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Re: M3 & Clippard valves & things that change temp in the night
I have the M3 regulator, $19 M3 needle valve, "J" bubble counter with check
valve, and another check valve as the tubing enters the tank. That second
valve (cheapo plastic airline valve) prevents capillary effect water from
backing up when I open the bubble counter to refill it. Just a quirk in the
configuration of my setup.
A fresh tank of CO2 will be cold, so all settings are temporary until it
reaches room temperature. Set the regulator to 20 psi, and keep adjusting it
to that until it stabilizes. Once the temperature is stable, adjust the
bubble rate and wait a few moments in between each adjustment. With all the
inline devices, and the flexibility of the line itself, it takes a few
moments for the bubble rate to re-stabilize after adjusting the needle
valve. Once it is set, it stays rock solid. I run mine 24 hours a day. After
a while the entire aquarium system reaches stasis where the amount of CO2
entering and leaving the system is the same. After a day or two, I can set
it and forget it until the next CO2 refill.
I've run this system to a dry CO2 tank and never suffered any fish losses.
The output pressure from the regulator will rise to about 30 psi once the
tank pressure pegs at zero, but this can be accommodated by adjusting the
bubble rate during this time. I usually don't bother because the increase in
the bubble rate due to the higher pressure isn't very dramatic. Certainly
nothing to get hysterical about.
Tom