choff
Non-member
So my aquarium plants regulator failed on me a few weeks back with a croaked solenoid. So much for their 3 year warranty, essentially if its used in a saltwater environment they will find reason to void it. Their standard repair fee if $50 plus shipping both ways. No thanks, I sucked up my losses and started doing more research than I did the first time around. At first glance the AP unit seems to the gold standard for reef regulators. A little more research and that couldn't be further from the truth. You are paying for a glorified bubble counter with a crap regulator and solenoid. I ended up building my own. In the end the cost was close, but what you end up with is an industrial strength product that should outlast me.
These dosers consist of 3 parts. The regulator, solenoid and valve. You might need a 4th, a bubble chamber, but my Reactor has one.
My regulator ran me $75 on ebay used. This is the only risky part of the build and you need to check that it does not have any leaks. You want to make sure you buy from someone reputable and with a return policy. These regulators go for 4 to 8x as much new. They are dual stage vs single stage from AP. The primary advantage of dual stage is how it handles the end of tank. Single stages can dump CO2. Aquarium plants will allow you send in your own regulator and they will attach their black box. They take $50 off the price if you go this route. That gives you an idea of how good of a regulator they are giving you.
Next up is the solenoid. You want the burkett 6011. Head and shoulders the best solenoid you buy for our application. Now, the one I bought was $35. I found out after I bought mine there is another version of it that Burkett developed with with the help of reefers that is better for our application and comes with 'Buna' seals and runs $100. Mine has viton seals and those are also compatible with CO2 gas, so I'll have to see if this has any impact down the road. I may buy a backup just in case.
The final major component is the valve. Good ones can typically be bought for around $50, but I really liked the micro metering valve I bought and it ran me $95. The manual says one full turn on the knob/bubble.
Finally, connector pieces ran me $60. Most are around $10 each and what you need is based on the thread size and type of what the 3 primary components are. With a little bit of searching, you can minimize this cost by finding similarly sized components. Mine were all 1/8" so I didn't have to do anything special to connect them.
It was incredibly easy to assemble and ran me $270 all in.
If anyone is interested in doing this, I'm happy to help and can provide the 2 primary links I used to build it.
Best,
~Mike
These dosers consist of 3 parts. The regulator, solenoid and valve. You might need a 4th, a bubble chamber, but my Reactor has one.
My regulator ran me $75 on ebay used. This is the only risky part of the build and you need to check that it does not have any leaks. You want to make sure you buy from someone reputable and with a return policy. These regulators go for 4 to 8x as much new. They are dual stage vs single stage from AP. The primary advantage of dual stage is how it handles the end of tank. Single stages can dump CO2. Aquarium plants will allow you send in your own regulator and they will attach their black box. They take $50 off the price if you go this route. That gives you an idea of how good of a regulator they are giving you.
Next up is the solenoid. You want the burkett 6011. Head and shoulders the best solenoid you buy for our application. Now, the one I bought was $35. I found out after I bought mine there is another version of it that Burkett developed with with the help of reefers that is better for our application and comes with 'Buna' seals and runs $100. Mine has viton seals and those are also compatible with CO2 gas, so I'll have to see if this has any impact down the road. I may buy a backup just in case.
The final major component is the valve. Good ones can typically be bought for around $50, but I really liked the micro metering valve I bought and it ran me $95. The manual says one full turn on the knob/bubble.
Finally, connector pieces ran me $60. Most are around $10 each and what you need is based on the thread size and type of what the 3 primary components are. With a little bit of searching, you can minimize this cost by finding similarly sized components. Mine were all 1/8" so I didn't have to do anything special to connect them.
It was incredibly easy to assemble and ran me $270 all in.
If anyone is interested in doing this, I'm happy to help and can provide the 2 primary links I used to build it.
Best,
~Mike
