Do i need water in the co2 bubble counter?

i use a co2 regulator with bubble counter at the end of it. but i am at the point where i pretty much have the co2 rate down pretty well. the water from the bubble counter constantly declines from being pushed into the tank from pressure i assume. i can and have been easily just using a turkey baster(tank use only) to refill it. but at this point is it even inportant to have? wont the co2 be fine just goint strait through to the diffuser fine without water in between?

~ wasnt sure if this was supposed to be in co2 or equipment but i figured co2 users would know more =)

 

How fast is it going dry? Days/Weeks? Then you could have a small leak. If you aren't seeing a leak then you could replace the liquid with mineral oil to stop it from evaporating out.

Do you run drop checker or pH meter to at least have a rough idea of your CO2 concentration in the tank? The bubble counter by itself is not necessary and doesn't tell you much other than to have a relative frame of reference - at least good when you first put up a new tank or adjustments so you know you have CO2 going in but not a crazy amount.

 

not very fast i was just realizing to day after my water change before the lights came on that i forgot to refill it and was wondering if that is even an issue. its been a couple weeks since i last refilled it so im not too worried about at leak or anything . i just assumed that water sometimes makes its way trough the tubing into the tank or something so i always used tank water in the glass counter. and i use a drop checker in my tank. levels are pretty solid with a bright green. the bubble counter is fine. More so the drop checker has i have my regulator turn on like 2 hours before lights on for build up. giving the checker time to change and plants (heres your breakfast!) thrown in their face. found filling the bubble counter a miner annoyance when i have no need to pay attention to it anymore. so if the counter is dry co2 still passes though just the same yes? i mean aside from passing through water

 

Yeah, should be fine, a drop checker is a much better gauge then an arbitrary number of bubbles. Only reason I use it is when turning or adjusting the CO2 tank regulator. If your drop checker is steady like it sounds it is, I wouldn't worry about the bubble counter unless you fiddle around with the regulator. Water is not needed in it for CO2 to go through.

 

Yeah, should be fine, a drop checker is a much better gauge then an arbitrary number of bubbles. Only reason I use it is when turning or adjusting the CO2 tank regulator. If your drop checker is steady like it sounds it is, I wouldn't worry about the bubble counter unless you fiddle around with the regulator. Water is not needed in it for CO2 to go through.

nice. i just wanted to make sure water wasnt something that co2 needed to pass through the checker and the glass doesnt explode or something from pressure. that doesnt really make sense anyway. just like to cover all my bases even though im a weirdo and think of things like that


wow that came out really bad quality T_T

 

Nope, looks good. You could potentially take the bubble counter off, but I always like to keep mine on, basically acts like another check valve to prevent any backflow reaching the solenoid.

 

Nope, looks good. You could potentially take the bubble counter off, but I always like to keep mine on, basically acts like another check valve to prevent any backflow reaching the solenoid.

ill just let it do it's thing then. thanks for the help

 

For using co2 and growing land plants the regs have flow meters that use no water .
You should be all good and I experienced the same loss of water when I used co2 in my 180 .
It had to be being blown out not ever sucked back since I used check valves .
Made me wonder about those who use oil / glycerin in their bubble counters ..

 

My bubble counter occasionally runs dry and I don't worry too much about it. As the CO2 tank nears empty I like to keep water in it though because I find that the bubble rate can start to decrease a bit at that point and I have to adjust it up occasionally over the final weeks. I don't know if that happens with all regulators. Mine is a cheapie.

 

My bubble counter occasionally runs dry and I don't worry too much about it. As the CO2 tank nears empty I like to keep water in it though because I find that the bubble rate can start to decrease a bit at that point and I have to adjust it up occasionally over the final weeks. I don't know if that happens with all regulators. Mine is a cheapie.

This is a good point. I have found dual stage regulators don't have this CO2 drop off as the tank empties near so bad as cheap regulators do though.