Re: CO2 into filter/Regulator Pressure

["Tom Wood" <tomwood2 at flash_net>]

In a properly operating planted tank, the biological component of a filter
should have little to no impact on the water parameters. The plants will use
ammonia first, then nitrite, then nitrate. Unless there is an extreme fish
load, there won't be any need for the biological action in a filter. And,
the entire tank is a bio-filter anyway since bacteria coat every surface. I
suppose if you pumped in CO2, turned off the lights and let the plants die,
then it might start to have an effect. But even then, it's moving through
the filter pretty fast.

I set my regulator at 20 psi on the low pressure side. When the CO2 cylinder
begins to run dry, the pressure will slowly rise to about 35 psi, then drop
slowly down as the tank empties. This happens over a two week period, giving
me plenty of opportunity to adjust the needle valve and hold the bubble rate
steady. The CO2 cylinder -can't- dump because the needle valve is the gate
that sets the amount of CO2 that will enter the water.

TW