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i am planning to purchase a co2 system, i see most places sell the regulators with
solenoid
needle valve
bubble counter
dual gauges

i know i need the dual gauges, but i dont understand what other parts do?? do i need them all?? also i heard that when the tank is nearly depleted it'll dump all remaining Co2 at once, resulting Co2 poisoning to the fish, is there sosmething i need to buy to prevent that??

another questions is, surface agitation, how high is considered high? my canister filter hangs on my tank, so i cant really adjust the output. it is near the surface, but it doesnt splash the water unless water level is low. how do i know if that is too much movement to keep the CO2 in my tank??

Hi,

Well, here's what everything does:
* The dual gauge shows you the the pressure inside the bottle and the working pressure.
* The needle valve is like the tap -- this is how you adjust the CO2 flow out of the tank.
These two are compulsory.

* Solenoid valve allows you to stop injecting CO2 without turning off the needle valve. It is used either with a timer (if you want to stop injecting CO2 at night) or with pH control (which monitors the pH level of the tank and stops the CO2 if it goes below the level you decide). It is not necessary if you're going to inject CO2 24 hours a day or if you're not using pH controller.
* Bubble counter allows you to see the bubbles coming out and count how many bubbles per second you're injecting. With many diffusers you can actually see the bubbles coming out and this then becomes unnecessary.

As for your first question, one of the gauges shows you the pressure inside the bottle. Full bottles are 50 bars and when the gauge shows 30 bars it is recommended to refill the bottle exactly to avoid it dumping all the remaining CO2 at once.

As for surface agitation, if you can't stop it completely it just means that you'll have to compensate for it by adding more CO2. Yes, it means that some of the CO2 will be wasted, but even with zero surface agitation some is still wasted.

Hope this helps.

Last edited by untitled at 05-May-2005 08:35

i see, so all i need now is tank, regulator and some tubings + check valve + needle valve, and the others can be added on later huh... good info

thank you lots

the dual gauge is not necessary if you have a bubble counter installed on your setup. all regulators come with a single gauge for the bottle pressure, but it is not necessary to know the working pressure if you can count the bubbles coming out the other end

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

i see, so all i need now is tank, regulator and some tubings + check valve + needle valve, and the others can be added on later huh...

Don't forget you will need a method to dissolve the Co2 into the water. A reactor of some type, especially with a HOB filter.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

i was thinking sticking the tube into my intake... or buy some cheap and small diffuser, bc my tank isnt that big, and not a lot of space outside the tank for an exterior diffuser either... maybe a DIY

is your tank heavily planted and what sort of plants do
you have??

as now i dont have that much plants, but once i get the co2 and substrate swapped out i will have a heavily planted tank...

i currently have 4 silver dollar size angels, 2 ottos, 1 small common pleco, and 1 small clown pleco... an amazon sword, 3 baby java ferns, about 5 jungle vals, 2 hornwort, and crypt wenditti bronze.