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Paintball Co2 Injection DIY Setup with Tons of Photos

607K views 2K replies 371 participants last post by  Jmcdaniel0 
#1 · (Edited)
Updated Re-write. 2/4/2011

I found a cheap way to use Paintball Co2 Tank for injecting Co2 into planted aquariums. Prices varies depending on different Brands of products that you purchase. I preferred to get parts brand new to avoid any problem down the line. This setup can cost from $30 dollars to $80 dollars + for a working unit. It all depends on what you want to do and add on to it. But it's easily obtainable with $30 dollars to rig up.


In order to have this setup rig up and working. You will need the following items.


- 3.5 oz to 24 oz Paintball Co2 Tank filled $25 and under.

- Paintball Co2 ASA On/Off Valve 2 Threads (Gauge, Needle Valve inputs) $10 - $60 depending on brand.

- Paintball Co2 Gauge - $5 - $10 depending on brand.

- Needle Valves (You have several options to choose from) $10 - $20
* Watts A-41 LF 1/8'' x 1/4'' Compression (Homedepot or Lowes)
* Watts A-40 LF 1/8'' x 1/4'' Compression (Homedepot or Lowes)
* Swagelok Needle Valve 1/8'' x 1/8'' Compression (Ebay)
* My Needle Valve1/8'' x 1/4'' (Ask me if interested) (PM Me)

- Co2 Tubing (Part Number SVEB10 sold at Homedepot 10 feet is $2.14)

- Teflon Tape (Homedepot or Lowes/Craft Stores .50 cent - $1.00)

- Check Valve (Aquarium store $1)

- Bubble Counter Optional (Online store prices varies)

- Drop Checker Optional (Online store prices varies)

- A way to diffuse Co2 into your tank whether through a ceramic glass diffuser, hang on filter, canister filter, chop stick, power head, reactor. Prices varies from Free to whatever


Your parts will be similar to the photos below.

It's basically pretty simple. A basic guide.


- Make sure Paintball Co2 is Filled
- Teflon Tape Gauge Thread and screw it into any side of the ASA On/Off Valve. Use a wrench to further tighten it.
- Prepare your Needle Valve's both side threads with Telfon Tape.
- Slide Co2 tubing through the Needle Valve's output Nut, then do the same to through the Compression Sleeve.
- Tighten Needle Valve's output Nut onto the Needle Valve. Use a wrench to further tighten it.
- Screw on Needle Valve into the ASA On/Off Valve. Use a wrench to further tighten it.
- Twist the Top Knob on the ASA On/Off Valve counter clockwise to open the Pin.
- Screw ASA On/Off Valve onto the Paintball Co2 Tank. Hand tighten only.
- Make sure your Needle Valve is Closed fully.
- Twist the Top Knob on the ASA On/Off Valve clockwise to close the Pin.
- If Gauge reads 800-850 PSI, Co2 Gas has entered the ASA On/Off Valve Chamber.
- SLIGHTLY open the Needle Valve "T" Arm.
- Dump the entire Paintball Co2 Tank with the ASA On/Off Valve into a 10gallon fish tank or 5 gallon bucket. Check for leaks. Any bubble forms will result in leakage. Trace your installation steps again.
- If no leak is present, hook the end of the Co2 Tubing to desire way to diffusing the Co2 gas and you're good to go!


There are option parts such as Bubble Counter and Check Valves to be hooked up along the Co2 Tubing line. That should be common sense.

Basic Step for Installing Co2 Tubing onto Needle Valve.



Overall Setup Installation once said and done.



Paintball Co2 Tank


Paintball Co2 On and Off Valve 2 threaded inputs


Paintball Co2 Gauge (Wrap thread with Teflon tape to prevent leaks)


Homedepot Needle Valve (Wrap therad with Teftlon tape to prevent leaks)


One the Needle Valve, one thread goes into the On and Off Valve, and the other one has a coupler that will crimp onto a Co2 tubing hose. Which will be the path of your Co2 line going straight to your tank. Make sure you have this Co2 tubing connected as well.



