CO2 Injection

[ugmo]

Hi all,

I have recently found a cheap bottle, regulator, diffuser, bubble counter and one way valve and I need to know wether I actually need a needle valve, I thought the regulator was the only adjustment from the extremely high pressure in the bottle. If so where should I get one in Australia?

Also, how many bubbles per second should I keep it going at in a 215L tank?

Cheers
Matt

[rtraher]

Hi Matt

Yes you will need a needle valve (some manufactures call them metering valves). The valve on the regulator is not sensitive enough to reduce the CO2 output down to a few bubbles per second. Most of the aquarium regulators come with one. Needle valves are not easy to find in Melbourne and I have not yet found a Melbourne fish shop that sells them. Unfortunately the only valve I've found here is a swagelock precision metering valve and they cost around $100, although it is one of the best valves you can get.

Here is the webpage with the product codes and specs for the swagelock metering valve.

http://www.swagelok.com/PRODUCTDETAILS.asp?PartNumber=B-SS4&Price=&Picture=N

You can purchase it from:

Fluid System Technologies (ES) Pty. Ltd
4/1 Wilson Avenue
Melbourne Victoria 3056
Australia
Phone: (61)(3) 9387-6477
Fax: (61)(3) 9387-4528

There are cheaper alternatives if you don't mind ordering them from the states.

http://www.wcf.com/co2iron/

Some good reading on the subject at......

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/solenoid.html

I have a 200 lt tank and run 2 bubbles per second, my KH is at 4.5, pH is 6.8 and CO2 is 22mg/l. Yours might be similar (although there are allot of variable that effect efficiency of CO2 dissolving and staying in your tank etc) I would start your bubbles off slowly and increase it over days until your pH drops to your desired amount. HTH

cheers,
Russel

[kalebjarrod]

Russel,

welcome to the forum

any chance of a pic of your tank in the photo section sounds like a half decent planted tank to me :wink:

[rtraher]

Sure, my wife took the digital camera to work, so I'll do it tonight when she gets home.

Russel

[kalebjarrod]

good one :wink:

[oscar]

Sorry to drag up an old post...

Am i incorrect in my understanding theat the Tunze regulator is constructed to be sensitive enough to go from the bottle to the reactor without the need for an additional flow control valve?

[jho51e]

I think it has its own needle valve...

[axl]

Yeah it does have its own needle valve im running a tunze reglator and i can it down enough for 1 bubble or 5 bubbles
cheers tim

[petros]

Hello there! I also have installed CO2 injection system by SERA, 3 weeks ago but I do not see any difference at the plants. The leaves are still becoming rotten.The tank is 200tl the Ph=7.0 and the KH is 2. The manual of the system refers to approximately 1 bubble per litre but it doesnt refers to the time. So I inject about 25 bubbles per minute. Is that too low?? Does the low KH value has to do with low progress of the plants? Thanks

[anti-generic]

petros,
the Ph and Kh reading you got means the co2 level is too low. try upping the co2 to 1 bubble per second. Kh measure the amount of carbon in the water.
as for the plants, are you dosing enough liquid fertilizers to match the co2?

regards,
eric

[oscar]

Eric has raised the most important point.

CO2 is a only one part of the plant growth spectrum. You need to make sure you have enough food (fertilizer nutrients) and light in your tank as well.

It's like trying to light a fire with a heat source and some wood but no oxygen.

[petros]

Well I use liquid fertiliser once a week or after a water change, as the instructions recommend. I use medium lighting due to the plants demands for 11 hrs. I refered to the KH level cayse I ve read that if you have too low KH the CO2 injection has no results.Is that true? Ive already incresed the bubbles. Thanks guys for the advice!

[petros]

Guys when you install a a CO2 injection properly, is it normal tiny tiny bubbles to come out from the reactor?

[Bad Inferno]

yes you will still get tiny bubbles
You have to compare it to the CO2 chart I like this one

http://users.bigpond.com/rohan.t/co2_chart.htm