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I've been using aquatics online for years James and never had any problems with them at all, so calling them a bunch of idiots is a bit strong really. You could go really flash, and actually fit a bypass. 2 Y splitters, 4 sets of taps and a short length of filter tubing, just close the taps on...

I have a set of diffusers from AAS on ebay, 2 medium sized pollen glass type for £5.99 including postage from Hong Kong (can't post the link, as would be seen as in competition with the sponsors possibly). They work really well, giving off tiny bubbles right across the ceramic disk. The glass...

For CO2 use nitrile rubber or nylon fibre O rings are usually advised. CO2 WILL eat away at normal rubber over time, plus the low temperatures involved with pressurised gases wont help either. Ade

Sounds like you tried to attach it directly onto the regulator, I did the same and had the same problem. Mount them inline though and they are fine, and not as noisy as the Malaysian ones. Ade

Same solenoid on my kit. Never hear it (if it clicks it's quieter than the click of my mechanical timer) as it's silent, and it only runs a bit hot (doesn't burn). 2 pin europlugs are easier to get adaptors for as well. :lol: Ade

Re: CO2 FE system assistance In my experience screwing the solenoid onto the reg is usually the cause of a leak. The tighter you screw them onto the reg, the looser the nuts that actually hold the tube into the solenoid become and before you know it your solenoid is venting CO2 into the room...

Nor is bromothymol blue, just put it on the INSIDE of the bulb. :lol: Ade

Just stick with asking for one, they are very unlikely to ask what use you wish to put it to as they are likely as not going to assume that you intend to keep it in case you ever have a fire. :lol: If you tell some of the more 'serious' types what you are going to use it for at the least you...

It pains me to say this, but I would seriously advise getting one of the plastic ones made by either JBL or Dupla. The glassware ones are lovely to look at, but frankly in a well planted tank are near impossible to read accurately unless the CO2 levels are at either extreme, whereas with the...

Thanks for actually taking the time to actually read and absorb our comments and opinions. Dragging things firmly back to drop checkers, for me the reference point is neither here nor there, it's not something that would drive me to buy one. It's just something that I see as useless for my...

For me the best improvement that a manufacturer could make to a drop checker would be to make them with a white background in them. The biggest flaw (that can be rectified, before Clive chips in. :lol: ) with glass drop checkers is the simple fact that once in situ in a densely planted tank...

Sounds like you have a leak somewhere Lisa. Have you tried testing all of the joins with some soapy water? Ade

20 bubbles per second would most likely kill your fish. lol. I think that you possibly mean either 20 bubbles per minute, or 2 bubbles per second. If you are not going to use a solenoid then you will probably need an air pump to drive off excess CO2 at night, otherwise levels will get too high...

A bit, plus there is a chance that those beverage bottles have a fill pressure higher than 60 bars, putting unneeded pressure on expensive regulators. Ade

That reg looks like one with a preset operating pressure, and the knob is just a form of needle valve, hence the lack of a guage for this. At the moment the jury is starting to question whether there really is a need for a cylinder pressure guage, given that when used on fire extinguishers or...

I was actually look at this page https://www.adamsgas.co.uk/stat_dis_pri ... rl=pricing where the 6.35kg bottles are actually cheaper than the 3.15kg ones. lol. I looked at that site before I bought any CO2 kit though and decided to just use CO2 Fire Extinguishers, less problematic. Ade

They're beverage CO2 bottles, and they are £12 for the gas plus £10 refundable deposit on the bottle, with no bottle rental fees. Ade

Tap water with a large amount of dechlorinator added. Ade

Try soaking them for a while before you hook them up. Ade

You got the order wrong there. It should be regulator___needle valve___solenoid, hence your concerns. Even if you put your needle valve inline rather than directly on the regulator it will still only have about 1-1.7 bars of pressure on it and CO2 tubing tends to go on very tightly. Ade

The pressure between the needle valve and the solenoid is well under 1 bar, so nowhere near enough to pop the tubing. Ade

Or if the needle valve is the screw on sort just remove the hose tail. Best to fit solenoids inline though, as Garuf said, they are less prone to leaks in my experience when fitted inline than they are fitted directly on. Ade

Another one here who reckons you should ditch it and put a ceramic disk type diffuser on instead. Ade

Sounds like you bought a duff regulator, or the needle valve is a duff one. Try connecting a line directly to the needle valve and see if anything comes out. If not then it's definitely one of the 2, so next check would be to see if any gas comes out of the diffuser with the needle valve...

Those diffusers tend to have water in them as normal. If no gas is coming out of it try upping your operating pressure a bit. As to the bubble counter, can't see removing it been a problem, I have a similar diffuser to a rhinox (cheap medium sized pollen glass one off ebay) and don't use a...

