CO2 regulator problems?

Just got my CO2 canister system (Milwaukee regulator) up and running and planted my new tank with all new plants yesterday. Made some 4dKH water for my drop checker as recommend in an article on this site. I have been able to get my drop checker to turn green for the last couple of days very easily.

My problem is that I am having trouble fine tuning with the regulator's bubble counter, and I think my regulator may be faulty. I am having difficulty getting 2 bubbles per second (bps) -- which seems about right for my 50G tank and my current plant load -- as the bps seems to change on its own over time (perhaps 1 to 5 mins), i.e. either increase (which is very scary) or decrease. If I stop the main valve while increasing output, the bps will increase over time. If I stop the main valve while decreasing output, the bps will decrease to about 1 bps over time. Just the 1 bps keeps my drop checker fairly green, but once the plant mass increases, I suspect I will need more than 1 bps. I have tried just about every combination of main valve/needle valve and the inconsistency really hasn't changed.

And, to top all of this off, when the CO2 system kicks on in the morning automatically, I usually end up with no bps until I play around with it -- perhaps because my room is rather cold, not sure.

It should be noted that my regulator arrived somewhat damaged (needle valve) and I was sent a new needle valve to put on it, which I did.

Anyway, do you think I am fighting a losing battle with a faulty CO2 regulator? Or, am I doing something wrong? Since my tank is now started, I cannot afford to send my regulator back to the manufacturer without buying a backup regulator. I have seen only Milwaukee, Azoo and Red Sea regulators after quite a bit of research. I am open to recommendations and willing to spend a little extra money for something of higher quality.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

Jonathan -- I checked for leaks as you recommended, and it looked good at all connection points. Thanks.

Prof M -- I expect to buy a Rex Grigg model very soon ... kind of waiting to see if I want a 2nd tank or not, so I can have him give me a double needle valve. I researched his stuff last nite and it looks very good ... not sure I'll get the top-of-the line needle valve for an extra $65, but I will pay the extra $8 for the minor upgrade.

Hoppy -- you were right on the money! I kept trying to set the main valve as low as possible -- big mistake. One of the big problems I was fighting is that the low pressure gauge has never worked -- always at zero. It is not warranted, so I guess I'm out of luck on that one. Anyway, I simply cranked the main valve up a little and did more adjusting with the needle valve ... and you could have set your watch by my bubble rate the rest of the day. One little movement of the need valve and I went from 3 bps to 2 and back again, all without a hitch.

Thanks for your good advice guys. It's a big relief not to have to sit in my room all day watching the bubble counter!

My new plants are "pearling" all day -- and after 3 days of the new tank using EI, not even a hint of algae anywhere and the plants all look great. Seeing as I'm new to this, I had no "mulm" (whatever that is), and I can't tell if my bacteria has kicked in yet, or not (I put some Bio-Spira in yesterday) -- looking forward to getting a few fish soon.

 

Carissa, I read up on tank cycling and see that you are right. I had 2.0 ppm ammonia in my tank today, so I'm hoping the bacteria survive long enough for me to go out and buy an ammonia tolerant fish. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until Wednesday because of New Year's, I'm sure. I just hope the fish store will take the zebra danio or barb back as a gift when I am done with it -- I wasn't planning on keeping these fish in my tank.

Not sure what caused the 2.0 ppm of ammonia in my tank ... perhaps because there is some dead plant matter in there.

I also read that you can put pure ammonia in the water to get the cycle started ... I may try that instead of a live fish.

 

That's good news ... I hadn't added any ammonia yet! "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" describes me fairly well at this point. Thanks for the warning.

I assume, however, that my ammonia reading today of 2.0 is fairly high for your average tetra and that I should wait for that to subside, along with the nitrites, before adding fish? I used ADA Aquasoil ... the source of my ammonia reading, I'm sure.

I think I got some fast growing plants, but mostly I looked thru a website (AAG) and ordered the ones that looked cool to me: Amazon sword (2 small), cabomba (2 bunches), anachris (2 bunches), japanese fan (3), corkscrew val (3), Ludwiga repens (sp?) (4 - 2 BL, 2 narrow), HC (3 pots), banana plants (3), Golden Lloyodelia (sp?) (1), cardinal plant (1) -- I like most of them. My tank is very well planted, that's for sure. I'll probably have an uncontrollable jungle when they all start growing in, but at least I'll have a decent eco-system fairly soon. It's only my 4th day on EI, but everything looks excellent at this point. I'm definitely no longer planning on buying an army of algae eaters because I think I'd just end up having to figure out a way to get them something to eat.

Thanks again...