RyeGuy411 Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I have a birthday coming up and decided I wanted to purchase myself a Co2 sytem. I know very little about them other than you have a tank, regulator, bubble counter and diffuser thats where my knowledge ends. I want a good quality system to run on my 10g to start and add my 7.5g later on, so something big enough for the two tanks. My price range is up to 200$ so quality is important. I will be running this on my shrimp tanks and dont want something cheap that could kill all my shrimp. Suggestions on equipment brands and newbie mistakes when using Co2 is what im looking for. Thanks TheGardenofEder 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve R. Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I got my CO2 regulator from green leaf aquariums. http://greenleafaquariums.com/co2-regulators. Works great for me. My shrimps and plants are thriving. You can choose a different number of manifolds so that you can regulate CO2 intake into your tanks separately. US$200 might not be enough to get a high quality system. You also need a drop checker(s). You can get those relatively cheap from ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayphly Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I own 3 of the GLA regulators and can only say good things about them. Orlando @ GLA has always answered all my questions and has always responded in a timely manner. I think their 2 manifold reg starts at just over $200. IMHO it's money well spent. Here's my pro 4 stage. I've been very happy with it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk h4n 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I checked out their website Andy, wow a little more expensive than I thought! I do want a quality system so I might have to increase my budget a bit, I guess I could go $300. h4n 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ch3fb0yrdee Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Agreed with Mayphly. GLA are pretty rock solid and Orlando's customer service is excellent. I lost one of those black caps for my regulator and contacted him for assistance. He sent a replacement black cap super quick and completely free to me. Good guy! @ Mayphly I'm jealous of your 4 way regulator. Its super sexy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilshieh Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 There's no such thing as a 4 stage regulator, there's single and dual stage. The one mayphly posted is a single stage cornelius regulator with the gla solenoid (sourced and rebranded by GLA) and a custom version of the Fabco nv-55-18. For 300 you could build yourself a quality system, the co2 tank costs ~50-70 for a #5 and you can get a #7 for 43 shipped on ebay. a #10 or #20 tank would cost ~100 depending on if it's steel or aluminum. Check your local craigslist otherwise find a hydroponics store or something and buy one of their tanks and just do swaps. I think I got my #10 filled tank from a local club member for 60 i think... Anyhow, if you're looking to just buy off the shelf and you don't want to get something cheap like the aquatek/milwaukee. Check out co2art. The price for their dual stage is ridiculously good. (http://www.co2art.co.uk/collections/dual-stage-regulators) You won't have any of the EOTD or pressure drops you sometimes see with the single stage regulators. They posted their regulator schematics and this is a custom design to integrate a dual stage regulator all into one small body the size of a typical single stage. I am not in any way affiliated with co2art, I build my own co2 systems for myself and customers but I've got to say that even I'm tempted to buy one of their setups at that price... free shipping too lol. I encourage you to do a bit more research onto the topic or ask questions or w/e but all in all if i had to recommend an easy off the shelf solution it'd be co2art, that's my two cents. Plus they have pretty good customer service, true they're based in the UK but they're well known/reputable so I wouldn't have qualms about dealing with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ch3fb0yrdee Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 @neil. I'm meaning 4way splitter. I didn't say 4stage. But dude I like the link you posted. I'm digging the co2 regulator suitable for paintballs. They list free shipping so hopefully they do uk > us free shipping too. I'm going to explore this website when I get home. Good looking out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilshieh Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 @neil. I'm meaning 4way splitter. I didn't say 4stage. But dude I like the link you posted. I'm digging the co2 regulator suitable for paintballs. They list free shipping so hopefully they do uk > us free shipping too. I'm going to explore this website when I get home. Good looking out. no problem, i think shipping is free to the US. not 100% sure though you'll have to check it out. And sorry about that, I was referring to mayphly's post and wanted to clear up that bit of information for others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Neil the three systems on that page, what is the differnce between the cheapest and the middle system? I know nothing about this stuff and the most expensive one says it runs on 220V? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ch3fb0yrdee Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Ryan. If you can, find a regulator without a solenoid. From my own personal experience, I've never plugged my solenoid to a timer for on/offs. It's always plugged in and I just leave the co2 to run 24/7. If you plan on leaving it on 24/7, selecting a non-solenoid option might shave a few bucks off the overall cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 Thanks Thai, I wasnt sure what that was exactly but I knew there were systems that you could time with your lights. I dont have any high demand plants so it would make more sense to run it low all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted March 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 I added a regulator to my cart and checked the shipping and it is free to the US. or for an extra 2.99 pounds about 4.50 add priority shipping. I might do this and then I would just need to buy a tank, bubble counter and diffuser? And what about tubing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilshieh Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 The right most one doesn't have a solenoid and uses the most basic valve. The middle one has a solenoid and the most basic valve, the leftmost has a solenoid and an smc valve. I'd definitely get the regulator with the solenoid and smc valve. I don't know what brand of solenoid they use but solenoids are useful in that you can time them with your light schedule and it saves you a bunch of co2 too because you don't have to run it 24/7. Especially if you have shrimp you don't want to overgas everything. Their regulators are also very serviceable so if anything ever does fail or if you want to upgrade the solenoid or needle valve or at more outlets everything is 1/8 npt ported so it's easy. And yes all you'd need would be co2 tank, bubble counter, and diffuser all of which can be had on ebay for cheap. I personally like the rhinox bubble counter as it looks nice and it's very functional. For diffusers since you're running them on smaller tanks a simple in tank ceramic diffuser would work just fine but if you want to get fancier you can use an atomic diffuser. If you want to keep it out of site and still have excellent diffusion you can run things inline if you have a canister filter either with an atomic inline diffuser or a co2 reactor built out of pvc (cerges, rex, etc) you'd need a check valve as well, I prefer to use plastic industrial check valves with push to connect inlets/outlets but you can use regular plastic check valves from us plastics or the usual cheapo ones would work too provided they can hold up to 20-30 psi of pressure. The metal rhinox check valves on ebay are also pretty decent, though if you want really high grade stuff swagelok/parker/smc metal check valves can be run inline or hard plumbed to the post body. Tubing, you can get away with using vinyl tubing from home depot/lowes. people will say how it's super permeable to co2 blah blah but it really doesn't make that big of a difference. it still works and is super pliable and easy to work with. I personally use polyurethane co2 tubing but that's probably because i have a 1000' reel of it lol and i use vinyl tubing for the glass bubble counter and diffuser sections because it's easier to work with. all up to you, pvc tubing would work tooword of caution though if you use pvc or vinyl people have reported how it becomes brittle. but for how cheap it is I'd just replace it if it starts to feel stiff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilshieh Posted March 9, 2015 Report Share Posted March 9, 2015 as a side note I recommend you get the smc valve purely because the standard valve isn't very reliable. some people have great success with them others find it unusable because they drift and fluctuate with temperatures. I don't know if co2art has figured out a better design for it, but it looks like the same ones they have on the milwaukee, jbj, and aquatek ones so i'd be wary. the smc valve is pretty good but you could do a lot better by just buying the one with the basic valve and replacing it with a fabco nv or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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