HELP! Water keep entering Check Valve!

[griffinkid]

Hi! I have just gotten myself a CO2 system. The problem is, the water from the bubble counter keeps getting into the check valve! Can give me some advice how to go about this problem?

DSCN0363.JPG
A connection of the bubble counter and check valve

DSCN0365.JPG
The hand holding the tubing is towards CO2 tank while e top one is towards aquarium tank.

Do help me!

[dannyfish]

perhaps you can try lifting up the tube instead of let it hanging down?

[dannyfish]

By the way, can someone advise how to pour water into the bubble counter bottle?

[Shadow]

how many check valve did you install? does the water reaching your CO2 tank?

[jamesneo]

My suggestion:

1) Check if the check valve is placed in wrong direction
2) Place bubble counter in front of check valve instead. (Now the hand holding the tubing is towards bubble counter then CO2 tank while the top one is towards check valve).

[Alvin Koh]

I notice water backflow siphoning from my tank towards my CO2 setup too and I place 2 check valves, one between the aquarium and the bubble counter, another between the bubble counter and the CO2 canister to correct this issue.
The brass (metal) type of check valves may be slightly better as the backflow does not seem to reach as far back - there are also CO2-specific check valves by this brand DAZ although I have not personally used them before.

Aquarium Tank <- Check Valve (Plastic) <- Bubble Counter <- Check Valve (Plastic) <- CO2 Setup

[Jimmy]

check valve leakage? causing the water to back flow. the pressure builds up, so no leakage equals no back flow of water.

[Shadow]

Get the one that made from metal, in my experience it perform much better than those plastic one. It is better to put more than one. I put 3 in my setup.

CO2 tank -> hose (~20cm) -> check valve -> hose -> check valve -> hose (5cm) -> bubble counter -> hose (5cm) -> check valve -> inline diffuser

[griffinkid]

perhaps you can try lifting up the tube instead of let it hanging down?

Hi I tried that, but does not work too

By the way, can someone advise how to pour water into the bubble counter bottle?

Hi! What i did was to use those syringe needles that refills my printer ink to inject the water in. Alternatively you may try submersing the bubble counter in water until the desired water has moved in before taking it out

how many check valve did you install? does the water reaching your CO2 tank?

Hi! I'm not very sure if any water is reaching my CO2 tank, I have 2 check valves installed after the bubble counter towards the CO2 cylinder

[griffinkid]

My suggestion:

1) Check if the check valve is placed in wrong direction
2) Place bubble counter in front of check valve instead. (Now the hand holding the tubing is towards bubble counter then CO2 tank while the top one is towards check valve).

Hi! The check valve is correctly placed... Will try your method of placing a bubble counter in front of the check valve

I notice water backflow siphoning from my tank towards my CO2 setup too and I place 2 check valves, one between the aquarium and the bubble counter, another between the bubble counter and the CO2 canister to correct this issue.
The brass (metal) type of check valves may be slightly better as the backflow does not seem to reach as far back - there are also CO2-specific check valves by this brand DAZ although I have not personally used them before.

Aquarium Tank <- Check Valve (Plastic) <- Bubble Counter <- Check Valve (Plastic) <- CO2 Setup

Hi! Yes! I will try

[griffinkid]

check valve leakage? causing the water to back flow. the pressure builds up, so no leakage equals no back flow of water.

Yes, the check valve isn't good, the water leaked to the second check valve which is unfortunately my last line of defense... I shut down the system yesterday and going to do re-tubing today.

Get the one that made from metal, in my experience it perform much better than those plastic one. It is better to put more than one. I put 3 in my setup.

CO2 tank -> hose (~20cm) -> check valve -> hose -> check valve -> hose (5cm) -> bubble counter -> hose (5cm) -> check valve -> inline diffuser

Hi! Yes, I'm intending to get the brass check valve, but went to many LFS but could not find... any suggestions?

[griffinkid]

Thanks for all your comments guys! I will be doing re-tubing and this time round i will place my bubble counter at the same level as the CO2 cylinder so that there will be no siphoning effect... Keeping my fingers crossed!!

[limz_777]

Do you have a pic of your daz check valve,i too bought it but it doesn't show the arrow direction

[griffinkid]

Do you have a pic of your daz check valve,i too bought it but it doesn't show the arrow direction

Hi! I'm not sure if mine is a daz check valve... seems to be brandless to me.. but according to my transparent check valve in the picture, the pointy end is towards the diffuser. One trick you can try is to blow air into the check valve and if the air goes through, then that's the direction of CO2 gas diffusing through the check valve. Hope this helps

[Shadow]

You can get those metal check valve from KS, the one at haveloc (not sure if I soell it corectly )

[griffinkid]

You can get those metal check valve from KS, the one at haveloc (not sure if I soell it corectly )

Hey! I know that LFS, East Ocean @ Havelock Road. Will check it out! Thanks!

[Shadow]

ask the aunty if you cannot find it, they might keep it in store room

[aquarius]

Here is my setup
CO2 cyclinder --> check valve (1st) --> bubble counter --> check valve (2nd) --> NA reactor
After the CO2 is turned off, water from the reactor will flow to the tube and into the (2nd)check valve filling it up like what is seen on the 2nd pic. So far i didn't notice any water going pass the (2nd)check valve and into the tube connecting the (2nd)check valve and the bubble counter. Is it normal to have water filling up the tube between the NA reactor and the (2nd)check valve ?

So far i've not had water from the bubble counter going up and filling up the check valve maybe due to
1. the tube that connects between bubble counter and the (1st) check valve is quite "long", so not much back flow
2. there is quite a distance between the CO2 cyclinder head and the bubble counter. The bubble counter is also sitting at the same level as the base of the CO2 cyclinder so the back flow if any is not strong enough to fill up the check valve

I've tried the metal check valve before (can't remember the brand) which i bought from Petmart many yrs ago...... After dismantling my CO2 system due to going Low-tech, i noticed that a bit of water has sipped through the metal check valve and into the tube connecting to the CO2 cyclinder/regulator which i did not noticed at all cos i was using the black CO2 tubing. Luckily after thorough checking, the water did not get into the regulator and everythings working fine. The moral of the story is Never get the black colour tubing cos if your check valve is faulty, you can't see where/how much is the back flow.

[neverwalkalone]

My limited experience here is that the metal ones work better than the plastic/glass ones. Think it can't be helped that when the CO2 is off/less pressure, siphoning effect (water pressure from the tank) will happen; only way I can think of if you don't want to use (more) check valves is to gave the CO2 supply higher than the tank water level! :-)

Btw, you can get the metal ones from Seaview. Sold in sets of 2.

[tawauboy]

water getting into the check valve is fine as long as the water does not appear after the check valve.
this is what a check valve is meant for.

metal check valves are better than plastic ones. you should be able to get them from better lfs.

as co2 being absorbed into the water in the tube, suction pressure will cause water to travel back into the tube. affects diffusers lesser though.