Does this seem right?! Bubble counter video, do I have a major leak?!?!

[philipraposo198]

So I saw a video of some guys bubble counter and he had a big tank and very little bubble count compared to mine. I am wondering if I have a leak somewhere or if the video I saw was just really low amount of co2.

I run a cerges reactor with co2art dual stage reg and a SMC needle valve. PH is around 7.5-7.6 in the morning after a night of no co2 and 6.7-6.8 at night. I don't have any water leaking, that's for sure, but I don't know if the air is somewhere.

Here is the video of my bubble counter, the water is evaporating so its a bit low today. But you will get the idea.

https://youtu.be/tK5WCgzvw7c

How can I check for air leaks? Does this look like way too many bubbles? Its a 75g that's well planted with a few fast growing aponogeton plants.

 

[Brookster123]

Was is full at one point?

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[philipraposo198]

More full than that but not to the top. Why you ask?

 

[Brookster123]

More full than that but not to the top. Why you ask?

aside from gradual evaporation, shouldn't lose.liquid that fast. Check valve integrated?

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[philipraposo198]

Yeah there is one on the bottom side. Its from co2art.

 

[Brookster123]

Need to figure out where the water is going? That's a lot of gas for a new system.anyways.. tone it down a bit. Using Teflon tape everywhere possible?

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[philipraposo198]

I use a special pipe dope type of thing that's rates for a high pressure. Fish don't seem to mind at all.

 

[Brookster123]

Somethings not correct, no offense, i had to redo my system 3 times. A splitter adds to.the mess but all it takes is one week point.. this is 1000psi after all. Id just start from scratch. Are you getting pearling/saturation in tank?

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[philipraposo198]

Yes pearling. Working pressure is only 20psi. I am thinking there is a leak somewhere but I have no idea where. Or how to check if it is leaking.

 

[Brookster123]

Soapy water in a spray bottle. Leaks will blow bubbles. Use carefully in proximity to tank obviously

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[philipraposo198]

Alright, I will try, thanks.

 

[mr moto]

I don't know if I'm not seeing something but it looks to me like you just need to turn down the CO2 volume with your needle valve until the bubbles come slow enough that you can count the individual bubbles. The usual recommendation is 1 to 5 per second - the exact number is not really that critical. The water in the bubble counter is being absorbed by the high volume of CO2, i.e., water will evaporate into CO2 just like it evaporates into air.

 

[philipraposo198]

Mr moto,

If I turn down my needle valve to less bps I wouldn't be able to achieve the 1 point pH drop that I am looking for. This would mean that my saturation is going to be less than idea.

At its current rate, I am just barely getting the 1 point drop. This is why I suspect something is up; I see people saying they can achieve great saturation with less bubbles. So I find myself asking "how is that possible?". I am looking at my system and trying to figure it out why I required so much gas to achieve what other can with less.

 

[Brookster123]

You're running a large volume tank. My 30 gal tank gets 4-5 bps. 20 gets 3-4, 7.5 gets 1-2.. it varies on so many factors aside from water volume as well.

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[philipraposo198]

Thanks for your input, I get the feeling that maybe there isn't a leak at all and it's just my tank and the setup that has a high demand for co2.

Last night after the solenoid went off I turned of the gas from the main valve on the tank to see if there would be any change over night with the pressures on either gauge. This morning the psi values were exactly the same as the night before. So at least that's a good sign.

 

[Delapool]

Are you using any buffers at all (just to check as these will muck up the ph readings).

Are you running the co2 all day?

I'm running at about 3bps or a bit more to drop ph around 0.6 in around 3 hrs. I find it really finicky though as at around 1 or a bit more bps, the ph won't drop below 7.

That's with a 150gal tank and co2 reactor that is meant to dissolve all co2.

Edit - I do see pearling but usually only the odd plant here and there.

 

[philipraposo198]

No buffers, and co2 is on a timer (2 hours before the lights come on and off 1 hour before lights go out).

 

[philipraposo198]

.6 pH drop is very different than the 1 point drop I am looking for. Your co2 saturation while it might be consistent is not ideal.

 

[mr moto]

What kind of diffuser are you using? Is there a way to confirm that it's working effectively? Also, you could be losing CO2 at the water's surface if there is a lot of agitation. There are a number of puzzling possibilities here but it sounds like it's probably not a leak.

 

[philipraposo198]

Cerges reactor 20". I am pretty sure diffusion is near perfect because the only bubbles in my tank comes from plants pearling.

I been thinking the surface agitation is part of it. So I am doing some testing with different angles with my spray bar.

I can reach my goal of 1 point pH drop but this is the amount of bubbles required.

It doesn't make sense that there would be a leak after the bubble counter because there is no real restrictions at that point.