Safe level untill changing co2 bottle

[Nathanh2150]

Hi all
I have noticed soon I will need to replace my co2 bottle but seeing when is good to change as my co2 gage isn’t in the red as of yet.
Have uploaded a photo to show
Any help and advice would be much appreciated 🙂

 

[John q]

If its a dual stage regulator you can run it right down providing you're on hand to constantly monitor it and swap it when the main pressure gets near to your working pressure. Failing that and if you want to play it safe, swap it when it gets down to about 150 psi.

I think you asked a similar question not so long ago. Co2 art

 

[plantnoobdude]

just keep an eye on it untill it runs out. just keep a spare bottle on hand.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

I run my dual stage all the way to zero. It’s nice to have two bottles on hand, I went the other day to fill up and found out my supplier’s CO2 machine was down for the past couple months 😳. Luckily they referred me to another place that fills on the spot but they are becoming far and few between.

 

[Nathanh2150]

Hi thanks
I didn’t know I could run the co2 until empty as I read that it could do a Chuck back from anything that maybe at the bottom of the bottle currently both of the gages show this I usually change the bottle now but the bubble cont seems fine no change and it’s not affecting the co2 checker.

 

[dino21]

What you can also do is weigh your co2 bottle when new with the regulator fitted and then keep a check on it, so when its 1.8kg lighter ( eg a 2kg bottle) you know its amost empty.

Weighing it a few times also gives you a good idea of the actual co2 usage eg 100g per month, assuming you keep the bubble rate the same.

 

[Nathanh2150]

@dino21 hi Thankyou for your comment I Neva thought about weighting the co2 bottle good idea 👍🏻 and the regular is always set to the same settings that I have put it on hasn’t changed. I have a 5kg co2 bottle on my tank

 

[Zeus.]

I didn’t know I could run the co2 until empty

With duel stage you should be fine I always run mine till empty on duel and single stage regs, but single stage reg only has RCS which are pretty tough. So depends on your livestock, plus if you in and can keep an eye on the BPS if it starts an end of cylinder dump you can set in 😬, on small tanks cylinder may still last some time, on my 500l that would last a couple of days with 6.5Kg cylinder.
I would have a spare cylinder ready, if it runs out and you have no CO2 I would do a blackout till I had CO2 even for a few days but not too long week max.

 

[Nathanh2150]

@Zeus. I haven’t run it on empty before what should I be looking out for if anything did touch wood hopefully not but would they aquarium water fog up ? Also the tank mates are rainbow fish but tbo I am thinking of stopping co2 as I haven’t seen much improvement with the plants I have been daily feeding the plants with ferts before lighting comes on

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

It will only dump if you have a single stage, and that’s not a definite either. Some people never experience it, but I think it has to do with the quality of the regulator. Also you need to understand “dual stage” is not the same as “dual gauge” and a lot of people mess that up too.

 

[Zeus.]

would they aquarium water fog up ?

No, BPS would increase some quite a lot, [CO2] increase, pH decrease, fish start to gasp at surface or go belly up if when you feed them, snails head to top of tank, DC goes yellowish then clear some inmate/fish/snails will be killed if you dont spot it, all livestock could be killed, plants will love the CO2,if snails all at top stop CO2 and do a WC, DC can take some time to show colour change so don't really on them. Keeping eye on pH very handy if you have a pH pen, but fish will tell you if your watching.

 

[Oldguy]

when is good to change

I think it all depends on your gauge, size of tank and rate of out gassing. I run my cylinder until it is empty (I would put it through the mangle if I could, to get the last drop out) and then replace with the spare from my garage. The empty cylinder is then exchanged for a full one the next time I am by my supplier.

My CO2 gauge though showing two clocks is a cheap single stage pressure reducer. My CO2 bottle is a small industrial cylinder that contains about 15lbs of gas when full. The tank out gasses very quickly due in part to its 10 gallon dry sump from the days when it was 'low tech'. I try for a medium tech set up as I like large structural plants which unfortunately play the devil with water flow/circulation.

Only ever had upside down fish when I was playing around with the addition of CO2 via pressured 'carbonated water'. Too difficult to control, all fish recovered. (This was in the days before CO2 systems were common place, about forty years ago)

 

[Nathanh2150]

I’m looking on testing my water I have the test strips but looking to see what you all use that works well for a planted aquarium as I would like to check more then what the test strips offer any help would be appreciated 🙂