# CO2 tubing



## myraymond (Jul 21, 2008)

what kind of co2 tubing do you us? is the silicon one good enough? thx.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

While the silicone tubing is known to be more permeable to CO2 (i.e. it will lose more CO2 compared to other kinds of tubing), the amount that is loss over the short distances that we are using is negligible. 

I could pay more for CO2 resistant tubing, but why bother? I just use the regular silicone tubing that I have lying around the house.


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

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i think its a waste of money to by resistance tubing, ive had both on the same system and they last about the same amount of time.


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

This is especially true if you are only using the hose after a solenoid/needle valve where the pressure is down to a fraction of a lb in order to obtain a few bubbles a second. The natural diffusion and loss of CO2 from the surface of your tank makes any loss through silicone hose inconsequential. Just stay away from the clear airline hose as that doesn't suffer CO2 very well and will quickly get brittle and subject to cracking.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Mr Fishies said:


> Just stay away from the clear airline hose as that doesn't suffer CO2 very well and will quickly get brittle and subject to cracking.


On another note, the clear airline hose (made from vinyl) is more resistant to CO2 loss compared with the silicone tubing, but is made brittle by CO2 much faster.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

That depends on what kind of diffuser you are using. Aside from the fact that your silicon will harden and pretty much useless in a year. You will eventually loose CO2 simply because the silicon harden and leaks air. While it's true that if you are using inline and ladder diffuser, it is negligable. Any type of atomizer diffuser will result in 30% - 50% CO2 leakage in a matter of months. Silicon air tub simply can't handle the pressure.
I think this place used to have the black ones:
Aqua Scape Design & Aquariums Phone: (416)759-7759 
466 McNicoll Avenue,_North York,_ON_M2H_2E1

I order transparent ones from Malasia at:
http://aqmagic.com/store/index.php?...ubing&osCsid=7a08529097f51ff8d183d4e50c79b8c9

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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

Zebrapl3co said:


> Aside from the fact that your silicon will harden and pretty much useless in a year. You will eventually loose CO2 simply because the silicon harden and leaks air.


So how come our silicone adhesive constructed tanks don't fall apart at the seams after a few years CO2 injection?


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Mr Fishies said:


> So how come our silicone adhesive constructed tanks don't fall apart at the seams after a few years CO2 injection?


That's because only the inside is expose and not the outside. Besides, I am pretty sure they will fall apart if you manage to inject close to 1 million ppm of CO2 into your water column and let it sit for 7/24? I mean the water column only has like 10 ppm, 20 ppm or even 30 ppm. That's nothing compare to what the tub is taking. If you calculate it, 100 percent is in the hundreds and ppm (parts per million) in the million, it means the air tub is taking 100,000 times what is in the water if you are going with 10 ppm. (although I have to say that I seriously doubt those compressor machine can pump 100% pure CO2 into your CO2 tank.)
And beside, from my observation, I notice that the silicon tend to be more white on the tanks that is CO2 injected. Knock on wood that it's just that and it's not falling apart. I don't think it would at such a small amount.

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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Mr Fishies said:


> So how come our silicone adhesive constructed tanks don't fall apart at the seams after a few years CO2 injection?


That thick bead inside the tank is what degrades due to contact with water and other substances - the actual structural part of the seam is ;ess than 1/16th of an inch between the glass panes. The thick inside bead is there to p[rotect the inside structural bead from the tank contents.

And yes, if your tanks were continually filled with CO2, I'd expect that they'd fall apart much faster.


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

I was kind of being sarcastic...I guess I should have used the sarcastic smiley  not the eek smiley .


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Figures so much. I'd of thought you'd know that  Oh well, let it be a "the more you know" moment for the noobs


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