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Re: CO2 bottle pressure gauge
>Right, more or less. In the last 5 years or so, I've bought 7 or 8
>20 pound CO2 tanks. Each showed the exact same pressure (about 1200
>psi) and then, over a few days or a week, dropped to 0. As soon
>as that needle moves, the tank is empty - you're running on fumes.
Hmmm, this isn't my experience. I recently refilled my 20# cylinder
after watching it go from the usual 900 psi down to about 100 psi over
the past two months (before Thanksgiving; I got a refill Jan 11). My
tank uses about 2 bubbles/second.
You have a leak somewhere. Did you do the soapy water test (put soapy
water on all your connections, and check for bubbles)? 7 or 8 tanks
over 5 years sounds like a lot, unless you have hundreds of gallons of
aquaria.
Are you running high pressure through vinyl tubing somewhere (like
from the regulator to the needle valve)? Vinyl tubing is slightly gas
permeable. I use copper tubing between the regualtor and the needle
valve, and vinyl from the needle valve to the tank.