Switching to commercial co2

There's an affordable dual-stage regulator on Amazon from Fzone.
I get CO2 from the local AirGas wielding place. I exchange the tank every time instead of refilling my own tank.

Ironically, I just bought that one. been researching and it looked good.

I got the one with the 2 chambers/bubble counters as I'm looking to add another tank down the road next to this one.

Here's hoping it flies better than the DIY setup.

-TF

It's more consistent and you don't have to mix a new batch every week.

I put food-grade mineral oil in the bubble counter. Water in the counter evaporates. Food grade mineral oil is used to cure wood cutting board. You can find it at the hardware store.
Get yourself a couple of check valves for the CO2 line so the water doesn't back up into the bubble counter.

Thanks for that tip! I'll stop and get some.

Also, getting the co2 cylinder this afternoon as the regulator is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

Should be a fun weekend putting all of this together!

-TF

How are you getting on with your CO2 equipment? I have mine running on a plants only tank for quite a while, and I am happy enough with it. I had to replace the bubble counter early on as well as one of the diffuser dishes. I went for the Aquatek 3 in 1 diffuser with built-in bubble counter. Works great!

I've been using Co2art regulator; they have two models - i use the less expensive one. For CO2 I use 20lb canister (they come in 5lb, 10lb, 20lb, ...). They are a lot cheaper to buy (and refill) at welding shops or in some cases brewers. Avoid the little paint canister that fluval sell they are extremely expensive. a 20LB can last 8 to 12 months.

I’ve been using the Fluval system for years. I’ve bought more than I care to count or admit! Lol I could probably have bought two or three professional CO2 setup… they work well enough and are convenient in that they are small and simple to use. The dial valve on the top of the regulator sucks big time tho! If you aren’t very careful it’ll just pop open and blow the system and you have to reach in a reconnect everything! The use of mineral oil in the counter is a good idea I hadn’t heard before. What about the actual diffusers tho? Preferably I would like an inline defuser to help hide it. I plan on using it on my 200gal setup and have thought about putting the regular defuser in the sump. Are there any downfalls to setting it up that way?

I would look into using passive CO2 system with diffusers and bubble counters it is possible to inject too much into the water and kill your fish. With Passive CO2 you cannot kill your fish with too much, no bubble reach the surface soit is much more efficient and so you will use a lot less gas. And once it is set up you don't have to monitor the CO2 levels.

Steven F said:

I would look into using passive CO2 system with diffusers and bubble counters it is possible to inject too much into the water and kill your fish. With Passive CO2 you cannot kill your fish with too much, no bubble reach the surface soit is much more efficient and so you will use a lot less gas. And once it is set up you don't have to monitor the CO2 levels.

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Never heard of that before. I would imagine that I would need several to feed a 200 gal tho.

Yes you would probably need a larger CO2 bell or more of them. one thing I have thought of but have not tried is to split the water outflow from the filter with a small diameter home that just under the CO2 bell. The small stream of water from the small how would be pointed at theCO2 gas. That would mix the water just under the gas bubble allowing the bell to be smaller in larger tanks.

Also in the video they were just manually refilling the bell. I however se up my regulator andneedel valve to get a very slow and consistent from connected me CO2 system to a timer. 4 times a day the CO2 turns on for just one minute which fill my CO2 bell and. If too much Co2 is released in the one minute one or two bubbles are released to the surface. Prior to using this I had to fill my 21oz paint ball CO2 battle about every 4 or 5 months. Now it looks like i can ga about 2 years on one bottle maybe more.