The Planted Tank Forum - View Single Post - How much notice when CO2 tank is about empty?

Mike_D · 11-21-2008, 04:35 AM

Hi,

I was wondering how much notice you get when your CO2 tank is about to run out? Will the pressure gradually decrease over the course of a week? Or will it all of a sudden just drop down one day?

I recently set up my first pressurized CO2 system on my 175 gallon tank using a 10# cylinder and external reactor. I've probably got about 8 bubbles per second, and I keep the CO2 running for about 8 hours. But I don't think there's any way to really tell how long that will last for. So far it's been about 1.5 months, which is about what I was guessing maybe (although I'm hoping for a lot more).

Also, I was wondering what you do when your CO2 does run out. Do many people keep a spare filled cylinder to swap out right away? Or do you just have the one cylinder and go get it filled when you have time? The place I got mine filled at isn't open on the weekends, and I was thinking with the holidays coming up it may be closed more often, too. So it seems like it could be possible to have to wait a few days to get a cylinder filled. I would guess not having CO2 for a few days would cause problems with algae, right?

Thanks,

Mike

11-21-2008, 04:35 AM	#1 (permalink)
Mike_D Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Aurora, IL Posts: 4	How much notice when CO2 tank is about empty? Hi, I was wondering how much notice you get when your CO2 tank is about to run out? Will the pressure gradually decrease over the course of a week? Or will it all of a sudden just drop down one day? I recently set up my first pressurized CO2 system on my 175 gallon tank using a 10# cylinder and external reactor. I've probably got about 8 bubbles per second, and I keep the CO2 running for about 8 hours. But I don't think there's any way to really tell how long that will last for. So far it's been about 1.5 months, which is about what I was guessing maybe (although I'm hoping for a lot more). Also, I was wondering what you do when your CO2 does run out. Do many people keep a spare filled cylinder to swap out right away? Or do you just have the one cylinder and go get it filled when you have time? The place I got mine filled at isn't open on the weekends, and I was thinking with the holidays coming up it may be closed more often, too. So it seems like it could be possible to have to wait a few days to get a cylinder filled. I would guess not having CO2 for a few days would cause problems with algae, right? Thanks, Mike