Re: [APD] Regulator -- and - the irregular world of Aquatic CO2equipment

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

I bought one of these cheapos when I was starting with
plants and figured I'd jsut repalce it with something
better when I got into it.

Worked so well, I bought another.  I've tried more
expensive regs and some have their merits and some aren't
worth $30.

If you get a more expensive one you'll still want to have a
needle valve and not try to drain the CO2 tank all the way
down because.  That's good practice. The little bit of CO2
still when the CO2 tank is almost empty isn't worth trying
to drain it all out and it's not, imo, worth the cost of
another valve.

By all means use a needle valve. But the regs that cost
twice as much won't behave any better than this one.

I don't think you need to buy extra "relief valves."

If you want the best, get a top of the line Victor
($80-200) depending where you shop and which model). Want
to go a notch down, get a Harris or Norgen ($50-90)
depending on where you shop and which model).  Want to drop
to the middle of the road, go for the stuff sold at the
aquarium sites as aquarium CO2 regulators.  Want low ball,
check out Ebay for used or get the Harborfreight regulator
you found ($30). 

End of tank dumps are relatively rare; don't happen if you
just follow good practice; and don't have to kill your
fish. 

Btw, when one of my regulators broke, do you think it was
one of the cheapos? Naw, one the high priced units that was
just past warranty.

If you want adequate for gardening, get a $30-$60 regulator
(or at least don't spend over $84 ;-) ), and spend the diff
on plants or fish.

Just a personal view. The reg Dave sells is good stuff and
fits in there and I'm not knocking his reg at all.

Scott H.


--- Dave Gomberg <dave1 at wcf_com> wrote:
> > 
> Maggie, what are its end-of-tank dump characteristics?  
> Some regulators 
> are better at this and some are worse.  If you get a very
> bad one you will 
> need to follow one of my end-of-tank dump control
> procedures documented on
> 
> http://www.wcf.com/co2iron/faq.html
> 
> even if you have a needle valve.



=====
S. Hieber

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing.
http://photos.yahoo.com/
_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants