Co2 Not Coming Out Of Diffuser.

New to co2. 10lb tank, dual regulator, ceramic diffuser, co2 tubing. 33g long aquarium. Initially when I was setting up the co2, I couldn’t get the diffuser to put anything out. I put a new check valve on and that seemed to fix it (cause or correlation idk). For the last week everything was perfect.

Yesterday I decided to rescape everything and place the diffuser at the other end of the tank. I took off the air line and installed a new, longer one. Same check valve and same diffuser. Put it in the tank and nothing. I’ve since replaced lines, check valve, and even bought a new diffuser.

If I remove the diffuser and put the line in the water, the bubbles will start coming out of the line. If I put the diffuser back on, nothing. I can crank the gas up like mad and it will start to come out, but if I turn it back down to 1-2 bubbles then it will stop and I can actually see it reverse up the tube slowly.

Bad check valves? Line leaking?

Thanks for the help.

 

How do you "crank the gas up"?
What are the regulator gauges saying. A picture of the regulator and a description of the check valve would be helpful

 

How do you "crank the gas up"?
What are the regulator gauges saying. A picture of the regulator and a description of the check valve would be helpful

The regulator gauges are 700 and 30psi. The needle valve, if I turn it up fast enough will push the air out. I think there is water in the line so I’m going to put new co2 airline in today and see if that works. Is there anything else I could be doing wrong?

Should I base my bubble count off of the regulator bubble counter or the one in the atomizer?

The check valve is plastic but after contacting co2art, the regulator manufacturer, they said to toss the plastic check valve as the regulator has a built in one.

Thank you for your time.

 

I suspect you have a gas leak. Check the top of the bubble counter (metal-glass or where the airline is attached) and also the check valve.
If you have an atomizer with a "build-in" bubble counter, do you see bubbles there?

 

I suspect you have a gas leak. Check the top of the bubble counter (metal-glass or where the airline is attached) and also the check valve.
If you have an atomizer with a "build-in" bubble counter, do you see bubbles there?

Bingo. You were spot on. I’m almost embarrassed to say this but it was a leak between the glass bubble counter and the screw on metal top. At some point I must have lost the o-ring because it wasn’t there. I just ran to the store and picked up a couple, inserted it into the bubble counter and presto. Everything works perfectly.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking the time to help me. I really, really appreciate it.