Electronic ball valve for CO² scrubber

[piranhaman00]

Ya I had to go with two valves for this same reason.

 

[Mbritt]

Luckily i got the half inch because i only had 2 barb fitting but the 3/8 hose had an od of 1/2 that made an air tight seal around the body of the ball valve itelse and worked until i got a new fitting... best of luck i found it works great i had to set a bit more of a range like if ph<

It may be good to go with the .5 but in my particular case especially with such a small skimmer i need alot of restriction anyways. Which is why i still needed to use ball valves on the actual intakes. So ild go bigger and have the option to constrict flow as needed with ditional valves i found these pretty cheap on amazon aswell

unfortunately Amazon is out of the 1/2 so I may just grab the 3/8 while i can. its only a 60 gallon tank and right now the scrubber is working too well and I don't want to leave the skimmer off so much. if this works ok I may swap out for the 1/2 when its in stock but who knows when that will be

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Are people really seeing a increase in the livestock health from a ph difference of say 7.8 to the 8.36 your c02 scrubber is doing?
I'm just curious of the benefits of going through all this and having another media to stock up on...
Thanks
D

 

[piranhaman00]

Are people really seeing a increase in the livestock health from a ph difference of say 7.8 to the 8.36 your c02 scrubber is doing?
I'm just curious of the benefits of going through all this and having another media to stock up on...
Thanks
D

My alk consumption more than doubled so far going from 7.6 - 8.1 to 8.0 - 8.4 I also use a lifereef skimmer to recirculate the air and I’ve used half of one cart in one month so very very little media, quite surprised

 

[Mbritt]

My alk consumption more than doubled so far going from 7.6 - 8.1 to 8.0 - 8.4 I also use a lifereef skimmer to recirculate the air and I’ve used half of one cart in one month so very very little media, quite surprised

I feel like with my scrubber keeping the PH more consistent has helped my corals growth and how well they open and look. Not sure about fish as I have never done great with fish lol. But I don't see the swings that I was seeing with PH falling below that 8 mark at night anymore. Mince is staying pretty consistently between 8.24 - 8.30. I have some programming to turn mine off around the 8.3 mark or it would get higher. I also have not seen an excess in media usage so far but have only been running this around 3 weeks.

 

[Mbritt]

Since adding the scrubber everything is opening very nice. ALK is hanging around 8.5 - 9.0. Phos-0, Nitrate-1

 

[piranhaman00]

Since adding the scrubber everything is opening very nice. ALK is hanging around 8.5 - 9.0. Phos-0, Nitrate-1

Nice tank but those all look like leathers no?

 

[Mbritt]

Nice tank but those all look like leathers no?

Softies yes, but not leathers. Only have 1 leather. Sinularia, Nepthia, Capnella etc...

 

[Mbritt]

well project is on hold since they cant send the right valve lol. I ordered a valve with a 3/8 outlet. The box I received says 1/4 NPT. I ordered 3/8 NPT. The item I received is 3/4 outlet. So hopefully will have this swapped out and get back to making this work.

 

[shakey]

Sorry to hear this. Mine is on backorder until early May, so I'm stuck waiting too.

 

[Mbritt]

Amazon.com

So i ordered this one. You said its 2 wire but mine has 4. Can i just use the black and white wires to attach it to the 24v input on my Apex?

 

[Sean Clark]

So i ordered this one. You said its 2 wire but mine has 4. Can i just use the black and white wires to attach it to the 24v input on my Apex?

You would need to connect black and red to the 24v output of your apex. This valve is powered open / non-powered closed.

You can use the other wires with a brake out box or din connector to send open closed status signals to the apex.

 

[Mbritt]

You would need to connect black and red to the 24v output of your apex. This valve is powered open / non-powered closed.

You can use the other wires with a brake out box or din connector to send open closed status signals to the apex.

Ok, was reading all the questions. So technically i can just make this work with the 2 wires and just open and close with the power on/off? Basically im just trying to use this in play of the Y I have that i use to manually let fresh air in as opposed to getting it all through the dcrubber.

 

[Sean Clark]

Ok, was reading all the questions. So technically i can just make this work with the 2 wires and just open and close with the power on/off?

Yes, but black and red, not black and white.

 

[Mbritt]

Ok, was reading all the questions. So technically i can just make this work with the 2 wires and just open and close with the power on/off?

Yes, but black and red, not black and white.

Perfect, thank you. That was how i was going to approach. Now if i can find the right fitting. Clearly on the 3/8 valve the threaded barbed fitting is not 3/8 lol

 

[Davisc1293]

So i ordered this one. You said its 2 wire but mine has 4. Can i just use the black and white wires to attach it to the 24v input on my Apex?

Yes the other wires are for some kind of position sensor the power and ground is all you need to worry about

 

[Mbritt]

Yes the other wires are for some kind of position sensor the power and ground is all you need to worry about

Thank you for the clarity!!!! Also trying to find the right fittings to add the hose barbs here. I ordered the 3/8 valve but my outlet is definitely not 3/8. Am I missing something here?

 

[Mbritt]

Thank you for the clarity!!!! Also trying to find the right fittings to add the hose barbs here. I ordered the 3/8 valve but my outlet is definitely not 3/8. Am I missing something here?

Found the right fittings, looks like what I had on hand at home wasn't what I thought after doing some measuring. So will try to get this all wired up and share photos as soon as I can.

 

[Mbritt]

Yes the other wires are for some kind of position sensor the power and ground is all you need to worry about

Well I got all the right fittings and finally wired it up. I don't think my valve actually works right. Its either power on which closes one side of the T. or everything is open. I was assuming it should close the other side when toggled. Is there a magic setting Im missing here? My valve does not behave like this diagram.

 

[shakey]

It should close the left or right side. I just got mine in to. It’s working correctly. I hooked skimmer pump to bottom of T I hooked Co2 scrubber to left side which is open when valve is off. I hooked room air to right side of T. When valve turns on it cuts left side off but opens right side. You may have a bad valve.