# How to set up a paintball CO2 system (pictures included)



## erijnal

I just finished setting up my paintball CO2 system, so here is a brief guide for anyone else interested.

First, a list of parts:

-Cornelius primary regulator for CO2..................................................... $33.95 shipped
-20 oz. tank w/ SmartParts inline on/off valve (install separately)............. $25.00 shipped
-Needle valve (plus necessary adapters)...............................................$25.00 shipped
-Glass check valve and bubble counter..................................................$12.70 shipped

Regulator off eBay, tank off a paintball forum, needle valve and adapters from Rex Grigg and Ace Hardware, check valve and bubble counter from AquaticMagic for a total of $96.65.

Here we go!

Here's the top of the 20 oz. paintball tank. The brass part is the on/off valve. Don't buy a paintball tank that is manufactured with an on/off valve, which are notorious for leaking. Instead, buy the on/off valve separately and have it installed at a paintball shop, or buy a tank second-hand that already has the on/off valve installed for you. Note that if you buy the tank and valve separately and new, it will be close to 40 dollars, so check out a paintball forum's For Sale section. The black knob is what you turn to either open or close the valve.










Here's the same picture, except if you look closely, you'll notice a black rubber ring on top. That's an O-ring, and that's the only thing I've found that will prevent leaks once I've screwed the regulator on. The reason why conventional washers won't work is because of the threading on the on/off valve. Notice how the threading begins about 5 mm down from the top of the valve. Include a 1-2 mm thick washer, and the separation is too large and your regulator nut won't thread. The O-ring I used was a #60-RING, and I found it in my local Ace Hardware store.


















Now, on to the regulator. Because the on/off valve has CGA 320 threading, you can use any primary regulator. This means if you decide to change from paintball to a larger conventional tank, you won't need to buy any new adapters. I was fortunate enough to buy a NIB Cornelius regulator for cheap on eBay. The left side of the regulator has a needle valve and an adapter for 3/16" tubing, both from Rex.










Below is a close-up of one of the regulator ports. My regulator came with a weird piece installed in the 1/4" port, so I had to remove it, which took a lot of elbow grease and some help at Ace Hardware. With the port empty, I screwed in a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter (the first piece of equipment with teflon tape on it), and screwed in my Clippard needle valve, which came adapted to 1/8" (the second piece of equipment with teflon tape). The needle valve is connected to regular airline tubing, and if you look at the previous picture, that piece of tubing is connected to another adapter that lets me use my 3/16" Tygon tubing.










With everything set up, my paintball tank registered just under 600 PSI, and there were no leaks that I was aware of. I'll post a complete picture once I get back to my dorm; I don't have my check valve/bubble counter at home

Please understand that if you're thinking about going the paintball route, it won't necessarily be significantly cheaper than a full rig. This is more an issue about portability and convenience (my paintball tank can be filled at a close-by sporting goods store for $2.50) than economical concerns.

That's it! I will update if any of my information is incorrect. Other than that, there's nothing to say but ENJOY!!


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## SimplyOrange

nice simple writeup i'll be sure to check back when i get to this.
thanks for the photographic journey that helps a lot.


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## j_m_lizard

Well, if I decide to inject CO2 on my new nano, this'll probably be the way to go... cheeper than ADA, that's for sure. Great info - Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

Oh, got any pointers on paintball forums with good classifieds sections?

Thanks,
Jared


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## erijnal

Thanks for your input guys. For the question on where to buy used 20 oz. CO2 tanks, you can try googling "paintball forums" and scope around

I personally came up with this.


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## evitagen22

How long do you anticipate a 20 oz tank lasting? I'm looking into setting up a paintball co2 system.
Thanks


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## erijnal

I talked to a friend of mine, and his 20 oz lasted him 3 months on a 5.5 gallon tank. I forgot to ask him what his bubbles per minute or bubbles per second was though.

I'm currently running my set-up at 1 bubble every 2 seconds, which appears to be low compared to the 1-5 bps that I commonly see on the forums, so the 20 oz will hopefully last me at least 3 months also on my 10 gallon, even without a solenoid. At the .5 bps rate though, it's easily twice what I got from DIY CO2, so I'm content at this point to leave it there.

I'll play around with the needle valve when I have an entire day to make adjustments/observations on my fish.


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## erijnal

Here you guys go with the pictures of the entire set-up. Sorry it took so long!










The positioning of the canister is a little precarious, but I've shored up the set-up by putting velcro on the bottom. My canister puts out a pressure of about 500 psi, and the working pressure is set to 25 psi.










Here you can see the check valve way on the bottom, the bubble counter on top, and the CO2 diffuser in the tank.

Hope these pictures help!


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## russell

the top paintball forum is www.pbnation.com it has tons of classifides.


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## erijnal

Ran out of CO2 about a week ago, so I filled up for $2.50 at a local Sports Chalet. So for those curious, the first CO2 fill lasted me 2 months. However, the first time through isn't exactly a good indicator of how long a 20 oz tank will last because I lost a lot of CO2 when I first was figuring out how to set everything up. :doh: 

I love this set-up, it's so convenient!


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## Jeff.:P:.

