have a light that holds 4 48 inch t5 ho bulbs.. thats 54 watts per bulb. i have a 55g tank. should i run it with just 3 bulbs in or should i turn all 4 in???? thanks for all the help

 

[blert]

It's not so confusing. Here's the run down. Aqua-Chem, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here...

You have your cylinder. Inside that cylinder CO2 is under an enormous amount of pressure. The one I'm currently looking at is at about 825PSI. The big knob on top of the cylinder opens and closes the cylinder. The regulator is there to control the pressure at which the CO2 comes out, you do not want it shooting out at 800PSI. That's, obviously, dangerous. You set the regulator output to the appropriate PSI for your application. Next we come to the needle valve. It controls FLOW not pressure. The pressure in your system (after the regulator) will be at whatever you set the regulator to regardless of the position of the needle valve. Does that help?

As far as lights... I have to fall back to using the chart when dealing with my lights so someone else is going to have to chime in on that one.

 

[aqua_chem]

That's pretty accurate Blert. I don't really have much to add.

As far as lighting goes, I would start with two and see if you're getting the results you want. If not, edge it up to three, and then four if you're still not getting what you want. It's a lot easier to start manageable and work up than it is to start to high, recover from whatever problem you might have had, and restart.