[hbosman]

Has anybody really experienced an EOTD?

I've run a Redsea Paintball Regulator and Needle Valve (not exactly high dollar) for two years and routinely ran the bottle empty. The only time I would swap the 20 oz bottle before it ran empty is when I was not going to be home to swap the bottle for a full one. When the regulator would show the co2 tank pressure in the red (low) zone, the working pressure would increase about 5 psi. 5 psi isn't an EOTD in my estimation. I currently use a Draught Technologies regulator (Ebay), input changed for Paintball and an inline Fabco nv -55 needle valve. Right now the regulator's tank pressure gauge is in the redzone and the working pressure increased from 16 psi to 18 psi. When I get home from work I will swap the empty 20 oz tank for a full one, not anticipating EOTD issues. If anybody has experienced an EOTD, could you post what brand or model regulator and needle valve you were using? How long ago this happened and what were you using to diffuse the co2? I'm thinking that EOTD is just a legend, am I wrong in this thinking?

By the way, the 4 kdh drop checker is yellow green so I am not allowing to much leeway in co2 saturation either.

 

[speedie408]

What diffusion/reaction method are you using? I think the main concern with EOTD is for people who use reactors such as the 'Rex style' pvc units ,or people who run CO2 directly into the inlet of their canister filter who end up retaining all or majority of the 'dumped' CO2 within the unit for reaction. This in turn results in an over dose of CO2 which will lead to the "dead fish when you get home from work" ordeal.

I've experienced EOTD on my M3 regulator, but at the time I was using a powerhead for diffusion. All the 'dumped' CO2 bubbles degassed themselves at the water surface. I wouldn't worry too much if you don't use a reactor.

 

[hbosman]

I've used a Rex style PVC Reactor for over a year and power heads for about half a year and never experienced EOTD running the co2 tanks empty. I am currently using a cheap inline ceramic diffuser. Yeah, I believe you're right that it is highly unlikely to happen with ceramic diffusers.

 

[yikesjason]

A few weeks ago I had an almost disastrous end of tank dump. The tank was fine in the afternoon when I was working on it. Then just 3 or 4 hours later all of my fish were almost dead. I was able to revive them with a water change and air running through a powerhead, but it was scary. I had noticed the tank pressure dropping for a couple of days before that.

It is a smith regulator with some needle valve I have never seen before. For distribution I have a ceramic disk under a powerhead inlet.

 

[hbosman]

A few weeks ago I had an almost disastrous end of tank dump. The tank was fine in the afternoon when I was working on it. Then just 3 or 4 hours later all of my fish were almost dead. I was able to revive them with a water change and air running through a powerhead, but it was scary. I had noticed the tank pressure dropping for a couple of days before that.

It is a smith regulator with some needle valve I have never seen before. For distribution I have a ceramic disk under a powerhead inlet.

did you notice if your working pressure changed?

 

[Church]

I use the red sea paintball regulator, and I too have never experienced the "dump." About the only thing I've ever noticed is that when it is nearing the end of the bottle the needle valve has to be tinkered with a lot, if I want to keep it at the steady 2 bps I keep it at. But this usually only lasts about a day or 2, and if I'm too lazy to care, it only drifts about + or - 1 bps.

It might be more drastic on a large tank, as opposed to the paintball ones? My first 5 lb tank has yet to run out so I have no personal experience in that area.

 

[hbosman]

That sounds like my experience as well. The bubble count and working pressure will go up a bit but no EOTD. Yeah, maybe there is something to the fact that the tanks are so much smaller, so the EOTD doesn't occur?

 

[mott]

I ran a red sea for over a year with a 20oz canister. Never did I experience an EOTD, I ran it down to the last bubble now with my #5 and the Milwaukee reg I have to keep an eye on it when it gets low. It ill shoot up to 60psi or so working pressure when the can gets below 500 and then I have to adjust the WP down to 20 again but I never let it go completely empty like I did with my red sea reg.
It would most definitely kill my fish if I left it alone. My one saving grace is I run a controller on the co2 but if a EOTD happened with me not around I'm not sure the controller would catch it.

