Matheson Dual Stage 3810-540 Postbody Build

[quincieadams]

So I’ve made the biggest investment into my aquarium so far, Matheson Dual Stage 3810-540 with an awesome postbody build.


This was no small feat; it was accomplished with a great deal of research and help by Matt which I thank so much for his time and thanks to all those on these forums that really know what they are doing not just fools with an opinion like the majority of sites. Lol damn fools!


I feel like there is a piece of me in this reg, not sure if its cause of the cost or because it’s been a long time coming but whatever the reason I’m so thrilled to have it up and running.

The build was extremely easy once I had all the parts in front of me, the hardest part had to be waiting on everything to come in.


The post body includes all Swagelok fitting:

B-2-ME
Description: MALE ELBOW

B-4-RSE-2
Description: REDUCING STREET ELBOW

B-4-HLN-2.00
Description: HEX LONG NIPPLE

B-2C2-1/3
Description: CHECK VALVE

B-6M0-7-2
Description: METRIC FEMALE CONNECTOR

B-6M5-4M
Description: METRIC INSERT



Ideal 52-1-12 needle valve



CGA 320 Nut and Nipple from Regulator and Torch Exchange, Inc



Burkert Solenoid Valve with Buna Seal, a 10# Co2 tank and Perma-Seal from AquariumPlants.com



ADA: I love their quality, great stuff worth every penny spent.

CO2 Glass Bubble Counter

Pollen Glass Type-3

Gray Part Set

Pressure Proof Tube 2m



Here are a few pics of the reg as it once sat and as it sits now, all sexy looking next to my tank.lol oh boy!

I'll be posting about plant growth and about my experience as i have the time but for now , thanks a lot for this great site Tom and thank you Matt.

 

[Left C]

That is a terrific build! Did you notice that you didn't list your Ideal 52-1-12 needle valve in your parts list?

Did you find it very easy to dial in your bubble count with your two stage regulator and Ideal needle valve?

 

[oldpunk]

Did you find it very easy to dial in your bubble count with your two stage regulator and Ideal needle valve?

Did you even have to ask? lol

 

[quincieadams]

OH, nice call on the Ideal Valve I did forget it.

The bubble count is quite easy to dial once i got used to it. At first i would try to compensate and add more co2 before it could completely pressurize.

I thought about replace my ideal with one that has the vernier metering handle because in the beginning that seemed to be an awesome feature that i needed but now, not so much.

Since this is my first time every working with a pressurized system I'm just so overwhelmed at how smooth everything operates. Its like that Showtime Rotisserie cooker advertisement that would come on, "Set it, and forget it" lol

 

[Left C]

"Set it, and forget it" lol .... That's exactly how I feel about using a good two stage regulator and the Ideal "1" series needle valves. They are smooth precision. It is exactly why I asked about your ease of dialing it in. oldpunk was correct in saying "Did you even need to ask?" The Burkert Buna-N solenoid is made for use in a manufacturing setting or labratory use. ... No need to worry here.

I greatly believe that it is worth saving your money and getting a great setup like this than going ahead and buying one of the manufactured cheap and complete regulators on the market.

FYI, If you don't know this yet, you can tune your bubble count with a combination of using both the needle valve and the working pressure. The Ideal NVs just make it super easy. I set my working pressure to 10 psi when the solenoid is open. Then I set my bubble count.

Also, you can get a Vernier handle for your Ideal NV. They are about $22, I think. Just call Bill Sand at IdealValve.com if you want one. You can either zero it in yourself or let Bill do it.

 

[quincieadams]

I did notice that the working pressure played a part in the bubble count but you have your set at 10?

I'll have to try that out, I've got mine at 20 right now but for some reason the Burkert Solenoid is making a buzzing sound now..

I've found a post where Matt said,

"open the tank valve with the solenoid off.
open the needle valve all the way (or remove it-dsiconnect from co2 tubing).
plug in the solenoid.
unplug the solenoid to stop gas flow.

try again if the noise doesn't go away.

the noise could also be related to backpressure and weird components (too high a cracking pressure, etc.)."

He says back pressure, whats he talking about here? Back pressure from the diffuser?

I have notice algae build up on the ceramic disk in the diffuser so I'll clean that up once i get some bleach tonight. Could that be the cause of back pressure?

I couldn't agree with you more about saving until you have the cash for a setup like this, I for many years tried to work with DIY co2 and thought about buying those cheap paintball regs after many failures but researching and reading forums turned me away from el cheapos.

Its nice to know i can get the Vernier handle and add it on myself, i may do that soon.

 

[Left C]

I did notice that the working pressure played a part in the bubble count but you have your set at 10?

I'll have to try that out, I've got mine at 20 right now

That is just the pressure that I use. I don't use a diffuser that requires force to make it work properly. I use a needle wheel pump (Eheim 1103) and it does not require much pressure at all. The only back pressure that I get is from the cracking pressure of the check valves. I suppose there is a little bit of pressure required to flow through the Burkert solenoid and the tiny bit of friction caused by the tubing from the CO[SUB]2[/SUB] passing through. Both of these are negligable though.

Your working pressure may require more than mine. It is just whatever works. As an example, some of the newer atomizers require 30+ psi to operate.

but for some reason the Burkert Solenoid is making a buzzing sound now..

I've found a post where Matt said,

"open the tank valve with the solenoid off.
open the needle valve alor disconnectrdisconnect-dsiconnect from co2 tubing).
plug in the solenoid.
unplug the solenoid to stop gas flow.

try again if the noise doesn't go away.

the noise could also be related to backpressure and weird components (too high a cracking pressure, etc.)."

He says back pressure, whats he talking about here? Back pressure from the diffuser?

I've never had that problem from Burkert solenoids.

Back pressure comes from the cracking pressure that the check valves need to open and the pressure required for the diffuser to operate. These are the two main areas.

I have notice algae build up on the ceramic disk in the diffuser so I'll clean that up once i get some bleach tonight. Could that be the cause of back pressure?

It could be requiring more pressure because some pores may be blocked.

I couldn't agree with you more about saving until you have the cash for a setup like this, I for many years tried to work with DIY co2 and thought about buying those cheap paintball regs after many failures but researching and reading forums turned me away from el cheapos.

You see many posts from frustrated newbies using one of those manufactured cheap and complete regulators. Many blow the low pressure gauge on the Milwaukee regulators the first time that they use them. Some people with the Cornelious regulators do the same thing. Then many complain about the touchy needle valves on them.

I'm glad that you went the way that you did.

Its nice to know i can get the Vernier handle and add it on myself, i may do that soon.

Many folks like that option. You can always go back to a preset point easily with those micrometer handles.

 

[Matt F.]

That buzzing noise is irritating! I've had it happen on one or two fo my solenoids. With the solenoid unplugged, remove the back nut. refasten that nut and see if it still makes the noise. Sometimes when that nut is over tight, you get that noise.

 

[Left C]

That buzzing noise is irritating! I've had it happen on one or two of my solenoids. With the solenoid unplugged, remove the back nut. refasten that nut and see if it still makes the noise. Sometimes when that nut is over tight, you get that noise.

This sure is an odd way to "catch a buzz!" LOL

 

[quincieadams]

I cleaned out the diffuser, lowered the working pressure to 10psi and haven't heard the buzzing yet. I plan on being home all day today so i can keep an "ear" on it when it does come on.

Hopefully I wont "catch a buzz" like that again. lol

So i want to post my before and after tank shots and everything I've done to the take but do you guys think i should do it in this thread or make a new one and keep this one just for the reg?

 

[Left C]

If you want, you can post some pictures here and also start a journal in the general section with the same pictures or however that you want to do it.

Hopefully, the buzzing has quit.

 

[quincieadams]

Well its been on for over an hour now and I replaced the nut like Matt said, the buzzing is no where near to what it was but I'm not as concerned now that you cant hear it unless your ear is on top of it.

Maybe there has always been a little buzz but until now i really haven't notice it.

Here are some shots of before, during and after.

So as you can see i had a ton of vals and sag in the before. I kept a few vals that i replanted in the back and replanted the nicer looking sag up front.

I had one small section of dwarf sag that I wanted to keep in hopes of it making a carpet affect. I may have save a small patch which looks to be doing well.

Have a tone of water wisteria which i will keep for now.

The red tiger lotus was also kept and is doing pretty good. I found two smaller bulbs that branched off the big one, both of those are also doing good.

The steams of....??? maybe Bacopa australis, not sure if that is what i have but that's the closest plant i can find that looks like it. Are now in the middle, i thought i would lose a few steams as they didn't seem fit to fight but by my amazement they came back to life!

Had four small steams of rotala in there also, I'm amazed at how well they are doing.

The java fern has seen better days, lol it looked like Edward Scissorhands got to it. It was doing really bad before the ferts and Co2 but now it is showing more life than ever.

I also had one steam of Cabomba Green just floating around, now it has found a home next to the anubias and actually started to root. I've had this one steam for months now and could never get it to root so i'm very pleased.

The Anubias was the only plant i did not remove for the rescape, it took awhile for it to root back there so i didn't see the benefit of pulling it up just to replant it in the same spot. It now has three new leafs and another coming out.

Please correct me if i named those plants wrong, i was never big into learning plant names. lol

Below are pics from every Sunday since the rescape. I will have some more tomorrow after the water change.

1/29/2012

2/5/2012

2/12/2012

It can also be noted that since the rescape i have upgraded my filter to a Fluval 205 with the spray bar. Since doing this i was able to remove the Koralia Nano, the water flow from the 205 is great.

I've been dosing Flourish potassium 7ml, phosphorus 10ml and nitrogen 5ml. As well as some Flourish Comprehensive 7ml, I was running low on that so i now have Flourish Trace, i thought it was the same stuff but after doing some research its not.would you recommend using this or should i buy some more Comprehensive?

For now that's all I have time for, I'll probably start my journal tomorrow with more on my progress.