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Fluctuating bubble rate on UP Atomizer during ON time.

niru

niru

Member
Joined
13 Sep 2010
Messages
323
Location
Basel, Switzerland
Hi All

2 weeks back I changed my CO2 reactor to a UP atomizer because I was loosing a lot of flow on my Tetra Ex1200. What I have noticed is now the bubble rate is unstable even during the day! Unlike the other post where the rate changes overnight when CO2 is shut off, I see that the rate changes from 1-2 bps for about 10 (or so) seconds, to a very fast flowrate (impossible to count) for 3-4 seconds, and then again back to 1-2 bps..

Adjusting the needle fine tuner does not help, and I am at a loss. My target was 2-3 bps as I expected the CO2 to mix thoroughly with a good flow in the tank.. I am at a total loss! The reg was working nicely with the reactor, and I changed the CO2 bottle as well last week, so thats a full bottle!

Anyone has any ideas??

-niru
 
Hi mate. I've found this happens when first setting up the up atomiser. It takes a fair bit of tweaking to get right. Firstly make sure the co2 tube is high pressure and not standard.
Then, set the working pressure quite high to say 2.8, get the bubble rate going quite fast then lower it to what you want it with the needle valve, once set leave it for a bit and it will slowly steady itself. You can then start to drop the working pressure afte a few days and slowly increase the needle valve. Seems to be a common problem with them.

Hope this helps mate.
 
Thanks Alastair!

Unfortunately this tank has a Dennerle Space regulator which allows for only 1 tweak (output needle valve side) with no pressure indicators! I admit in retrospect it was a bad choice. But I have another spare reg with pressure indicators. Do you think I ought to replace the current one?
The CO2 tube is high pressure one special for CO2.
 
Yes mate, you need to see what working pressure is going through the tubes, as if it's not enough then there won't be constant pressure pushing the gas through the tubes and into the diffuser. It needs high pressure in order to produce such a fine mist. Give it a shot and see if it works.
 
Yes! Point taken. Will do the change and report back... Many thanks once again!
 
An update...

after waiting a few days, now the bps rate has stabilized and I have it at 3 bps, running last few days.

Beforehand, I used to get quite heavy pearling within 3 hours of light ON. However due to the UP atomizer change & fluctuating CO2 for about a week or so, now the plants arent pearling at all. I know that pearling isnt the best measure of plant health, I also see that my DC stays blue all through, though the bps is as high as before. Nor do I see any fine CO2 mist expected from an atomizer. I presume that CO2 is getting dissolved & have checked for any leakages as well. So a bit puzzled... I dont want BGA to proliferate in these conditions... Any ideas?

thanks
niru
 
The co2 mist should be clearly visible moving around the tank I know mine is within a few minutes of the co2 kicking in.

If you don't see the mist then that would explain the blue dc.

What size is the tank? I'm upto around 5-6 bps now in a 125 using 16/22 atomizer.
 
Mine is 180, and when I set bps > 8 (or so) then I do see the mist. If there was a leak then it would be more pronouned at high bps?? Also since its an atomizer, once the CO2 is OFF, the gas chamber gets filled with water, and also into the CO2 tube. So a leak would lead to water spilling. That doesnt happen.

I have 2 CO2 valves put in. 1 between reg and bubble counter, and another between bubble counter & the atomizer. Thats puzzling me...
 
Ok, I have no water filling and flowing back, only a few ml. This could be down to check valves as mentioned above. I use only 1 check valve from needle valve to bubble counter.

When I set it up I used a high injection rate for the first day or 2 (10-15 bps) then dialed the co2 down and it was stable.
 
An update

I checked the valves and tubes, all OK. The reason I had a valve between bubble counter & atomizer is because once the CO2 was OFF, water used to push back from the atomizer into the bubble counter. Over the weekend I changed back to the reactor from the atomizer, and also changed the reactor tube to 16/22 (except at the reactor plugs which are 9/12, used the pipe reducers here). Now the flow is good and the full CO2 is getting dissolved.

Alas the atomizer never worked for me :(

I hope the plants will overcome this bad week and not punish me with algae.
 
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