About a year ago I read about Jim Miller experimenting with using Paintball
CO2 tanks to devise a smaller/cheaper way to use compressed CO2 with planted
aquariums. However, I didn't seem to find any posts on the outcome of that
experiement on google. Just wondering if Jim (or someone familiar with the
outcome) might be able to let everyone know a little more about what has
happened. Is the system up and running? How long does it last between
refills? What size is the CO2 tank and aquarium it's being used on. How
much did everything cost?

Thanks Jim and everyone else who might respond,
Harry




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Jim got busy doing other things. ;-)

I got as far as having the paintball regulator cleaned and relubricated by
the manufacturer (who is local in sacramento) with a food grade silicone
grease. I also have all the fittings and tanks necessary but since I'm now
packing to move cross country everything is also now packed away. I won't be
able to get back to messing with it until sometime in the fall at the
earliest.

BTW, the size of the equipment is quite small but you won't save much if any
money over full size equipment.

The tank was a Eclipse System3 which isn't really a very good choice for a
hightech tank since the light distribution is pretty screwed up due to the
percentage of the top taken by the filter assembly. I did retrofit one of
the S3's with a 9w PC lighting and reflector from AHS but found that the
tank required trimming nearly every other day since the difference between
trimmed and max height is very small for a small tank.

I'd recommend leaving the S3 light as it is (2W/gallon) and just using
crypts, anubias and java moss. At that level the plants will grow slowly to
avoid lots of frustrating trimming. If you do want some carbon then use
Seachem Excel daily when feeding.

I'll post again if I get some time in the fall with any results, either
positive or negative.

jtm



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"Harry Muscle" wrote in message
...
About a year ago I read about Jim Miller experimenting with using Paintball
CO2 tanks to devise a smaller/cheaper way to use compressed CO2 with planted
aquariums. However, I didn't seem to find any posts on the outcome of that
experiement on google. Just wondering if Jim (or someone familiar with the
outcome) might be able to let everyone know a little more about what has
happened. Is the system up and running? How long does it last between
refills? What size is the CO2 tank and aquarium it's being used on. How
much did everything cost?

Thanks Jim and everyone else who might respond,
Harry




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On Tue, 25 Mar 2003 12:21:22 -0800, "Jim Miller"
wrote:

BTW, the size of the equipment is quite small but you won't save much if any
money over full size equipment.

I'll second that. I just recently got into paintball, and the price
of a paintball regulator isn't any cheaper than a normal CO2
regulator, and most paintball regulators are only meant to drop the
pressure down to 200-400psi, far above what we normally use for our
tanks.



Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

Hi Chuck

I have the MicroRock which does drop down reliably to about 30psi which
should be fine. It's used to drive the autocockers rather than the main
firing chamber.

How did you manage to find another hobby as expensive as planted tanks? How
many welts do you have so far? ;-)

jtm

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"Chuck Gadd" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 25 Mar 2003 12:21:22 -0800, "Jim Miller"
wrote:

BTW, the size of the equipment is quite small but you won't save much if
any
money over full size equipment.

I'll second that. I just recently got into paintball, and the price
of a paintball regulator isn't any cheaper than a normal CO2
regulator, and most paintball regulators are only meant to drop the
pressure down to 200-400psi, far above what we normally use for our
tanks.



Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

On Tue, 25 Mar 2003 18:10:54 -0800, "Jim Miller"
wrote:

I have the MicroRock which does drop down reliably to about 30psi which
should be fine. It's used to drive the autocockers rather than the main
firing chamber.

30psi is lower than any of the paintball regs I had seen.

How did you manage to find another hobby as expensive as planted tanks? How
many welts do you have so far? ;-)

Actually, a few months back, I got shot in the side of the head 5 or
6 times, right behind the mask, point blank range. Ended up with a
concussion. The idiot that did claimed it was an accident. He got
banned from the field a few weeks later for doing the same thing to
someone else.

Except for the idiots/jerks, it's a lot of fun. A good complement to
the more relaxing planted tank hobby. My 13yr old son is really into
paintball, so it's a good opportunity to hang out with him.

Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

Hi Chuck

Sounds like a good way to have some fun with your son. Good stuff!

I got a chance to swap several emails with Glen Palmer of Palmer Pursuit
Shop (http://www.palmer-pursuit.com) and also had a chance to talk with him
over the phone. His shop is here in Sacramento so it was easy to stop by and
pick up a specially lubed one.

It turns out he also sells modified versions of the MicroRock for a variety
of non-paintball applications, many for scientific instruments. I went
through my understanding of how regulators works and confirmed with him that
the MicroRock should work for this application and that its end of tank
regulation is pretty good. Although the autococker pressure is normally up
around 100psi, Glen assured me that it would regulate fine down at 30psi.

His only suggestion was that a length of tubing of perhaps 2 feet be used
between the MicroRock and the needle valve to act as an accumulator to keep
the regulator from cycling on every bubble released. IIRC, Glen also has
some planted tanks. Quite an interesting guy.

jtm

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It is a great sport..you just gotta watch out for the jerks... Wish i could
afford a cocker.... Got my piranha sts...works plenty fine for me..

Rich

Chuck Gadd wrote:

On Tue, 25 Mar 2003 18:10:54 -0800, "Jim Miller"
wrote:

I have the MicroRock which does drop down reliably to about 30psi which
should be fine. It's used to drive the autocockers rather than the main
firing chamber.

30psi is lower than any of the paintball regs I had seen.

How did you manage to find another hobby as expensive as planted tanks? How
many welts do you have so far? ;-)

Actually, a few months back, I got shot in the side of the head 5 or
6 times, right behind the mask, point blank range. Ended up with a
concussion. The idiot that did claimed it was an accident. He got
banned from the field a few weeks later for doing the same thing to
someone else.

Except for the idiots/jerks, it's a lot of fun. A good complement to
the more relaxing planted tank hobby. My 13yr old son is really into
paintball, so it's a good opportunity to hang out with him.

Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua