I wanted to share my experience so far with a cheap flow meter from Aliexpress.
I am generally a “you get what you pay for” aquarist, but I have taken a gamble due to circumstances. It is still early days, but it feels like it may have paid off.
Looking to add a flow meter to help tune my CO2 in a newly set up 130L tank, I searched far and wide for the different options. They were few and far between, most were for far larger flows than I needed and those that were appropriate were ridiculously expensive to get to Australia. So I went searching on the various Chinese discount sites and came across the LZB-3WB flow meters. They are cheap… real cheap. Less than $30 Australian landed, which made me nervous, but felt it was worth a shot at that price.
Not knowing what flow ranges I would need I ordered a 6-60ml/minute model.
After installing it, it was clearly too high of a range for my tank, but it did allow for some visibility while adjusting CO2. It was certainly better than a bubble counter.
Here is a picture of it action:
As you can see, the reading is below the scale of the meter, but with a marker I could at least set a starting point as I adjusted my CO2 higher. Also the adjustment valve was useless, a tiny turn would shut the flow off or open it to max out the meter.
I ordered the below as a replacement:
2.5-25ml/minute seems like a good range for my tank.
As a bonus the valve is better than most standard regulator needle valves. I can adjust the flow in increments of about 1ml/minute.
Below is the valve in action:
They have been in service for 2 months total now, 1 month each, so still an early review. It has been a solid upgrade though and was an easy install. They come with big 8mm barbed fittings but they can be unscrewed to reveal 1/8 female threads that standard needle valves for aquariums fit. I have also got some 1/8 to push fit fittings that I am yet to install as I am heading away on holiday for 2 weeks soon and don’t want to make any changes for the house-sitters to potentially have to fix!
Pros: adjusting my CO2 was made so much easier by being able to see exactly how much of an increase I was making with each adjustment. Monitoring that the valve isn’t drifting has been easy also, a quick check of the meter tells me it is steady.
Cons: I doubt that the reading is accurate. This means little to me, as I am not using it for a calculation or comparison between tanks. As long as the reading is consistent, even if it is wrong, I am fine with that. Also, the max pressure is listed as 40psi. I am unsure if that is a failure or accuracy maximum. Again, it doesn’t affect me as I run a low regulator pressure due to using a reactor. If I were using a diffuser that needed a high pressure, it may make me nervous.
As always, with any cheap gear, your mileage may vary. But, I thought it was worth sharing as it may help those with limited access to flow meters of appropriate sizes. So far it is proving to be the second best $25 I have spent on this tank, second only to the super red bristlenose I have in the tank.
I am generally a “you get what you pay for” aquarist, but I have taken a gamble due to circumstances. It is still early days, but it feels like it may have paid off.
Looking to add a flow meter to help tune my CO2 in a newly set up 130L tank, I searched far and wide for the different options. They were few and far between, most were for far larger flows than I needed and those that were appropriate were ridiculously expensive to get to Australia. So I went searching on the various Chinese discount sites and came across the LZB-3WB flow meters. They are cheap… real cheap. Less than $30 Australian landed, which made me nervous, but felt it was worth a shot at that price.
Not knowing what flow ranges I would need I ordered a 6-60ml/minute model.
After installing it, it was clearly too high of a range for my tank, but it did allow for some visibility while adjusting CO2. It was certainly better than a bubble counter.
Here is a picture of it action:
As you can see, the reading is below the scale of the meter, but with a marker I could at least set a starting point as I adjusted my CO2 higher. Also the adjustment valve was useless, a tiny turn would shut the flow off or open it to max out the meter.
I ordered the below as a replacement:
2.5-25ml/minute seems like a good range for my tank.
As a bonus the valve is better than most standard regulator needle valves. I can adjust the flow in increments of about 1ml/minute.
Below is the valve in action:
They have been in service for 2 months total now, 1 month each, so still an early review. It has been a solid upgrade though and was an easy install. They come with big 8mm barbed fittings but they can be unscrewed to reveal 1/8 female threads that standard needle valves for aquariums fit. I have also got some 1/8 to push fit fittings that I am yet to install as I am heading away on holiday for 2 weeks soon and don’t want to make any changes for the house-sitters to potentially have to fix!
Pros: adjusting my CO2 was made so much easier by being able to see exactly how much of an increase I was making with each adjustment. Monitoring that the valve isn’t drifting has been easy also, a quick check of the meter tells me it is steady.
Cons: I doubt that the reading is accurate. This means little to me, as I am not using it for a calculation or comparison between tanks. As long as the reading is consistent, even if it is wrong, I am fine with that. Also, the max pressure is listed as 40psi. I am unsure if that is a failure or accuracy maximum. Again, it doesn’t affect me as I run a low regulator pressure due to using a reactor. If I were using a diffuser that needed a high pressure, it may make me nervous.
As always, with any cheap gear, your mileage may vary. But, I thought it was worth sharing as it may help those with limited access to flow meters of appropriate sizes. So far it is proving to be the second best $25 I have spent on this tank, second only to the super red bristlenose I have in the tank.
