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Co2 tubing degrading in tank

amy4342

Member
Joined
22 May 2008
Messages
338
Hi all.

I was wondering if anyone has come across this problem before - the co2 piping in my goldfish tank seems to break down. It's like it crazes and then releases the co2 from the cracks before it gets to the diffuser. That in itself isn't a problem because the bubbles it releases are quite fine, but the cracks then get bigger, so the bubbles get larger etc. The co2 tube is the stuff from Aquatic Magic, and I've used it in my other tanks before with no problems, but I've had to replace it three times now in my Goldfish tank, and it's now happening again. Any thoughts?

Thanks
 
It could be the cooler temperature but even then that shouldn't effect the tubing like that.
I've used ADA's gray tubing and I found that after about 6-8months of constant use it did exactly what you mentioned but when I enquired about it on another forum they said that it was because I was dosing Excel at the same time.
Are you dosing anything similar, Ae carbon/easy carbo etc?
 
That's probably not a CO2 tubing then. there is a lot of seller out there that is selling silicone tubing as CO2 tubing and claimed that they are resistant to CO2 leakage. DON'T LISTEN TO THEM! Silicone tubing is silicone tubing and it will be corroded by the CO2 passing through it and what you described will happened. It will also caused a lot of CO2 wastage even if you can see it leaking out. I used to use silicone tubing on 2 tank and my 10L CO2 bottle only lasted 4 months. Since then I've changed to this rigid proper CO2 tubing and it's been 7 months and the bar hasn't even drop.
 
Thanks for the responses guys.

Garuf, that's a good idea, I can see why the excel would affect the tubing. However, I don't use excel or any liquid carbon, so no joy there. It's a low tech tank-it's not even carrying huge amounts of co2-its connected to 2 Hagen units. Weird.

Daniel, that's what I initially thought. However, I'm using the same stuff on two other tanks with no problems-although the other two tanks are running pressurised co2 with external reactors, so the tubing isn't coming into contact with water. Or could it be corroding the pipe on these two tanks, but then surely I would see crazing on those aswell? However, saying that, although the tubing is the same stuff from the same seller, and marked as co2 tubing even on the tube, I think they may have been different batches. Maybe I got a dodgy batch? In any case, can you please let me know where you got yours from, and I'll switch, because this stuff is driving me bonkers.

Thanks
 
I bought mine from some ebay seller 2 years ago can't remember who but it's a UK seller not one of those south east asian seller. Then I bought the proper CO2 tube from aquatic magic from malaysia and never look back
 
Thanks Daniel. Funily enough, the stuff I'm having problems with is from Aquatic Magic. Maybe I just got a dodgy batch then.
 
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