ph controller/CO2 reg. & solenoid help...

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petermai

New member
i have this disease...whenever i'm in a fishstore, i cannot leave without buying something.:p i'm fairly new to the hobby but i've been reading for quite a while now. anyways, i picked up a brand new coralife calcium reactor, rated for 250gal for 110bucks out the door so i couldn't resist. i'm starting with softies and will move on to sps soon but i'm getting tired of mixing kalk all of the time so it's time to make it automated...somewhat.

to complete my new reactor, i now need a ph controller/probe/sensor, and also i need a CO2 regulator with solenoid valve. and the CO2 tank...i'll use the ones from my paintballing days...if that's possible?

can anyone give me recomendation on where to buying these items fairly cheaply and also what brand or type i should be looking into. over all, do give me recomendation on this whole ordeal because like i said, i'm fairly new so i'd really appreciate any help i can get. thanks in advance.:)
 
I have had good luck with the Milwaukee SMS122 controller, MA957 regulator combination. I bought mine from the plantedtank.net website but I know www.customaquatic sells them and is an RC sponsor. I have never had a problem with either piece and its been running about a year and on its second 5lb CO2 fill.
 
I'll just give you a rundown of how i set mine up (tried to do it somewhat on the cheap)

First, a PH controller isn't necessary by any means. It is nice to have the capability to see what the effluent PH is in the reactor though.

I actually just use a cheapie Hanna digital probe in the hole at the top of the reactor so I can see what the thing is running at. You will see on the lid that there is a place to put a probe. The one that I'm using needed an additional grommet to go around it to make it water tight, but it works well.

Also, you probably should have a solenoid attached to your regulator, but that is mainly so in case of a power outage you won't be dumping co2 in the reactor w/ no effluent flow.

The main thing is that you need very precise control of the bubble rate. I got one of the Dwyer flow control valves mentioned here:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/s/b/sbj4/aquarium/articles/DIYCalciumReactor.htm

on ebay for pretty cheap.

Other people use needle valves that are used in RC airplanes (which I also tried) but I found that unless you do some funky stuff reducing tube diameter and the like, that it was impossible to get normal 4mm tubing to seal on it's in/output

And you can get a good dual gauge regulator at any welding supply place. Additionally Home Depot now rents filled cylinders so that may save you some money. I ended up buying one because the place that is near me only fills them, as people were making off w/ their tanks :(

This is just to help you get the thing running; tuning and the like is a whole other thing :)
 
just to add that there are adapters to take a paintball tank to the cga 320 inlet available; forget who makes them though.

pete
 
AZDesertRat,

i am looking at the milwaukee controller you're mentioning, i'm looking at on premium aquatics and i'm not sure if it comes with a probe or not? did yours? and also, i can't find the regulator combination you're mentioning. unless i can find a cheaper one, i will mostlikely go with this bad boy... http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=CO3117

pennilessreefer,

thanks for the advice you've been much help. truthfully, if you didn't mention it, i wouldn't have known that i would need an adapter for the CO2 to get things rolling. you just saved me one less trip of driving around town picking up the parts i need. cheers.

and also, if you know anyone selling these items, don't hesitate to shoot me a pm.
 
The Milwaukee controller comes with the probe and calibration solution. You might look at a couple of the suppliers on Planted Tank, awhile back several of them were offering package deals which included both pieces plus CO2 tubing and extra solution.
 
I'm sure that somebody can shed some light, but how fine is the adjustment on those valves? Depending on demand, you may need to go down to < 40 bpm. That is why Marine Depot sells a lab-grade needle valve.

The point is getting that capability w/ out spending $90 on a valve.

Also, the Coralife reactor has a built-in bubble counter.

pete
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6592586#post6592586 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pennilessreefer
The point is getting that capability w/ out spending $90 on a valve.
Click to expand...

That's why I am asking. I am not crazy about spending $130-$150 on a "deluxe regulator" so I started looking at the Milwaukee's. Unfortunately, I have read about quite a few people having problems with the setup.
 
Yes, when I was putting things together, I had read mixed reviews re: those units, so I figured that I would try other options first (as long as they weren't that expensive :) )

I got the tip on the dwyer valve off that that page from Sanjay's site and since it was pretty cheap figured I would try it out. I also got the needle valve from Tower Hobbies as another option (was $8 + $3 shipping)

Although it takes getting parts from different sources, I am happy w/ the results and it came out costing about half of one of the prepackaged setups.
 
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