Very true, it helps to reduce the build up of an oily surface film as well. :lol: Ade

Would be doubly good if he is able to refill the Lunapet type cylinders. They have standard fittings and have passed all the relevant EU tests, just no sticker with a brand on them. I still intend to use an FE as my primary, but been able to get my 'backup' refilled would be handy as well. Ade

The regs sold by Lunapet will fit very well on a FE. As to getting the bottle refilled, no idea as not tried with mine. Oh and the fittings on the 500g bottle are pretty much identical to the ones I have seen on other 500g refillable bottles, with the valve tap thing on top and a nice metal...

Only as much as I have during the day, and that's not much. The largest fish I have are powder blue dwarf gouramis, so there isn't all that much natural CO2 production in there, despite comparitively high stocking levels. I'm not adding CO2 when the lights are off, so it just doesn't build up...

I have mine on a solenoid set to turn off at night, no air pump, and my crypts grow absolutely fine. Even my new cryptocoryne cordata and grifithii appear to be growing well (despite been described as difficult). Ade

You can also count the bubbles as they enter any glass diffuser and guesstimate using the stream of bubbles coming from the diffuser. :D Ade

The one I tried has a tiny hole in the base of the spiral tube, defeating the object of the spiral completel. lol. I switched to using a rhinox style one pretty quickly, and count the bubbles as they enter this. Bubbles per minute isn't the be all and end all anyway, it's pretty variable the...

Fingers crossed Matt. Dan's prices are fantastic, but I seriously prefer not to 'bin' stuff that is reusable where possible. Ade

Pretty sure that I read somewhere that the dennerle ones have a different thread to all the rest. If you really want to go disposable might be better to go for a JBL Easy or D&D set, as these have a standard thread fitting that will fit on any (except maybe the dennerle bottles) disposable...

I use potassium sorbate when racking, it's wine stabiliser. :lol: Ade

We don't have that problem as we make our own mead and country wines (best ever has to have been the damson, tastes more like a liqueur than a wine) so tend to neat yeast, yeast nutrients, campden tablets...... :lol: Ade

That one should be fine then :D Last time I looked AquaEssentials and TGM didn't do home brew supplies. Hic. lol Cheers Ed. Ade

Clear suckers instead of the ugly black ones would help. But I tend to find that clear suckers don't stay clear anyway. :( Ade

I'm not sure that posting links on here is allowed, so moderators if you don't like this link please remove it, I'm posting it because it has been requested. Youngs Super Wine Yeast compound http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/aca ... Yeast.html, it contains some nutrients as well which help it...

Oh I'm not nocking the efficiency of diffusion from the ladders, when they are working properly they are great. The problem with them is that in my experience they rarely work properly. All it takes is a leaf to make it into the path or a snail to lay it's eggs in there (the snail itself is a...

I've read that rhinox type diffusers don't work with yeast, they require more pressure than you get with yeast systems. However the nano ones are reputed to work quite well with yeast. The lime wood air diffusers as sold for the marine hobby are really cheap however, and definitely do work. Ade

When I was running DIY I was able to actually get the CO2 up past 30ppm right into the yellow quite easily, I actually had to run a water pump at the surface to drive some of it off. Lime wood diffusers are almost as good as ceramic ones in that respect, and I was running 2x 2litre bottles with...

Neither, go DIY with 2 1 litre (instead of 2 litre) plastic fizzy drink bottles and a lime wood or glass nano diffuser. This will allow for far more stable CO2 amounts than the nutrafin units as you can stagger your bottle fills. Save the £14 and spend about £5 instead (lime wood diffuser...

I used a penn plax tablet kit many years ago (about 14 or so) which was similar but had added iron in the tablets. It ended in disaster though as the suckers came undone and dumped the entire load of CO2 into the tank at once and I ended up with a tank of what looked like milk as lived in a...

ZooPlus do the JBL 500g ones for £10.46 + delivery. Buy enough of them though (spend over £29) and delivery is free. Ade

Because I already own quite a few drop checkers, so I'm not spending money, I already own them and have done for many years. Also moving them around the tank to try to 'build a profile' will only tell you how much CO2 there was at that position at one particular time in the life of the...

If you are using 4dKH water in your drop checker Andy then the pH in the tank wont effect the point at which the liquid in the drop checker reaches pH 6.6. So if you are using 4dKH water and getting lime green then regardless of your tank water pH you will have roughly 30ppm of CO2. If however...

Have a look in these threads (on here):- viewtopic.php?f=46&t=1809 viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1560 There has already been a fair bit of discussion about them. Ade

Looks like a really nice regulator, I considered one of them before deciding to just get a full set. I love the aesthetics of the brassware on it, they look really swish, and that bubblecounter looks really cool. Heh, you still saved yourself nearly a tenner. Can't be bad. Ade

Why don't you have a look on ebay? Both advance aquarium store and Aquatic Magic do glass diffsusers for under £10 including delivery from Hong Kong. I got 2 medium sized glass diffusers and a glass drop checker for £9.98 from AAS on there. Ade

I used to mount a small water pump at the surface set to come on at night. This way the increased surface agitation drove the excess off at night. Worked fine. Ade

Right, a few updates on this topic. I tried the spiro type (not an actual spiro, just a similar one) diffuser, looked similar to the Spiro 9000, I took it out again and replaced it with one of the little rhinox style diffusers. I didn't notice any squeaking or anything, but I did notice that...

Possibly, you could also do both. Another option would be to go the pressurised route, I have just made the switch myself. Ade

Am I the only one then that thinks it just looks like a lump of (probably) overpriced glass then? :lol: Sorry, but glass does nothing for me, I prefer glass as it is discrete but utility is the winner for me, and it seems that all these nice cheap glass diffusers are just as good as the more...

I took delivery of my garlic sausage this morning, so decided to look in to filling the spiro type diffuser (looks like the 9000). I tried holding it and tapping it, but with this technique you are going to be stood there for a long time with your hands in the water. What also works however is...

Not seeing bubbles coming out of that diffuser means it is working as it should. It means that the bubbles are all disolving in the water before they reach the tank, which is a good thing. As to the cloudy bubble counter, it sounds like some of the yeast mixture has gotten into it. Be glad...

Not a ladder, I hate ladders they block terribly! I use a wooden diffuser. As to the bubble size, I have never seen a ceramic one in use in the flesh, but they are a LOT smaller than from a normal air stone. If I give it a try I will let you know how they compare (if I am able to get anything...

They're the diffusers sold for the marine hobbyist, often to fit inside protein skimmers, and are made of lime wood. They give off much smaller bubbles than normal air stones. As to ceramic diffusers working with DIY, I might experiment with 1 of the 2 that I have waiting for my pressurised...

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that I have read that Rhinox diffusers wont work with yeast DIY set ups. The only ceramic/glass diffuser I have seen listed as suitable for use with yeast are the nano ones. Cheaper to go for lime wood though imo, and they are really easy to hide. Ade

Another interested party here, as the CO2 system I have on order comes with a glass diffuser that looks similar to the Spiro 9000. To fill it I should think you just put it underwater before you connect the CO2 hose to fill it, then connect the CO2 line. As to cleaning it, I should think that...

I currently use a double bottle DIY setup, and it is still very unstable! Even a tiny change in room temperature can have a huge effect on output. I have to second what Ed said, go pressurised if you can. We are as soon as we get the money together. Ade

I just looked and couldn't find anywhere selling API low range test kits either. I used to have one of their liquid master kits, and can tell you that the reagents supplied wont give the right colour range for using with a drop checker. Apart from purchasing a Hagen low range pH test kit you...

Then adding bicarb will definitely help to stabilise yeast production for you, making your culture last a little longer and produce less CO2 in one go. Ade

If I remember correctly for API you want the low range liquid pH kit, not the wide range or high range ones. Ade

No, bicarb slows it down but makes it go for longer, it's pretty much the same thing as Hagen label stabiliser in the nutrafin kits. In areas with hard water though it's not really needed. Ade

Heh, even if you were paying £37.50 it would still be a bargain for that much CO2. Shame I can't sell the idea to my wife, any bottle we end up with has got to fit into the cabinet on our Juwel Rio180, not least as we have kids, 2 of whom would probably mess with any gas bottle they could...

It will actually cost you £37.50 the first time you get one of these, as they require a £20 deposit from first time customers, also please note that unless you live in the north west that the bottle will be delivered empty and they will arrange for it to be filled locally to you. Ade

I'd say that was medium lighting, and quite low planting, which could be why so much CO2 is going unused. I would consider using a little less yeast in your system and perhaps increasing the amount of bicarb you are using in order to slow down production a little until you have slightly heavier...

You are overloading with that? :o Ok I have to ask, just how many plants do you have, how much lighting and are you dosing ferts? Levels getting high with that kind of infusion in that size of tank suggests that the plants you have aren't using as much CO2, which suggests to me either lower...

The Nutrafin systems are a bit of a waste of money, I have 2 of them. The canisters are too small to produce a decent amount of CO2, and the bubble ladders get blocked really easily which causes the bubbles to just dash for the surface. These days I use DIY, with the outlet passed through a...

Seems a bit pointless to me, with some pretty major flaws in the idea. For one thing have you noticed just how low down in the 'horn' that php6.6 bulb is? In my experience over time the water level in drop checkers does creep up, and how close that is to the bottom I would have real concerns...