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Why does it run out so quickly?!?

fishkeeper

Member
Joined
2 Apr 2008
Messages
198
I have an FE co2 setup, with everything needed- non return valve, solenoid, diffuser, FE..everything, I set it to 3bps to keep my drop checker green, which is successfully does. But it runs out so quickly, my last one has lassted me just 1.5 months!

Everything is fitted very very tightly to stop leakages, and it only runs for 12 hours per day (2 hrs before photoperiod, throught he photoperiod and 2hrs after). People say theirs last for ages, yet my 2kg extinguisher is not

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is happening?

thanks
 
fishkeeper said:
I have an FE co2 setup, with everything needed- non return valve, solenoid, diffuser, FE..everything, I set it to 3bps to keep my drop checker green, which is successfully does. But it runs out so quickly, my last one has lassted me just 1.5 months!

Everything is fitted very very tightly to stop leakages, and it only runs for 12 hours per day (2 hrs before photoperiod, throught he photoperiod and 2hrs after). People say theirs last for ages, yet my 2kg extinguisher is not

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is happening?

thanks


Will

Running it for 12 hours a day will make it run out quicker than other people. So I can only assume that your lighting period is 8 hours, one thing that will safe you gas is not having gas diffused into the tank after the lights have gone out.

My lighting period starts at 16:00 and finishes at 22:00, Co2 gas starts at 14:00 and finishes at 21:00 and you will find that a lot of people on the forum switch their gas off an hour or so prior to the lights being switch off. 2 kg of gas lasts me approx. 10 - 12 weeks.

Regards
paul.
 
Neil I had my previous FE's last for ages 3-4 months at a time, but my last one lasted about 5-6 weeks also which I put down to a faulty FE, lets hope the last one I plugged in lasts a little longer. One day in the evening I heard a noise coming from the cabinet I checked and could not see anything wrong so just assumed some trapped air or CO2 in the filter, next day the CO2 was empty but the bottle was still very heavy, like it was frozen inside so I just dumped it.
 
But I dont see how I could have had 2 faulty extinguishrs in a row, and these 2 came from the Chubb company (My dad bought them from them for his company and I then bought them)

I can find the FE thread on the for sale section about Dan Crawford buying them in...does anyone know if he still sells them?

thanks
 
Have you checked for leaks using soapy water just incase? Maybe one part needs a little PTFE tape.
 
@ Themuleous- the tank is 125l

@ Fly fisherman, yeh, Ive checked, but they all seem quite high priced at the moment, at about £25+

@ amy, I havent checked, but all tubing is brand new as I thought it was a leak to start with
 
TBH your CO2 usage seems about right for the bubble rate and the time it's on. I go through 6.5kg in about 4-5 months at around 3bps. These are large bubbles though so if you have a bubble counter with small bubbles it can make quite a difference.

To save gas I'd go with turning it on 2 hours before lights on and turning it off 2 hours before lights off. There's no need having CO2 turned on after this point really as it's the first few hours of the day that are most important. That's 4 hours a day of gas saved or 33%.

James
 
Thankyou, so you are saying that my co2 usage rate is probably normal? and I'm worrying over nothing? :D
 
fishkeeper said:
People say theirs last for ages

I was under the same impression when I first started but resigned to the fact the a 2kg FE would last me only 4 weeks and thought about giving up with it, costing £25 per month. It didn't seem so bad when I found somewhere local to that did refills for about a tenner.

Now experimenting with lowering the bps but starting it early so that its still lime green when lights on
 
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