Once everything is thread tight, making sure the upper needle valve of the On and Off Valve is fully counter clockwise opened, attach it onto the Co2 tank of your choice. Closed the upper needle valve by turning it clockwise to release Co2 from the Paintball Tank. Make sure your Needle Valve is closed all the way. Your gauge should bounce straight up to 800PSI at most.

Upper Valve Closed. 0 PSI


Upper Valve Opened. 800 PSI


Test the On and Off Valve for leaks by aiming the Paintball tank with everything attached up side down into a bucket of water. If there's any bubbles coming from the threaded slots, recheck your teflon tape and tightness.

Once there's no leak, everything should be a straight forward from there. Attach the end of the Co2 tubing to a Diffuser and your good to go. Adjust bubbles from 2bps to 4bps.


A regular 24oz Paintball Co2 Tank at about 2bps will last a good 4-6 months. When refilling Co2 tank, just close your Needle Valve, Open up the upper valve on the On and Off Valve with will block off the Co2 Tank's outlet pressure. Then go ahead and twist off the On and Off Valve itself and just bring the Co2 Tank to your local Co2 Paintball store and have it refill. It only cost $4.00 to refill a 24oz Paintball tank.


Been using 3 of these units on 3 different tanks and have had no problems. You can also get away without using a Gauge, Save yourself the extra few bucks. Fully filled Co2 Tank is about 1.4 lbs. I used one without a Gauge and it works the same. Just keep the Hex bolt in the Gauge slot closed so that way a Gauge is not needed. All the parts can be bought locally at your local Paintball sport stores and Homedepot or Lowes.

Hope that helps!

Additional informations for easy lookup.

The O rings are easily replacecable. It's like .58 cents per 3-6 O rings. Part number at Lowes is BrassCraft # 0533. The size is 1/4"ID x 3/8"OD x 1/16" Wall Thickness.

At 1bps on a 24 oz PB tank. You can get 5-6 months.
At 2bps on a 24 oz PB tank. You can get 4-5 months.
At 3bps on a 24 oz PB tank. You can get 2-3 months.
At 4-5 bps on a 24 oz PB tank, You can get 1.5-2 months
At 6-8 bps on a 24 oz PB tank, You're looking at 1 month before refill.

With g33tar permissions, the Option #3 setup attached to a Super Diffuser/Atomic Diffuser in great working results!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KYQDDBjX5s
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#284 ·
OK, I wanted to answer a few questions I keep getting via PM. That way if anyone else is interested they can just look here for the information.

First off I have not placed the order yet, I'm still leaving it open to anyone who may be interested, but I think I will call it quite on Tuesday. That way the weekday crowd can still get in. I'm sure if it came to it, I could get more in the future, so if you can't get it this time, I will see what I can do.

Second. I looked up pricing for shipping. I don't see any reason this will not fit in the standard priority box from the post office, but I will pick one up and verify for everyone. My goal is to use the smallest box possible to save a little more money.

If you are interested in finding a rough estimate on price click this link.http://postcalc.usps.gov/Default.aspx. Just type in my zip code 53594, and your zip code. Pick a date, I used 10/22/2010. Select Priority mail small flat rate box. and you will get a table with the prices. It looks to be around $5.00 for shipping to 90210, CA, with a 2 day delivery time. If you want it quicker, I can do that, but you can see the price jumps up quite a bit.

Third - If you only want the valve, that's cool with me. Some people want a complete setup, so I wanted to give people that option, but it's not a requirement. As I said, I'm just trying to help out, since a lot of people have helped me.

