Co2 system is been a pain

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danelpalfrey

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Dec 1, 2014
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Daniel
Ok, so I purchased a basic Co2 system (pressurised) got it all set up and working just had to turn the on/off valve off at night on at day, but as I am at work when the lights come on I got a solenoid and fitted that to the Co2 tank, the issue is, i set it to 2bps and then I got to bed, I get up and its all off as it should be then go to work go about my day, come home and I am getting may 1 bubble every 2 seconds, the only thing that could be at fault is the solenoid as it was working fine before. has anyone ever come across this? is it an issue I can fix?

Thanks for any info.

Dan
 

jrawebb83

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Jul 5, 2009
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I've been reading up on this a lot the last couple days since I'm planning on getting a set up of my own. I noticed a few times that people said the needle valve can be the cause of fluctuating flow after an off/on cycle from the solenoid. Apparently the needle valve can make tiny unwanted adjustments. Not sure if this applies to you though.
 

danelpalfrey

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ok i think i have fixed it, when i bolted the solenoid on the bottle was in the way so it sat at and angle, I have managed to get it straight and just turned the aquarium on and off 3 times over the last hour and every time it works properly. Maybe the angle was causing an issue of some sort?
 

danelpalfrey

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Dec 1, 2014
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Ok, so the solenoid is now kicking on and off nicely, seems to be working correctly, new issue has arose though but this is an issue of my causing. when fitting a solenoid don't do what I did, fir the solenoid between the bottle and regulator, I couldn't do this due to the type of regulator I bought, so I ended up bolting the solenoid onto the "out port" of the regulator, what this does though is when the solenoid opens it dumps all that pressure straight into the tank, this is because there is nothing regulating the pressure. so now i need a regulator to bolt onto the solenoid. Does anyone know of any cheap ones available, as I am not willing to spend the £50 I keep seeing.... by air compressor for my air tools didn't even cost that so can not justify it for what is essentially a tap.
 

dougall

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Mar 29, 2005
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Your regulator should regulate the pressure.

If pressure is building up to a problematic level there may be other problems.

If the solenoid screwed right onto the regulator?
 

dougall

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Mar 29, 2005
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Pics of the setup might help.

And is the solenoid before or after your needle valve?
 
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