So I found out I had a 5 pound bottle and a regulator in a kegerator that came with the house. I know the bottle is almost five years old. Over the last couple of weeks I've been having to adjust the regulator to increase the flow because after a couple of days it dies. So yesterday i hooked up a bubble counter and again had to readjust the regulator. I left it on that setting all day... about 2 bubbles per second. my drop checker was blueish teal when i went to bed. This morning half my fish were dead and the drop checker is a bright yellow... almost clear. can someone tell me what might be going on? Also is it possible to have moonlighting too bright? What would happen if it is? Thanks guys
CO2 Spikes
- Thread starter dadsoldtruck
- Start date
I am not too familiar with kegerator regulators, but it sounds like the valve that controls the CO2 let out is slipping (hence the fluctuating CO2 levels, yellow drop checker, and dead fish). My control valve is like a screw. It is pretty tight and doesn't slip. Here is a picture of it:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3747+9895&pcatid=9895
See the little screw at the bottom? Maybe that part on your device is different/ less effective.
Also, the age of the bottle shouldn't matter, so long as it passes the hydrostatic test every five years, it should be good. Every five years is the law in my state, but it could be different where you are.
A couple weeks ago, I would have to adjust the regulator to get my desired bps, but by the end of the day it would slowly dwindle to about 1 bps. I couldn't figure it out so I started messing around with all the knobs. It turns out I hadn't opened the CO2 cylinder very much at all ( I turned it off a couple weeks ago and forgot all about it). When I opened the cylinder (using the wheel attached to the cylinder), my tank had a huge bubble surge. lol it wasn't my regulator settings at all, it was the fact that my cylinder wasn't opened.
So if you cranked open the cylinder a bit before you went to bed that could be it, but my guess is you have a defective valve.
Note: I am assuming that you turn your lights on for your plants before you go to bed. If you turn them off and still have the CO2 running all night long you are wasting A LOT of CO2. Your plants are only gonna use a tiny but of CO2 w/o the lights, so if you have lights off and Co2 being injected, you are just pumping your tank full of gas that is toxoc for your fish. It is okay with the lights on because the plants are photosynthesizing and consuming the CO2, but during lights off, they aren't using it really at all.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3747+9895&pcatid=9895
See the little screw at the bottom? Maybe that part on your device is different/ less effective.
Also, the age of the bottle shouldn't matter, so long as it passes the hydrostatic test every five years, it should be good. Every five years is the law in my state, but it could be different where you are.
A couple weeks ago, I would have to adjust the regulator to get my desired bps, but by the end of the day it would slowly dwindle to about 1 bps. I couldn't figure it out so I started messing around with all the knobs. It turns out I hadn't opened the CO2 cylinder very much at all ( I turned it off a couple weeks ago and forgot all about it). When I opened the cylinder (using the wheel attached to the cylinder), my tank had a huge bubble surge. lol it wasn't my regulator settings at all, it was the fact that my cylinder wasn't opened.
So if you cranked open the cylinder a bit before you went to bed that could be it, but my guess is you have a defective valve.
Note: I am assuming that you turn your lights on for your plants before you go to bed. If you turn them off and still have the CO2 running all night long you are wasting A LOT of CO2. Your plants are only gonna use a tiny but of CO2 w/o the lights, so if you have lights off and Co2 being injected, you are just pumping your tank full of gas that is toxoc for your fish. It is okay with the lights on because the plants are photosynthesizing and consuming the CO2, but during lights off, they aren't using it really at all.
you using a needle valve? no expert on kegs but they dont tend to have a fine way to adjust the co2. its on and you cna change how much psi is coming though thats about it. you prob need to get a needle valve to get it going at a couple bubbles a sec. also keeping it off at night helps from over saturating the water with co2.
Ya this thing doesn't have a needle valve... it has a big screw. I think it's for high volume... I'm going to go ahead and get one for aquariums... but here is my question cause I can't find any information on it... what is the purpose of the solenoid? How does it work? Is there extra stuff I have to get with it?
I have a pH controller on my tank, which uses a pH meter and a solenoid valve to control the flow of CO2. The basic solenoid valve opens and closes the gas flow based on an electric current, just like a 1/4 turn valve for house plumbing. You hook the AC plug on the solenoid to either a timer or a controller to control the valve. The regulator is then set to release a set amount of gas per second by turning the needle valve which is separate from the solenoid.
That is awesome!!! Why can't Google tell me that? What is the added benifit of you having the pH controller?
A PH controller will shut the CO2 off when the PH gets too low.A solenoid valve is just an on/off switch for the CO2.I have my solenoid plugged in with my light timer.When the lights are on,so is the CO2.Lights out,CO2 off.