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dont bother with them.. lots of wastage and they look terrible in the tank. Cant beat a ceramic disk IMO

the best way to avoid any issues is to make sure you vasaline any o-rings during maintenance.. should avoid any drying out of the rubber due to co2 that way.

youll see lots of opinions on whether to run co2 for 24 or during the photoperiod.. personally, I run it 2 hours before the lights come on, to 1 hour before the lights go off. I like to turn it off as it gives the fish a break.. plants cant use co2 without light, so IMO its a waste to add it...

Id be more inclined with the first one.. I know a few who have had problems with Aarons suggestion! lol that doesnt help much does it. :lol:

thats generally the issue.. to get the pressure up enough to make a ceramic disk work, youll need to make some posh DIY setup with proper fittings that wont blow off, and probably use a glass bottle that can hold it.

rhinox are fine.. most of the tiny fine bubbles coming out of the diffuser directly after cleaning (that looks almost like smoke) can be bleach doing something with the co2! if thats not what you mean, just make sure you place it somewhere in the dark, then it wont get algaefied as fast. most...

dont worry Aaron :) we all do that one to start with!!! Its designed to be off when powered down as a fail safe. So in the event of a power outage, you dont gas your fish! Problem solved :)

have you got a main pressure in the cylinder still? 50-60bar? if both gauges are showing pressure, and nothings coming out of the solenoid, then Id say the solenoid wasnt switched on (has it clicked loudely when turned on?) or faulty. yes by thumbwheel i mean needle valve :) most have a...

thats fine... theyre pre-set to be the optimum for that regulator.. changing it is a very bad idea. The whole purpose of the regulator is to maintain the operating pressure, regardless of the main primary (cylinder) pressure. Then its down to you to thumb-wheel in the output you want. The only...

the main cylinder pressure will always be about 50-60 bar.. thats full.. once it starts to drop, itll do so very quickly. the 2nd pressure is the operating pressure, which should be pre-set to between 1.5bar and 2bar depending on the regulator make.

I take its the operating pressure that your trying to adjust Aaron? I agree with James.. why are you trying to? theyre normaly preset.

this is very true.. all you need to do though is to make sure you vasaline any O rings every few months. This keeps them hydrated and prevents the CO2 from degrading them.

yep, this is a common trick.. only works if you have a good filter (as you do).

5 bar.. blimey I missed taht in the first post. most intermediary pressures are around the 1.25-1.75 bar level... 5 bar is huge! sounds like it might have blown its internal safety mechanisms.

I found this type of reactor pretty useless to be honest.. lots of wastage. I bought a rhinox.. apart from the fact they look much nicer, theyre much more effective.

No probs.. just my opinion though.. I did regret it even trying the D&D stuff though. Once I knew what I was doing the choice was easy.. it annoys me that they put out this sub-standard stuff and confuse the good people in the hobby. Its not even that cheap either.

I really struggled with the D&D stuff.. found it very poor build quality... eventually, after alot of messing about, I went for a seperate reg and a fire extinguiser, then bought a solenoid after a month or 2. On reflection, I probably would have been better off with the JBL kit to start with...

D&D suck.. I went through a number of different replacements before going for a decent rig.. send it back and get a refund.

totally agree with Andy.. I think you have a leak somewhere.

thats cool :) nice one JamesM

depends on how techy you want your tank, which depends on how much light you have over it. Any reasonable amount of light and youre going to struggle to get enough CO2 in there without proper injection. Unfortunately in this hobby, there are no short cuts.

buy online, itll greatly increase your choice of kits and make it alot cheaper. But you could go with just a reg and a fire extinguisher, which is probably preferable depending on how big your tank is.

Ive had this problem on a few solenoids.. both that I sent back as faulty. They shouldnt buzz.

It is possible for some regulators to empty the remainer of a tank when it gets almost out.. although Ive never experienced this. But Id say your fish would be dead long before you had any discolouration of the water, unless you had some kind of polluted gas in the tank which would be highly...

