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

[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.