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Question of the Day What planted aquarium thing are you hoping to get this holiday season??
- Thread starter Art
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Unexpected
Valuable Member
Dear Santa,
UV sterilizer
150 gallon tank with a greater than 23 inch width
A sponsorship so my costs can be lower
Sincerely,
Little Mikey
UV sterilizer
150 gallon tank with a greater than 23 inch width
A sponsorship so my costs can be lower
Sincerely,
Little Mikey
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- #5
I've been doing this for a long time and I still make mistakes in the setup with every new aquarium. I guess I make fewer of them now though.
This is a nice wish.
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- #6
What you can hope to get from a good regulator is 'stability' and 'easy to make small CO2 flow adjustments'. I fail to understand from a physics perspective how any regulator can indicate how empty the bottle is, except at the very end when there is no liquid CO2 left anymore and the gas pressure starts to drop.
It would be nice if there would be regulators in the market in the non professional segment (say less than 150-200 USD) that are indeed stable (hours, days, weeks), adjustable with precision and have at least a couple of years guaranteed life time. There is a reason that none of the commercial manufacturers / CO2 'specialists' for our hobby ever talk about stability, or provide data on their products.
Edit: A useful link to another forum
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- #9
Thanks, @Yugang. Copying @Hanuman who is here also and was part of that conversation.
I can't speak to CO2Art's product but I've been using GLA's regulators for many years and have never had a problem. They have been rock solid for me. I've only owned their lower end models, so it's not their high ends that I'm talking about.
I don't know if Orlando ships internationally but I would recommend GLA. We also have a very experienced regulator member (@Alanle) who does custom work. I've seen some of his work and it is drool-worthy.
I've always thought about the CO2 regulator like a car. You can really "pimp it out" and have a really cool and really good piece of gear that will last for years. It's an investment though.
On the empty gauge comment, am I losing it or didn't the two stage regulators show amount in the tank?
I can't speak to CO2Art's product but I've been using GLA's regulators for many years and have never had a problem. They have been rock solid for me. I've only owned their lower end models, so it's not their high ends that I'm talking about.
I don't know if Orlando ships internationally but I would recommend GLA. We also have a very experienced regulator member (@Alanle) who does custom work. I've seen some of his work and it is drool-worthy.
I've always thought about the CO2 regulator like a car. You can really "pimp it out" and have a really cool and really good piece of gear that will last for years. It's an investment though.
On the empty gauge comment, am I losing it or didn't the two stage regulators show amount in the tank?
Yes and no -- the high pressure stage gauge starts dropping when there is only gas left in the cylinder, no liquid anymore that keeps the pressure constant. From that point there is still compressed gas, that will be sufficient for probably another day or two to supply to the tank. I am not aware of any other mechanisms that could be applied and that indicates how much liquid CO2 is left in the tank.
This thread is currently active, with some good recent insights. Some time further back I had started a thread "CO2 manufacturers!" with user feedback on the stability, design, cost, and life time of commercial regulators, but it won't be a surprise that that thread has been deleted. Problems don't go away by deleting threads. My key take away from that thread was that hobby quality regulators often disappoint and performance is inconsistent. If I could buy a good regulator for 200 UDS, I would. @Hanuman has a lot of regulator experience, and fortunately he also posted in the currently active thread.
Note:
In the deleted thread I posted some ideas for super stable CO2 regulators ('gas flow nozzles', or 'porous metal flow restrictor'), and may need to re-post these on this forum. It is unlikely that costs for high quality needle valves will go down, and when prioritising stability over time flow restrictors may be a better option for our hobby. Lets hope that manufacturers create alternatives for products that are currently not very impressive..
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