I hate PH computers, over-priced, inaccurate, over-rated and needless. And have caused a whole bunch of problems for people in the past. Keep it simple.. and surface agitation is good for other things besides O2 :) I can be opinionated if I want to be! lol

Im on about 3wpg :) but I like to have a good bit of surface movement, so I probably loose quite alot through it rattling out :) either way tho, a 500gram wont last zip!

I have a 235ltre and I burn a 2kg FE in 8 weeks. I do have fairly high light, but thats not an unusual figure.

I think that might be correct if they use their own thread pattern. But Im not 100% if thats the case. depending on cost, you'd be better off going for a separate regulator and then buying a fire extinguisher (FE) like most of us do :) a 2kg FE will last you alot longer than one of those piddly...

passing co2 through a filter is no problem at all, and has been my preferred way of doing it for along time now. My only tip would be to make sure you Vaseline any rubber filter seals as co2 can degrade rubber quite quickly. Alot of people even just put the tube directly into the strainer...

exactly

should be fine mate :) normally the components in these setups arent made for eachother, so bit of thread showing is quite normal :)

yeah that price was upto 10kg. Which might make it worth it for some.

thats fine.. the nylon washer is actually much more efficient than the silly orings they put on them normally. The seal is made exactly where that washer is, not further up the shank where the oring normally sits. I actually had to add a washer like that to get any decent seal.

Im not sure you can do that with compressed gas.. but if you dont mind giving a call to find out who knows!

ok.. sorry guys but this isnt going to work out. all the carriers we spoke to want £25 just to ship! Chris normally charges £10 for a refill, so that makes it £35 which is way over what we need it to be. Hes going to keep trying to find a cheaper carrier, but its not looking hopeful. was...

my drop checker cost £5 I think. Were still waiting for nightfrieght to reply with some prices :) once we have that we can work out whether or not its worth it for everyone.

drop checkers with a reference solution in good flow are pretty quick to change.. but you need to remember that its not controlling your co2, you are. So it puts you much more in control of proceedings. So in actual fact, your PH probe is more likely to cause your fish problems than it is to...

I run CO2 directly into my 305 with no issues, very little ever gets trapped so long as you diffuse it on the way in. Id be careful of probes and computers, theyre just not accurate enough to control things properly.. the only way to be sure is with a drop checker. A PH probe measures the PH...

CO2 is no more dangerous than the 180 litres of water sitting in your living room. Like anything in your kitchen, if you keep things out of the way then youre not going to have your kids fiddling with it. As already said, the only real dangers with CO2 is the cylinder falling on someone...

we're currently investigating setting up a refill service by carrier :) keep an eye on this thread for updates to progress. http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1970

He'll be able to refill any cylinder in date with standard fittings, no matter what shape or size :) so all the JBL units also qualify for this as do most of the other refillable types. Ive had a reply from Chris, and hes currently trying to do a deal with a national carrier to get the price as...

what sort of fittings does this come with? Maybe a pic will help us to give you an answer :)

your PH will fluctuate over night if you turn it off, but only very little.. plants dont uptake CO2 at night, so the only loss of CO2 during an off period will be through surface agitation, which will be very little. But if you think about it, if you add CO2 during the night, when theres no...

youre correct in assuming tank pressure will change based on ambient temperatue.. but this wont effect co2 delivery as the regulator reduces pressure to the operating pressure regardless of what the tank pressure is. Hence then name regulator :)

awaiting reply :)

not as yet, Ill chase him up.

I dont run co2 at night as I consider it a waste :) lots do though. I make sure theres good surface agitation from my filter outlets. Plants just dont use co2 at night.. so In my opinion its a good chance to give the fish a break from it.. My solenoid comes on about an hour before the lights...

just invert it to about the same angle of the one in the picture.. if you get liquid coming out at that angle you have too much in it :) the reagent should last you absolutely ages, you only need 2-3 drops each time, I only redo mine every other waterchange, so once a fortnight. When you do...

yes the ones Ive seen that dont work all have that odd little hole in them. Bubble counts are a pretty good way of keeping track on your own dosage, but you cant compare anyone elses counts with them as they all rely on the aperture, diameter of the feed hosing and operating pressure of your...

yes you can, but its touch on go if they work.. and then if they stay working.. badly designed Im afraid.

the spiral bit in the diffuser is for decorative purposes only.. it serves no practical function. I had one a few years ago and was horribly disappointed with it. It was even Richard from AE that told me that as well.

lol :) one of the reasons we set this place up was to drive the hobby and get more resources for us all :) I dont think that part of it will ever end. Hopefully Chris the co2 man will come good.. it all depends on carrier costs as to whether its financially viable for everyone.. but if theres...