Payments - My plan for payment is this. I'm going to place the order, and once it comes in, pay for it all and pick it up. Then I will calculate the shipping cost and the total for each order and send you a message. At that time you can send me the money. I'm doing it this way in the event something major happens and the order falls through, no one is out any money, and most of all, everyone is protected. I know I'm taking a small risk here, so please do me the courtesy, if you don't think you can pay for it, please don't order. I'm the type of person that believes good deeds come back around, and Karma can be a real BitC#, but I hope this is cool with everyone.

OK, I'm shutting up now, in case people don't want to look, here's the parts and prices one more time.

UPDATED "JAGGEDFURY" DIY PAINTBALL PRICING


Trinity Paintball Adapter - $11.00 (see pictures above)
Needle Valve - $4.99
20' of Vinyl tubing (CO2 safe) $2.69
Teflon Tape - $.99
24 Oz CO2 tank (Dunhams) - $21.99 (Due to shipping restrictions, I would prefer not to send anyone tanks, I hope you understand)
24 Oz CO2 Fill - (Hobby Town - $4.50)

Shipping - $5.00 - Or close to it

Total - $50.16 ***** I could have found the tank cheaper, but I had a coupon for 15% off******
 
#286 ·
OK, I wanted to answer a few questions I keep getting via PM. That way if anyone else is interested they can just look here for the information.

First off I have not placed the order yet, I'm still leaving it open to anyone who may be interested, but I think I will call it quite on Tuesday. That way the weekday crowd can still get in. I'm sure if it came to it, I could get more in the future, so if you can't get it this time, I will see what I can do.

Second. I looked up pricing for shipping. I don't see any reason this will not fit in the standard priority box from the post office, but I will pick one up and verify for everyone. My goal is to use the smallest box possible to save a little more money.

If you are interested in finding a rough estimate on price click this link.http://postcalc.usps.gov/Default.aspx. Just type in my zip code 53594, and your zip code. Pick a date, I used 10/22/2010. Select Priority mail small flat rate box. and you will get a table with the prices. It looks to be around $5.00 for shipping to 90210, CA, with a 2 day delivery time. If you want it quicker, I can do that, but you can see the price jumps up quite a bit.

Third - If you only want the valve, that's cool with me. Some people want a complete setup, so I wanted to give people that option, but it's not a requirement. As I said, I'm just trying to help out, since a lot of people have helped me.

Payments - My plan for payment is this. I'm going to place the order, and once it comes in, pay for it all and pick it up. Then I will calculate the shipping cost and the total for each order and send you a message. At that time you can send me the money. I'm doing it this way in the event something major happens and the order falls through, no one is out any money, and most of all, everyone is protected. I know I'm taking a small risk here, so please do me the courtesy, if you don't think you can pay for it, please don't order. I'm the type of person that believes good deeds come back around, and Karma can be a real BitC#, but I hope this is cool with everyone.

OK, I'm shutting up now, in case people don't want to look, here's the parts and prices one more time.

UPDATED "JAGGEDFURY" DIY PAINTBALL PRICING


Trinity Paintball Adapter - $11.00 (see pictures above)
Needle Valve - $4.99
20' of Vinyl tubing (CO2 safe) $2.69
Teflon Tape - $.99
24 Oz CO2 tank (Dunhams) - $21.99 (Due to shipping restrictions, I would prefer not to send anyone tanks, I hope you understand)
24 Oz CO2 Fill - (Hobby Town - $4.50)

Shipping - $5.00 - Or close to it

Total - $50.16 ***** I could have found the tank cheaper, but I had a coupon for 15% off******
Awesome work. Do I get $1 dollar for every setup you sell to members here? LOL just kidding. Props to you for dealing with this. I've been getting alot of PM also about oversea weird looking on and off valves. I hope this clears alot of interested people's question on the oversea on/off valves.
 
#288 ·
Now what is 50% of the satisfaction of helping your fellow PTN brethren(sisterren)? I didn't want to offend the ladies here by leaving them out. J/K, seriously if there was money to be made it would only be fair to split it since you started this whole craze, lol...

sent from my phone, because I can't get the internet out in the boonies.
 