 

[hbosman]

Church,

What kind of regulator and needle valve are you using on the 5 pounder?

 

[hbosman]

Orlando,

The link is not bringing up the video. I'd love to see it.

 

[hbosman]

I ran a red sea for over a year with a 20oz canister. Never did I experience an EOTD, I ran it down to the last bubble now with my #5 and the Milwaukee reg I have to keep an eye on it when it gets low. It ill shoot up to 60psi or so working pressure when the can gets below 500 and then I have to adjust the WP down to 20 again but I never let it go completely empty like I did with my red sea reg.
It would most definitely kill my fish if I left it alone. My one saving grace is I run a controller on the co2 but if a EOTD happened with me not around I'm not sure the controller would catch it.

Mott,

Wow, that sounds kind of scary. How long do you run the 5 lber before it drops below 500?

 

[Hoppy]

When I used a Milwaukee regulator assembly I had end of tank dumps almost every time the tank ran out of CO2. Most times I was observant enough to catch it, but I lost a lot of fish the times I wasn't. That regulator also acts up during the warmup of a refilled tank. The tank starts out cold - low pressure in it. As it warms up the tank pressure goes up, making the outlet pressure drop to near zero. Until I bit the bullet and just waited for the tank to warm up before turning the CO2 back on, I had to readjust the regulator back up to 15-20 psi several times every time I refilled the tank. That one regulator, or possibly my one specimen of that one regulator definitely did change outlet pressure inversely with the inlet pressure, badly enough to make it a royal pain to use.

I was using an external DIY reactor, but any method where you depend on the bubble rate to stay steady will be adversely affected by this. It doesn't dump the entire contents of the tank quickly, it just increases the bubble rate by a factor of 2 or so, causing CO2 poisoning for the fish.

 

[Church]

Orlando,

The link is not bringing up the video. I'd love to see it.

Did you post that in the wrong thread?

As far as what regulator and needle valve... it's the GLA Primo regulator with, I think those come with Fabco needle valves?

 

[hbosman]

Did you post that in the wrong thread?

As far as what regulator and needle valve... it's the GLA Primo regulator with, I think those come with Fabco needle valves?

That was weird, I saw a post from Orlando concerning EOTD, I tried to view the linked video and then the post disappeared. Maybe my brain took an EOTD.:icon_roll

 

[Green Leaf Aquariums]

Sorry! This is our customers regulator on empty upon arrival.
http://www.aquaticplantenthusiasts.com/showthread.php?t=1933

 

[speedie408]

It doesn't dump the entire contents of the tank quickly, it just increases the bubble rate by a factor of 2 or so, causing CO2 poisoning for the fish.

If this is EOTD then I've never experienced it before. When my tank is getting low, it sometimes release a swarm of bubbles all at once. This is at night when my CO2 is shutoff via needle valve, 2-3 hrs after the shutoff... weird.

 

[mott]

Mott,

Wow, that sounds kind of scary. How long do you run the 5 lber before it drops below 500?

I'm doing like 3-4 bps and that'll last me like 3 months...

 

[kid creole]

Sorry! This is our customers regulator on empty upon arrival.
http://www.aquaticplantenthusiasts.com/showthread.php?t=1933

It would be cool if you put the camera on a tripod and let the tank run until the bubbles stopped. Especially if it was a regulator that is guilty of the EOTD, not one of your nice ones.

 

[kid creole]

The count would actually get slower sense there is not co2 in the cylinder(0psi)

There wasn't 0psi in that tank, otherwise the bubbles wouldn't have been flowing. I don't think that video showed the avoidance of an EOTD, but I don't think you'd necessarily expect to see the dump, assuming that was one of your regulators.

 

[2wheelsx2]

I got an EOTD in my 20 gallon with my first canister of CO2. Killed 99% of my fish. I never let it get below 200 PSI now. Not worth the risk to my fish. I was away on vacation at the time and never really saw what happened. I was also using Clippard needle valves at the time, but am now using Fabco's.