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Sourcing a 500g bottle?

5678

Member
Joined
27 May 2015
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332
Location
South Oxfordshire
Due to size constraints, I cannot fit anything bigger than this.

Any suggestions on the cheapest place to source one from?
 
Thats a good shout actually.

I'm trying to fit this, an external filter and heater into the space under a 36x36 cm stand!
 
I'll look at the size of a sodastream bottle and go from there. It's a small tank (44l) so I'm not expecting to get through it too quickly.
 
I use soda bottles and they are around £9 the swap for a new one. There are plenty of places to get them in any town near you. I think they are around 420 grams of co2. I use an adaptor from co2 art and an atomizer. It might be too small for a 40 litre but it depends on a few things like light, diffusion method, off gassing (surface ripple or not), weather you use a solenoid (this is important for saving co2).
 
I get through 20gr of CO2 a day, from a 2Kg extinguisher, with a 180l tank and green/yellow drop checker. This obviously lasts 100days (2000gr/20gr -> 100days).

So as a rough guess with 40litre tank and 420gr CO2. You will use 20gr x 40litre/180litre per day -> 4.5gr a day. Thus total time is 420/4.5 -> 90 days odd.
 
90 days is fine with me.

My proposed system will be from CO2Art:
- Dual stage solenoid controlled regulator
- UP inline diffuser (on filter inlet)
- Drop checker to measure.

Turning on 1 hour before lights on and off one hour before lights off. I'm planning to start with 8 hours a day light and aiming for the drop checker to be green/yellow.
 
I get through 20gr of CO2 a day, from a 2Kg extinguisher, with a 180l tank and green/yellow drop checker. This obviously lasts 100days (2000gr/20gr -> 100days).

So as a rough guess with 40litre tank and 420gr CO2. You will use 20gr x 40litre/180litre per day -> 4.5gr a day. Thus total time is 420/4.5 -> 90 days odd.

What diffusion method do you use ian m?
Well I dont really know how much mine lasts, it can go anywhere from 4 months to a month. But thats on a 12 litre tank at around 1bps.
 
I get through 20gr of CO2 a day, from a 2Kg extinguisher, with a 180l tank and green/yellow drop checker. This obviously lasts 100days (2000gr/20gr -> 100days).

So as a rough guess with 40litre tank and 420gr CO2. You will use 20gr x 40litre/180litre per day -> 4.5gr a day. Thus total time is 420/4.5 -> 90 days odd.

With this thinking a soda stream should last me 10 months to a year. There is no way that is possible in my case. There is something not adding up here. Its not the diffusion method. I have an in tank atomizer put right in front of the output flow making bubbles barely visible, so its equivalent to an inline in this case as eficiency goes. I dont think Id be able to get more than 4 months tops out of a soda stream, in my 12 l nano. Ive checked for leaks and there arent any. My co2 levels are set so that I dont gas the fish, but quite high.
 
In line diffusers are much more efficient at getting gas into the water before the bubbles escape to surface. I started with an in tank diffuser, but was unable to get a "green drop checker" at a lot of places in the tank, it basically stayed blue and BBA algae started appearing on the plants in those areas.

Below is the graph of grams per day in my 180l tank. Each point is date when I changed the FE. So about 20gr per day for last 6 FE's. Took a while to remove all leaks, despite being convinced nothing was leaking and finally setting at 20gr per day. So looking at 4.5gr per day with a 40litre tank.
Grams%20per%20day_zpsovchtmdy.png
 
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