#292 ·
there was this one DIY co2 in my mind for a while, i wonder if anyone else thought of it. this method is to use the old yeast/sugar and water mix in the bottle but this time you can shut of the co2.

but here is my idea (i havent tried it yet).

you will need:

bottle (this cant explode)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Danskin-Now-Aluminum-Water-Bottle-Blue/11969613?findingMethod=rr

check valve for on/off and the tubing ofcourse.

something to drill the hole in bottle cap for the check valve to tightly fit and something to make it leak free, i think gluing it might be best.

the rest is simple, you know what to do. i dont think that anything should explode, but i cant promise. if anyone is intersted to try this please share your opinions.
 
#293 ·
there was this one DIY co2 in my mind for a while, i wonder if anyone else thought of it. this method is to use the old yeast/sugar and water mix in the bottle but this time you can shut of the co2.

but here is my idea (i havent tried it yet).

you will need:

bottle (this cant explode)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Danskin-Now-Aluminum-Water-Bottle-Blue/11969613?findingMethod=rr

check valve for on/off and the tubing ofcourse.

something to drill the hole in bottle cap for the check valve to tightly fit and something to make it leak free, i think gluing it might be best.

the rest is simple, you know what to do. i dont think that anything should explode, but i cant promise. if anyone is intersted to try this please share your opinions.
I did this for my Mini S couple months ago. I got this idea from another member.
 
#294 ·
could you please post a picture of that setup and whatever you have used to make it.

how well did this work for you? how long did it last?

many members could take benefits from this, please start a new thread related to this topic, unless you want to continue this in this same thread. i hope its ok for you to share this with us

thanks
 
#296 ·
***********LAST CALL!!!!!!!!!********

Well, the requests have slowed down, so I think it's about time to put this bad boy to rest. I will be placing the order tomorrow (Wednesday October 20th) so if you are still on the fence, you still have a little time to decide. Since there was some confusion in the beginning (mostly due to the limited size of my PM box) I will post a list of the people who have confirmed an order with me. That way if I missed anyone, we can get them added.

Thanks again

Bill
 
#303 ·
Due to some personal issues I'm going to extend the order deadline till tonight. I won't be able to place the order till tomorrow am. I do apologize, but if anyone would prefer to cancel their order, just let me know. I don't like to say I'm going to do something then not do it, but in this case I didn't have any choice. I hope you all understand.
 
#297 ·
First of all great thread all. I just got finished ordering all remaining parts needed ( asa and guage) I have the valve ,hose,airline and tank. Currently I am using a diy system and injecting into my intake of my hob filter (aquaclear)with not noise issues. Will it be ok to do the same with the new system and what is everyone using for a bubble counter? currently I am not using one. 20 gallon tank
 
#300 ·
I'm using a small juice bottle with two hoses and some water in it. The inlet hose runs underwater and bubbles. The secondary tube runs to the filter inlet. Nice, cheap, and it also served as a stop gap on my DIY system

sent from my phone, because I can't get the internet out in the boonies.
 
#304 ·
A few days into starting this thread, I went and removed a huge chuck of Glosso foreground plants from one of my tanks. The size was enough to fit a 10''x12'' aluminum baking pan. Which I gave away free. Just today that area regrew itself and covered the place again. Co2 helps alot :) Check out the photos!

After removing huge chuck of Glosso


The 10x12'' Aluminum Baking Pan full of Glosso


Shrimps didn't seem bothered by it. They enjoyed the cloudy murky water lol


Shrimps dining above the old substrate where Glosso carpet used to be on


As of today 10/20/10 co2 reads a little hairline below 800psi.


Current photo of the tank co2 paintball being used in. Notice the Glosso grew back fast!



Just want to state that this setup works very well. I am pleased with it. So in conclusion, go rig up one of two of these bad boys!
 
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