My favorite CO2 Regulator

Here is a great regulator that is by far the best one I have ever tried. It is an Aquarium Plants CO2 Regulator that is very dependable and works.  At one point I had a mishap when my regular dumped a large amount of CO2 into the tank too quickly. This dropped the PH in the tank very fast and was very dangerous to the fish. They looked terrible and were struggling to survive.  I quickly added some alkalinity to the tank to bring up the ph and it worked thank goodness.  I only lost one Clown Fish that was not doing well to begin with.  Then I went looking for a good regulator and found one.  There is a whole series of regulators that Scott caries at Aquarium Specialty from Aquarium Plants that, I think, have a great design and have worked extremely well for me.

The first thing I noticed about these regulators was the price – they ran about $40 – $100 higher than some of the other regulators.  While this may put off some, please read on.  It costs me about $33 per small container of CO2 . However, with the efficiency of an Aquarium Plants Regulator, I figure I will save at least $100  in my first six months as the CO2 containers are lasting me much longer than when I used the cheaper regulators.

Set Up CO2 Regulator

Setting it up was easy. I just attached the regulator with a C-wrench and the directions walk you through a leak check. After I was done with the leak check (the unit was perfect the first time attaching it) I tested it out with a small piece of tubing and a water-glass. They say you can control the size of the bubbles in the direction. I did not see a great difference in bubble size, but was easily able to very accurately adjust the bubble flow – something I always had a challenge doing with the cheaper brands.  Once tested I hooked it up to my calcium reactor and the unit was functioning perfectly within minutes.  More than two months later is has not missed a bubble and has held the timing that I had started with it.

So if you are running a calcium reactor or thinking of doing so, this is the best piece of equipment you can get to keep your bubbles regulated.

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5998