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2kg C02 > 240L = 2 weeks?

Cro

Member
Joined
23 May 2009
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103
Does that sound right? My 2kg fe lasts 2 weeks then needs refilling. :woot:
 
Cro said:
Does that sound right? My 2kg fe lasts 2 weeks then needs refilling. :woot:

Blimey - mine last approx. 3 months on 215 ltr @ 4-5 bps - dc are lime green,

what colour are your dc's and do they remain a constant colour
is your surface water like the sea in a force 9 gale - this would allow all co2 within the water column to escape
or you have a leak somewhere, test all your joints with soapy water.

Regards
Paul.
 
i'd say you have a leak! That or yer getting ripped off on the refilling.
I have a 240 running pretty high lightin so need to inject at a pretty high rate too.
Or i guess you could have massive surface movement? :-/
A 2kg fe lasts 2 months for me.
 
Flyfisherman said:
Blimey - mine last approx. 3 months on 215 ltr @ 4-5 bps - dc are lime green,

what colour are your dc's and do they remain a constant colour
is your surface water like the sea in a force 9 gale - this would allow all co2 within the water column to escape
or you have a leak somewhere, test all your joints with soapy water.

Regards
Paul.
My DC is lime green all the time, I have moved it about a bit and it remains constant.
Surface water is mainly calm, I have a little agitation at one end, but not much.
I'll get the soapy water out. :thumbup:
 
I suppose you know by now there has to be a problem. I have a 2kg FE on 60ltrs and the last one went for 9 months ( keeping it in the green with solenoid ! So as others say 240ltrs 3 months, sounds about right. You must have a leak somewhere, no re-filler would bother short-changing you on the quantity of the re-fill.

I recon to loose that amount in 2 weeks you should be able to hear the gas escaping. If you can't dunk the whole lot under water, try this:

1) Get a long tube (2-3 foot of 50mm plumbing pipe or the cardboard core of some gift wrapping paper). 3ft is good for this exercise.

2) Switch off all equipment (filter, air-pump?, powerhead, television, radio, fridge, anything that makes a noise in the vicinity) and just leave the Co2 running.

3) Place one end of the tube to your ear and follow the tubing flow from the FE as far as you can to the water.

It's amazing how sensitive the ear is under these conditions. It's a process I've had to use on large machinery when I've experienced loss of pressure and I'm looking for a leak.
 
I've not heard it leaking, but then I haven't gone to the lengths as described above to check. :oops: I did discover this morning that the o-ring on the regulator is mullered so that's obviously going to cause a problem. I'm getting the bottle refilled today so I'll make sure to do a full check using soapy water and a wrapping paper tube too tonight, I've also just got some o-rings of the same size that are used on C02 equipment from the engineers here at work. :thumbup:

Now I don't think this will be a cause, but just in case. I'm using air line from the FE to the diffuser and have an air line non return valve in the middle, would this cause any leaking issues? I realise that there may be a small leak at the non return valve, where the air line connects either side so that will be checked tonight. I know that air line will degrade quicker than proper C02 line, but as I had nice clear air line to hand I used that, just coz I'm tight. :shh: I'm just wondering now if air line will allow seapage of C02?
 
Hi Cro
Cro said:
I'm just wondering now if air line will allow seapage of C02?
You are indeed correct. Normal PVC airline becomes permeable when used with CO2 so you will actually lose it through the walls of the pipe. Not sure what time scale though, but I would think it's longer than 2 weeks.

Chris
 
Leak found :thumbup: it was on one of the dials so threads cleaned and PTFE taped now all good.
 
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