Hey everybody! After having shattered a glass bubble counter into my finger, I have decided to switch away from glass CO2 equipment. I have found a few in-tank reactors to replace glass diffusers, but am having trouble with the bubble counters. I have tried a couple of different plastic inline bubble counters, but have not felt like they have been very accurate and one created a LOT of back pressure.
Could anyone recommend a non-glass bubble counter?
I've never used any plastic bubble counters before, so I wouldn't know about that. But there are some good brass based bubble counters on the market that should both do the job and take small arms fire before they shatter. (Maybe not, but at least a lot stronger than your average all glass)
The sight glass on most of those brass bubble counters is acrylic (and/or plastic). They wont shatter if you drop them; but try and crank down the brass caps too snug and you'll watch the acrylic shatter.....multiple times if you're me!
You can DIY one with 2 check valves, a plastic bottle and some airline tubing, as well as epoxy. Stab 2 holes in the lid of the bottle, make sure they are smaller than the tubing, then pull one section of tubing 1" in and the other length about 3/4 of the way down the bottle. Stick 2 check valves on the ends of the tubing, and seal the tubing to the lid with epoxy. Fill with water, and you now have a ghetto-style bubble counter! (I use one of these because I am really cheap)
I made one by simply putting an old check valve into an oral syringe. Simple as that. It looked OK, worked great, and would be cheap to make, mine was free because I had everything. Just make sure you don't use your only oral syringe because you will need a second one, and some airline tubing, to fill it up with water or mineral oil.
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