# Silicone tubing required for diy CO2 reactor?



## Sammie7 (Oct 3, 2006)

Do you really need silicone tubing for the reactor? I was thinking about making my own reactor for a soon to be planted 10 gallon, so I am doing a lot of reading. I had not heard anything about a special tubing until I clicked an outside link. If so where can I get some. Any help would be appreciated.


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## MiSo (Nov 4, 2005)

your lfs should have it.

i bought mine from petco.


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

Silicone is the worst choice. It can lose 6% of the CO2 per foot.


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## evercl92 (Aug 14, 2006)

Rex Grigg said:


> Silicone is the worst choice. It can lose 6% of the CO2 per foot.


Please provide us with a better option then..


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Visit Rex's website, where he sells some very good CO2 tubing. I use it and it works very nicely.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

High-Performance Engineered Plastics - Home sells some CO2 tubing. Comes in all sorts of colors. I prefer black, since I have a black background.

However, I used regular airline clear vinyl tubing for my DIY CO2, and one of my pressurized setups. I believe this tubing is fine for our purposes, if it is replaced yearly with every CO2 refill to avoid brittleness and degradation.

-John N.


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## blacksmith37 (Oct 10, 2006)

At the (non) pressures and temperatures of CO2 production it is hard to believe anything but the cheapest regular PVC (vinyl) tubing is needed. Diffusion ( through the tube wall ) should be close to impossible to measure.


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## random_alias (Nov 7, 2005)

This is not an unusual question. In fact, it seems that it is becoming more and more usual. At some point during the discussions about various tubing materials and their Co2 permeability ratings, something must have been said that confused some people or lead them to form incorrect conclusions.

Yes, some tubing materials are better than others but there is no material that is "necessary". Silicone has very high Co2 permeability in relation to other materials. The real-world differences between tubing materials will depend on many factors. Vinyl is a very good compromise. No one needs expensive or fancy tubing. However, just because it isn't a necessity doesn't mean there's anything wrong with using it. It is a better option, after all. Will you be able to tell the difference? I don't know. I doubt it unless you are running high pressures over long distances.

I have had silicone. I have had vinyl. I have had Clippard PROOF. I currently use vinyl because it has very low Co2 permeability, is cheap, is more flexible than PROOF, and does not require mail order.

Am I wrong to use vinyl? No. Was I wrong to use Co2 PROOF? No. Was I wrong to use silicone? Probably.


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## blacksmith37 (Oct 10, 2006)

You can't fool me with that "alias" stuff : I would recognize Capt Piccard anywhere . But I didn't know you were an aquarist. 
In the suprises with tubing diffusion catagory: In a lab I worked in , the vinyl tubing was used to carry pure hydrogen sulfide at a couple psi . The test was shut down for the night. valves at both ends of the tubing were closed. The next day the vinyl was crushed flat by atmospheric pressure , all the H2S had diffused out.


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