Pretty nice set-up. I was going to do the same, but I sold my paint-ball CO2 tank in fear of oil contamination. Something to look out for when purchasing a tank from a paint-baller. Whenever I connected my C02 tank to my gun I always dropped some oil in the connection to keep the gun/regulator properly lubed. Everyone I know did the same for their guns. heads up.


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## Mr. Fish

Very smart, any cautions you have to look for using this method?
I might just buy a co2 bottle to have as a spare when my 5 lb tank runs out...


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## erijnal

Jeff, I wasn't aware of the possibility of oil contamination, and most likely, my bottle did have oil on the connection. I've noticed no adverse effects, however, so maybe the oil is safe? That, or the concentration of oil is too small to have any noticeable effect.

Mr. Fish, the only serious caution I can think of is to not buy a tank that is manufactured with an on/off valve. As I mentioned in the first post, those tanks reportedly have a tendency to leak after two or three refills. Instead, buy a regular paintball tank, and buy an inline on/off valve separately to install later. It's probably a good idea to have a professional install the on/off valve for you


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## Jeff.:P:.

> my bottle did have oil on the connection. I've noticed no adverse effects, however, so maybe the oil is safe? That, or the concentration of oil is too small to have any noticeable effect


Hmm, kewl and strange. Maybe it was a small concentration. Most oils (gun oil) would either have a polluting effect or aesthetic effect on your tank (i.e.shimmer, build up on the surface) I'm not trying to discourage people from using paint-ball tanks, but just to be careful. I've seen a tank where a small amount of mineral oil from a bubble counter sept in and caused surface build-up (just looks gross, no harmful affects to fauna)
I know when I purchased my C02 which was aquarium specific there was a notice that no oil has been used on the tank to lubricate regulators or any other reasons. So just a heads up.


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## Robert Hudson

Interesting comparison to the Red Sea system, or the system I am now selling. There are paintball canisters from 3 ounces to 24 ounces, and there are disposable, one time use ones, and refillable ones. Mine works with all of them. They are so cheap you should be able to buy them locally from a paintball store or sporting goods store instead of online or at a paintball forum. 10 to 15 dollars for a 24 ounce brand new re fillable... is that really beyond peoples budget? Then 3 to 5 dollars for refills.

You can also hook up any type of diffusor or reactor with it, just as with any pressurized system. An inline home made reactor, a power reactor. You can even hook it up to a solenoid and a pH controller!



> buy an inline on/off valve separately to install later.


Or you can buy an aquarium paintball regulator that has a built in on/off valve


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## erijnal

Robert, I actually saw the regulator you're selling and it looks really cool. The price, even without the sale is nice too. I actually wanted to ask you how heavy it was, because one of the problems with getting a full-sized regulator is that it makes the set-up a little top-heavy.

That said, one thing I like about my set-up is that should I decide to switch to a full-sized system, the change will be seamless.

A final thing to mention is that my local Sports Chalet does not refill paintball tanks that are larger than 20 ounces. Just something to think about for anyone who wants to buy a tank out of refill convenience.


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## erijnal

One note I'd like to add, because my CO2 tubing was a little unorthodox in its inner diameter/outer diameter (forget which one it was), I had to add a small airline tubing connection.

The airline tubing was connected to an adapter that then connected to the CO2 tubing.

With a high working pressure (>25), I noticed my high-side pressure gauge would drop relatively rapidly. I wondered why I was getting losses, so I fiddled around and changed my working pressure to 10 PSI. Now my high-side pressure gauge drops very slowly, which is what I would expect.

My guess is that even that 2-3 inch piece of airline tubing was losing a LOT of CO2 with a high working pressure, and can better handle the pressure of 10 PSI. Just something to keep in mind if any of your tubing is not designed specifically for CO2.


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## Brilliant

I didnt know you could have CGA 320 on paintball. Thats said the Hydor regulator would be sweet on this setup...its really light weight and sleek.

Very nice writeup man you deserve another green dot.


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## CraigThor

Think i will be giving this a try since I don't have room right now for a larger tank but am getting a Rex Reg.

Craig


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## erijnal

Yup, although I'm using the same regulator body as Rex uses on his, you don't have to use a Cornelius regulator. The JBJ, Milwaukee, or anything else should work fine


Another follow-up on the high-side pressure, it's still staying pretty constant. Can't say for sure whether it's because of a perfect seal or lowering the working pressure though


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## erijnal

I can now definitely say that with no solenoid, 10 psi working pressure, and around 1 bps, you'll get at least 10 weeks out of a filled 20 oz paintball tank. Those figures were for a 10 gallon tank, and growth in that tank was more than satisfactory. If you have a solenoid this would probably last longer, but at $2.50 a refill, does it matter?

If you use these settings and get significantly less time on your tank, there's a good chance that there's a leak somewhere in your system, either at a connection, or through your tubing.

With that, I think I've provided all the information needed for someone considering setting up a pressurized CO2 system using a CGA320-threaded primary regulator in tandem with a paintball tank. You should have a ballpark idea of the startup costs, as well as the duration the set-up will work for you from re-fill to re-fill.

Keep in mind that if you choose to do what I did, it'll leave the option of upgrading to a standard tank *without* having to buy a new regulator or a possibly-difficult-to-find adapter to make your paintball regulator work for a CGA320-threaded tank.

Good luck making the switch!

PS. Those glass check valves don't do jack. Pretty... but that's about it. I wouldn't recommend them.


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