I'm looking to set up a CO2 system for my planted 20g. I've been bouncing around the idea of either a 24 oz paintball tank or an actual 5 lb. cylinder. I thought I had made up my mind on a slightly pricey aquarium co2 regulator when I had been made aware of this end of tank dump thing that regulators can do when your co2 tank is almost empty. After doing loads more research I now see the difference in price jumps between regulators is because of single stage or dual stage. I've been doing nothing but browsing the last two days, soaking in everything I can about dual stage regulators and still feel so in the dark about brand names and pricing. I am unsure of what to do as I really can't drop $300 bucks on a regulator, even $200 is pushing it but I could probably do that, but what I really need are opinions on the few I've found that I might be able to work with.
I've found this one from CO2 Art - https://www.co2art.co.uk/collection...gulator-and-solenoid-magnetic-valve-smc-valve
- It gets a lot of positive reviews and a lot of praise, but some say that it's not a true dual stage regulator and since they don't have any pictures of the back of it I can not tell. (Maybe it's why they don't show pics of the backside, also every youtube video on CO2 Art regs seem to be for the Advanced Prof Dual Reg, which is $200ish and is a true dual stage reg.)
I've also wondered about this one from Aquaristik - https://sraquaristik.com/product/dual-stage-co2-regulator/
- Absolutely no reviews on it, can't seem to find any who gives a review of it, so totally unsure if this one is any good at all or not. (Again I can not tell if it is an actual dual stage, but it looks small to me, smaller than a dual stage should look, especially since half the back of the reg is made up of the attachment to the cylinder.)
The last one on the list is the Green Leaf Aquariums - GLA Pro-1-SS CO2 Regulator | Green Leaf Aquariums
- It's a very hefty price tag that I am unsure if I can really afford or not but I figured I might as well throw it in there to see what opinions surface on it.
I've also looked into DIY - grab my own Dual Stage reg, a solenoid, and an Ideal needle valve, but after checking around ebay and seeing the prices on most name brands mentioned in aquarium DIY Co2 (Matheson, Victor, Concoa) I am unsure if this will really beat buying a premade reg. Also some of the regs require total attachment replacements and I don't think I have any of the resources to be able to, well, do whatever it is that needs to be done to remove old threads and screw in new ones.
Now I've seen plenty of forums, posts, and reviews on the brand names Aquatek, Milwaukee, Azoo, Tunze, Dici, whatever, from what I can gather, they aren't the best (nor do most of them come in dual stage but the rather misleading dual GAUGE) and I really have no interest in these brands. (If you have one of these brands and it's worked well for you that's cool, count yourself lucky.)
As a side note I do see that Green Leaf Aquariums advertise that even their single stage regs do not cause end of tank dumps and a few of the CO2 Art single stage regs have a few answered questions on end of tank dumps not happening with theirs either. I'm really curious as to this holding true, then why would they sell dual stage regs?
Also, diaphragm blow outs, these worry me as well but I am unsure of how they happen, I imagine if you leave the 5 lb CO2 tank in the open position while trying to remove the regulator? Is this a problem with paintball tanks, as they do not have a valve before the regulator, like cylinders do.
I've found this one from CO2 Art - https://www.co2art.co.uk/collection...gulator-and-solenoid-magnetic-valve-smc-valve
- It gets a lot of positive reviews and a lot of praise, but some say that it's not a true dual stage regulator and since they don't have any pictures of the back of it I can not tell. (Maybe it's why they don't show pics of the backside, also every youtube video on CO2 Art regs seem to be for the Advanced Prof Dual Reg, which is $200ish and is a true dual stage reg.)
I've also wondered about this one from Aquaristik - https://sraquaristik.com/product/dual-stage-co2-regulator/
- Absolutely no reviews on it, can't seem to find any who gives a review of it, so totally unsure if this one is any good at all or not. (Again I can not tell if it is an actual dual stage, but it looks small to me, smaller than a dual stage should look, especially since half the back of the reg is made up of the attachment to the cylinder.)
The last one on the list is the Green Leaf Aquariums - GLA Pro-1-SS CO2 Regulator | Green Leaf Aquariums
- It's a very hefty price tag that I am unsure if I can really afford or not but I figured I might as well throw it in there to see what opinions surface on it.
I've also looked into DIY - grab my own Dual Stage reg, a solenoid, and an Ideal needle valve, but after checking around ebay and seeing the prices on most name brands mentioned in aquarium DIY Co2 (Matheson, Victor, Concoa) I am unsure if this will really beat buying a premade reg. Also some of the regs require total attachment replacements and I don't think I have any of the resources to be able to, well, do whatever it is that needs to be done to remove old threads and screw in new ones.
Now I've seen plenty of forums, posts, and reviews on the brand names Aquatek, Milwaukee, Azoo, Tunze, Dici, whatever, from what I can gather, they aren't the best (nor do most of them come in dual stage but the rather misleading dual GAUGE) and I really have no interest in these brands. (If you have one of these brands and it's worked well for you that's cool, count yourself lucky.)
As a side note I do see that Green Leaf Aquariums advertise that even their single stage regs do not cause end of tank dumps and a few of the CO2 Art single stage regs have a few answered questions on end of tank dumps not happening with theirs either. I'm really curious as to this holding true, then why would they sell dual stage regs?
Also, diaphragm blow outs, these worry me as well but I am unsure of how they happen, I imagine if you leave the 5 lb CO2 tank in the open position while trying to remove the regulator? Is this a problem with paintball tanks, as they do not have a valve before the regulator, like cylinders do.