Calcium Reactor users... how long does your CO2 last?

[FishyFishy!]

It seems like im burning through CO2 like crazy. I cant seem to find a leak in the regulator or solenoid valve. And my media isnt turning to mush. PH in tank is pretty steady at 8.2. Total water volume is about 420 gallons. PH in the reactor is set to 6.5.

I have a 20Lb cylinder and it seems im exchanging tanks every 4-6 months. This sounds excessive to me. How long is everyone elses CO2 lasting?

[Ya Dude]

My set up is close to yours, corals aren’t very big yet though.
I’m lucky if I get 4 to 5 months on a 20 lbs tank

[shiftline]

When I was running one I got prob close to a year out of a 10lb tank


I

[Delphinus]

I have a 20lb tank on my 280. Last fill was over a year ago.

But this is unusual. Before, I was refilling twice a year easily.

Two things that I've changed:
- I use gas line teflon on the threads
- I set a lower bubble rate so that the solenoid is always on rather than cycling all the time. It took a long time to dial it in this way and I had to play with the output pressure setting to be high enough to be stable but low enough that I could make minute adjustments with the needlevalve (even still the sweet spot is pretty razor thin)

I was fairly convinced I was losing CO2 more than using CO2. I suspect for 4-6 months you are probably bleeding it off in some fashion as well.

What regulator and needle valve are you using? I'm still using a Milwaukee regulator but I've swapped out my solenoid and needle valve to other brands and I think this has helped as well. The Milwaukee all-in-ones are convenient and inexpensive and get the job done for the most part but apparently not a lot nice things said about them out there so that might be a factor too.

[Bryan]

I have a DIY calcium reactor using a 5lb bottle of C02 and I could et a easy 6-9 months.

Curious but how long are your C02 lines and what tubing are you using. There is some loss of C02 if not using C02 specific tubing.

[FishyFishy!]

Lines are all CO2 grade specific.

Well, what im going to try is Tony's theory. Im going to lower the bubble rate, lower the PH slightly in the reactor, and up my drip rate into the tank and monitor over the next little bit. See how that goes.

On the up side....I use a tank swap system with oxy pro here in calgary and for the first time they finally gave me a nice looking brand new cylinder! Never happens.