SchnitzelReef
Active member
So I've been running a calcium reactor for some time, and I love it. I have a cheap generic JBJ co2 regulator, but it's been working great for the past 4-5 years. The only downside, is that it has an extremely sensitive needle valve to adjust the amount of co2 that gets injected into the reactor. As long as I didn't need to make any adjustments, this regulator worked fine. But since my tank has been maturing a bit, and it's alk consumption has gone up, lately I've been tinkering with the co2 and it's a major pain. To give you an example, my reactor was set at about 1 co2 bubble every 6 seconds. I recently wanted to change it to every 4 seconds. I would adjust the needle valve a little tiny bit, and it would give me 1 bubble every 2 seconds. Then I would adjust it back, and it would give me 1 bubble every 7 seconds. Etc etc etc.
Here's a pic of what I have now
I looked into the Carbon Doser co2 regulator, but I read some bad reviews that kinda scared me. For $300+, a lot of people complained about having issues long term. My goal was to have something that I could set and forget. I found a few really helpful threads on RC and decided I could just build my own bad a** regulator.
I found a Matheson dual stage regulator on eBay for $220 or best offer. I made a couple offers and ended up getting it brand new for $100. This particular regulator retails for $550+. The quality on these heavy duty regulators is night and day compared to the regulators we use in this hobby. The regulator itself must weigh 15lbs.
Now the difference between this ^ regulator and the ones we use in the hobby, is that it's not ready to use. It has to be modified a bit for our application. It needs a solenoid to turn the co2 on/off, and a needle valve to adjust the co2. The valve that comes with the regulator is more of an on and off, there is no fine adjustment.
This is a stainless steel Burkert solenoid. They retail for $100+, but I was able to get this one brand new on eBay for $50.
The needle valve I got is considered low flow. It will be much easier to adjust then the needle valve on the JBJ I am currently using.
It's made by Ideal, and it's considered one of the better valves to use on these setups.
I was able to get it from another hobbyist for $40. Retail is $100
The other issue with getting regulators off eBay, is that they don't all come ready to use with co2. It might have a connector for nitrogen or oxygen etc. so I had to buy the correct stem and nut to work with our co2 bottles.
This was only like $20 for both.
And the last thing to order is all the fittings. The best of the best is swagelok. I figured I might as well go all out, and got all stainless steel fittings. I could have used brass and it would have cost me about half as much. But brass just wouldn't have looked as nice, and we all know how much that matters in this hobby. Hahaha
I'm still waiting on the fittings to be delivered. They should be here Tuesday or Wednesday of next week
Here's the list of part numbers from swageloks website.
Unfortunately I had to get these all brand new. I couldn't find what I needed on eBay.
Ill update this thread once the fittings come in. Shouldn't take me too long to put it all together, maybe a couple coors lights and an hour or two.
Just an FYI. If you were looking to upgrade your regulator, this ^ setup is way overkill. You can get like new dual stage brass regulators on eBay for $40-$60. Then find a brass solenoid and all brass fittings and get the whole setup for around $200-$250. In our application, this style regulator should last 2 lifetimes.
Anyways, just thought I would post this thread in case someone else out there was thinking about building one. Should be fun and pretty simple once you find all the parts you need.
Here's some examples of some finished products.
Here's a pic of what I have now
I looked into the Carbon Doser co2 regulator, but I read some bad reviews that kinda scared me. For $300+, a lot of people complained about having issues long term. My goal was to have something that I could set and forget. I found a few really helpful threads on RC and decided I could just build my own bad a** regulator.
I found a Matheson dual stage regulator on eBay for $220 or best offer. I made a couple offers and ended up getting it brand new for $100. This particular regulator retails for $550+. The quality on these heavy duty regulators is night and day compared to the regulators we use in this hobby. The regulator itself must weigh 15lbs.
Now the difference between this ^ regulator and the ones we use in the hobby, is that it's not ready to use. It has to be modified a bit for our application. It needs a solenoid to turn the co2 on/off, and a needle valve to adjust the co2. The valve that comes with the regulator is more of an on and off, there is no fine adjustment.
This is a stainless steel Burkert solenoid. They retail for $100+, but I was able to get this one brand new on eBay for $50.
The needle valve I got is considered low flow. It will be much easier to adjust then the needle valve on the JBJ I am currently using.
It's made by Ideal, and it's considered one of the better valves to use on these setups.
I was able to get it from another hobbyist for $40. Retail is $100
The other issue with getting regulators off eBay, is that they don't all come ready to use with co2. It might have a connector for nitrogen or oxygen etc. so I had to buy the correct stem and nut to work with our co2 bottles.
This was only like $20 for both.
And the last thing to order is all the fittings. The best of the best is swagelok. I figured I might as well go all out, and got all stainless steel fittings. I could have used brass and it would have cost me about half as much. But brass just wouldn't have looked as nice, and we all know how much that matters in this hobby. Hahaha
I'm still waiting on the fittings to be delivered. They should be here Tuesday or Wednesday of next week
Here's the list of part numbers from swageloks website.
Unfortunately I had to get these all brand new. I couldn't find what I needed on eBay.
Ill update this thread once the fittings come in. Shouldn't take me too long to put it all together, maybe a couple coors lights and an hour or two.
Just an FYI. If you were looking to upgrade your regulator, this ^ setup is way overkill. You can get like new dual stage brass regulators on eBay for $40-$60. Then find a brass solenoid and all brass fittings and get the whole setup for around $200-$250. In our application, this style regulator should last 2 lifetimes.
Anyways, just thought I would post this thread in case someone else out there was thinking about building one. Should be fun and pretty simple once you find all the parts you need.
Here's some examples of some finished products.
Last edited:
hahah