After briefly chatting to my co2 guy, hes interested in running a refill service via carrier. Hes thinking of the following deals at the moment. 1) A normal refill service. 2) A rental service for those with out of date cylinders or no cylinders. 3) Re-certification on out of date cylinders...

yep, that has to be highly preferable. For me tho I dont have space for such a big bottle unfortunately, which I think is the limiting factor of most of us.

Ok Ive emailed Chris my guy to see what he recons. Not wishing to undercut or impact Dans cylinder sideline!! but there has to be a more ecological and economically better solution that buying a new cylinder every time. Thats just ridiculous.

I might ask my guy if he's interested in doing that.. he was telling me only today that he wants more work as hes just expanding. Maybe with carriers it might be possible to do an exchange program driven by deposit or something. Will ask.

god, makes me realise how lucky I am getting a swap cylinder for only £5.. only takes a days notice too. He'll even leave it outside if hes not in.

that makes much more sense!! There seems to be alot of people thinking that PTFE'ing the threaded collet makes a difference! One thing I have found makes a good deal of difference though on the main seal is a nylon washer, it takes up alot of the variation in regulator appature sizes. I...

PTFE tape is uselses on FE's as the seal isnt made there.. its made between the seat deep in the reg. dont bother with it, its meant for gas fittings where the seal is made around the circumference of the joints.

doesnt sound like their magic gel is any better than the good old sugar/water/yeast mixes weve all done, infact, sounds a bit slower to start as you cant use a yeast starter in it. dont see any reason why you coudlnt make your own gel, but id use a pectin base, rather than gelatin.. not sure...

BigDanne bought this kit as well, fits FEs fine.. but he had a faulty solenoid that buzzes like a buzzy thing

theyre much cheaper than a new face :shock:

ah i gotcha... it wont have been over filled, id say you had a faulty seal inside the regulator.

yep, you hadnt made the seal properly between the regs and the cylinder. it wasnt the regs leaking, it was the main threaded collet. there are 3 different sizes of valve on the cylinders, most are extremely tight, and you need to do regulator collet up to the cylinder with a wrench, finger...

theyre stamped on the shoulder of the cylinder. dont worry if its going out of date, its about £22 for a new stat test, which will give you another 10 years. alot of the cylinders you buy on ebay have maybe a year left, but are resprayed to make them look new. this is no big issue really...

id say that was it.. it was dumping its final gas as it ran out. any fire extinguisher guy can refil a co2 cylinder.. just avoid poeple like BOC who only fill their own tanks and want a small fortune in the process

how much biomass have you removed? if youve taken out alot, there'll be alot less co2 used. or.. youve changed the amount of surface agitation or.. the cylinder is about empty and its dumping the last of its charge into the tank (as can happen on some of the cheap regulators)

the problem when injecting non-pressurised co2 is just that.. the lack of pressure.. ceramic diffuser disks rely heavily on a high back pressure to push the gas through the disk, therefore they wont work with DIY.. so unfortunately, your going to be limited to the other forms of reactors such...

Ive heard theyre lovely, but I have yet to get the lottery win!

dont mean to be a kill joy, but thats no way going to be big enough... youll need at least 2 of the largest rhinox 5000, those spiral bubble counters built in to diffusers are totally useless as well, purely cosmetic, have no functional use what so ever.

