OK here is my initial report on the Aquarium Plants.com "Best Begulator in the World".
Overall initial rating:
Very good. It functions as advertised. It accurately (based on independent bubble counts), regulates the flow of CO2 into your aquarium. So far it is quantumly better than my old needle valve and regulator.
Because the regulator is normally closed, you can use it with a pH controller without an additional solenoid valve. If the pH controller has a 110VAC output, the DC converter on the regulator can be plugged in to it and will regulate the CO2 to the proper pH.
How it works:
Basically it is a black box with a standard regulator T handle valve and 2 outlets. One for DC (12 volt) power and the second is the regulated CO2 outlet. Flow rate is set with a potentiometer on the front of the box. A LED on the box, counts the theoretical time between each bubble and flashed at that point.
Installation is simple. Connect the regulator to the tank (gasket not supplied). Connect the CO2 supply hose from your tank to the regulator. Connect the DC power converter to the regulator and plug it in to a 110VAC source.
Some negative points.
There is a scale on the potentiometer that goes from 1 to 10 seconds per bubble. If this means something to you, you need to calibrate it to your actual application. In practice; however, I just set it to point that looked good and checked the flow rate.
One bad thing about the potentiometer is that it is in a reciprocal scale (I.e. seconds per bubble not bubbles per second).
The scale goes from 1 sec per bubble to 10 seconds per bubble. If you want to do 2 bubbles per second you are in the “out of range area” of the potentiometer and rate regulation is not that accurate.
The regulator and black box have to be offset from the tank quite a lot and this really changes the center of gravity of the tank. You will have to anchor the tank or it will easily fall over.
Although there is a note on the label of the regulator box that says: :For information and complete instructions visit
www.aquariumplants.com
I could not find any instructions at the web site and when I called Randy at AP.com he said there weren’t any but he was helpful in explaining how to set up the equipment.
One more point. There is a newer model than mine. The newer model has a LCD that keeps track of how many times the LED flashes and is an indication of how much CO2 you used (and indirectly how much CO2 is in you tank). I believe there is a $100.00 up charge for this model.
Has one used this yet? (AquariumPlants.com's Electronic Co2 Regulator (the BEST)
Linear Mode