I agree with Dan, youd need probably at least 3 ceramic disks for something that size.. go inline

Hoejay, you might want to try splitting your dosing over 2 or 3 times a week.. plants prefer little and often rather than large weekly meals :) may perk them up a bit and get them used to your schedule a bit more effectively. also, if your using RO for the benefits of your fish then cool... but...

even systems with a main pressure gauge wont tel lyou much more.. because of the way CO2 behaves under pressure.. its contained pressure will always be the same right until the last minute, only then will either gauge start to drop.. which means that you only really need one anyway.. your...

you can yes :) but theyre £1000's. For the purposes of the hobby, I think were a bit stuck with what we got *sigh*

me too Dave... Eds, ive often wondered to the feasibility of making a drop checker to house a PH probe.. the trouble is with that, is that the amount of liquid youd need for it to work properly, would produce such a lag in the time it takes for any changes to be measured, that it would render...

that would be true if nothing else in the tank effected PH, which unfortunately isnt the cast.. hardscapes, substrates and even planting all effect the PH to some extent.. this is why PH controllers cant be relied upon to maintain stable co2, and also why a drop checker is the only way to...

this is mainly because of the worry that the co2 will degrade and ruin the rubber seals in the unit, however.. many people have tried adding co2 directly into the inlet (including me) and seen no ill effects.. its always worth rubbing your filter seals in silicon grease anyway when you clean...

Dave: yeah that ones lovely to.. George was telling me about one that Richard gave him from Japan, hes got it on his 4 footer at the moment. sounds fabulous, but its £35 or something.. not much I konw in the diffuser market but alot for a poor me! lol

If Im using a disk diffuser I like to shove it under the spray bar for exactly that reason, or under a powerhead outflow.. currently im using an inline diffuser on the filter inlet which works lovely but Id really like that nifty japanese thing AE sells.. but Id need a mortgage!!!

the dymax diffusers are absolutely awful, which is what your changing from. the rhinox 5000 would be the way to go, which might well be what you ended up with. very good value, and a very effective ADA copy.

hmms, different thing indeedy.. the only way I see that youll get hold of those is from the manufacturer. Most regulators though dont come apart, so Im not sure why youve chewed them up.

do you mean the o-ring that goes between the cylinder and the regulator? if so, measure the diameter and the thickness and buy a load from ebay, so long as you get the sizes right, youll have no problems.

be aware that extinguishers have a 10 year test certificate on them, be careful to check that its 'in test' before you buy them. If not, its about £30 to get a test done, sometimes more if they need to respray the cylinder. Because of the normal usage of the extinguishers, no test = no fill...

thats interesting, id not thought of that.. i may take it out, a pity, cos it works brilliantly

itll be interesting to see if they do :) only trouble with that nice glass one, would be cleaning it. Id want to wrap something dark around it to prevent algae which would defeat the object of buying something so pretty.

I love that one, but I dont think I can justify £60 in it just yet, one day though, that would be lovely :)

Im meaning the ones that actually sit inline on the filter inlet. :)

Im thinking of trying an inline diffuser as I recon Im wasting alot with a mister. Any ideas as to what model and retailer? Something Ive not tried in any way, so I value your more informed input.

an easy way to push bleech back out of the diffuser dis: 1) upside down in a glass of water, pump co2 through it at normal levels, this will push the contents out. 2) the right way up, let it sit in a pint glass of water until it fills up, usually an hour or so depending on size. do stages 1...

£5 is what I pay my guy (in the where to buy section) I recon thats very very cheap, but I hear about it more and more. I recon we make good customers for the industry, most of their clients they only see maybe yearly, but us, once every two months for me! Were good business.

good find :) I dont really care about the operating dial, although main tank pressure is useful to see when its about to empty, which itll do quickly as you say. when mine drops below 50, I whip on my reserve 500gram JBL tank, and refil the fire extinguisher, which i can get done same day, on...

You manage to keep clown loaches in a planted tank? Thats quite impressive, I had a few once, decimated the entire tank in 24 hours. I love them to, but a no go for me.

All co2 tanks are filled to a set pressure of about 60. Unfortunately, the gauge wont drop until its almost out, so keep an eye on it. The operating pressure gauge probably wont alter at all until its empty, the gauges dont really hold much use for us, its either got some co2 in it, or not...