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Okay so a lot of us use eBay and recommend it to fellow hobbyists and beginners coming into the planted tank world as a place to purchase their CO2 regulator for a "steal" but many of us get too intimated upon our first search because we have no idea what the heck the different model numbers mean and if it's right for our use or not.
I get a ton of questions from people looking to switch over to a real CO2 set up from DIY , paintball, or just simply a single stage regulator, so I figured writing this out may help everyone involved. Before I start let me just say if you haven't read DarkBlade48's "How To Guide" please start there:
http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12271
Lets start from the beginning; it's rare you're ever going to find a high purity dual stage regulator that already has CGA 320 fittings on it, 9/10 regulator's I've purchased from eBay have CGA 580 fittings which need to be changed out for CGA 320 fittings.
One thing to understand is that most regulator's are only made by a select few companies; it's cheaper for some companies to simply purchase a regulator from another established company and re-brand it as their own.
Ex. Praxair, Prostar, and Restek regulator's are re-branded Concoa regulators, this makes it MUCH easier to search for them online as they will all use the same model number format.
After purchasing numerous Concoa regulator's I've been able to figure out the coding/model numbers so hopefully this will help you while searching.
Understanding Model Numbers - Concoa, Praxair, Prostar, Restek
The first three numbers will ALWAYS represent the actual model of the regulator you're working with. As an example here is a Concoa regulator I recently purchased, lets break down the numbers : 3123332-68-B03
The 312 lets us know this is a Concoa 312 model, the next series of numbers "3332" will tell us the outlet pressure, inlet pressure, gauges chosen, and any other features the regulator may come with. Anything after those numbers like the "68-B03" is generally irrelevant because these are usually the smaller things like colour of the regulator knob or other things that don't concern us. The only numbers you should be concerned with are the first set of numbers I outlined before "3123332"
Outlet Pressure
1: 0-15 psig
2: 0-50 psig
3: 0-100 psig
4: 0-250 psig
7: 0-150 psig
Outlet Gauge
1: 30"-0-30 psig
2: 30"-0-100 psig
3: 30"-0-200 psig
4: 0-400 psig
7: 30"-0-200 psig
Inlet Gauge
0: None
3: 0-4000 psig
5: 0-1000 psig
6: 0-300 psig
7: 0-400 psig
Outlet Assemblies
0: 1/4" FPT Port
1: 1/4" MPT
2: 1/4" Tube Fitting
3: Diaphragm Valve 1/4" Tube Fitting
4: Diaphragm Valve 1/4" MPT
5: Needle Valve 1/4" MPT
6: 1/8" Tube Fitting
7: 3/8" Tube Fitting
8: Diaphragm Valve 1/8" Tube Fitting
9: Diaphragm Valve 1/4" FPT
Assembly/Gauges
0: Bare Body
1: Standard Assembly (psi/kPa Gauges)
2: Standard Assembly (bar/psi Gauges)
After going through the different numbers we can read the code "3123332" as follows: "Concoa 312 Dual Stage High Purity Brass Chrome Plated Regulator- 0-100 psig outlet pressure, 30"-0-200 psig outlet gauge, 0-4000 psig inlet gauge, diaphragm valve 1/4" tube fitting outlet assembly, standard assembly bar/psi gauges."
This will also work for other model numbers like the 212- I also have a 2123331 which is also "Concoa 212 Dual Stage High Purity Brass Chrome Plated Regulator- 0-100 psig outlet pressure, 30"-0-200 psig outlet gauge, 0-4000 psig inlet gauge, diaphragm valve 1/4" tube fitting outlet assembly, standard assembly bar/kpa gauges" the only different was the bar/psi vs bar/kpa.
If anyone knows anymore of the model numbers for other brands like Matheson, Airgas, Linde, etc lets try to get a page started here so we can easily remember the codes when searching online (Thats you Charlie1 and FlyingHellFish !!!)
I get a ton of questions from people looking to switch over to a real CO2 set up from DIY , paintball, or just simply a single stage regulator, so I figured writing this out may help everyone involved. Before I start let me just say if you haven't read DarkBlade48's "How To Guide" please start there:
http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12271
Lets start from the beginning; it's rare you're ever going to find a high purity dual stage regulator that already has CGA 320 fittings on it, 9/10 regulator's I've purchased from eBay have CGA 580 fittings which need to be changed out for CGA 320 fittings.
One thing to understand is that most regulator's are only made by a select few companies; it's cheaper for some companies to simply purchase a regulator from another established company and re-brand it as their own.
Ex. Praxair, Prostar, and Restek regulator's are re-branded Concoa regulators, this makes it MUCH easier to search for them online as they will all use the same model number format.
After purchasing numerous Concoa regulator's I've been able to figure out the coding/model numbers so hopefully this will help you while searching.
Understanding Model Numbers - Concoa, Praxair, Prostar, Restek
The first three numbers will ALWAYS represent the actual model of the regulator you're working with. As an example here is a Concoa regulator I recently purchased, lets break down the numbers : 3123332-68-B03
The 312 lets us know this is a Concoa 312 model, the next series of numbers "3332" will tell us the outlet pressure, inlet pressure, gauges chosen, and any other features the regulator may come with. Anything after those numbers like the "68-B03" is generally irrelevant because these are usually the smaller things like colour of the regulator knob or other things that don't concern us. The only numbers you should be concerned with are the first set of numbers I outlined before "3123332"
Outlet Pressure
1: 0-15 psig
2: 0-50 psig
3: 0-100 psig
4: 0-250 psig
7: 0-150 psig
Outlet Gauge
1: 30"-0-30 psig
2: 30"-0-100 psig
3: 30"-0-200 psig
4: 0-400 psig
7: 30"-0-200 psig
Inlet Gauge
0: None
3: 0-4000 psig
5: 0-1000 psig
6: 0-300 psig
7: 0-400 psig
Outlet Assemblies
0: 1/4" FPT Port
1: 1/4" MPT
2: 1/4" Tube Fitting
3: Diaphragm Valve 1/4" Tube Fitting
4: Diaphragm Valve 1/4" MPT
5: Needle Valve 1/4" MPT
6: 1/8" Tube Fitting
7: 3/8" Tube Fitting
8: Diaphragm Valve 1/8" Tube Fitting
9: Diaphragm Valve 1/4" FPT
Assembly/Gauges
0: Bare Body
1: Standard Assembly (psi/kPa Gauges)
2: Standard Assembly (bar/psi Gauges)
After going through the different numbers we can read the code "3123332" as follows: "Concoa 312 Dual Stage High Purity Brass Chrome Plated Regulator- 0-100 psig outlet pressure, 30"-0-200 psig outlet gauge, 0-4000 psig inlet gauge, diaphragm valve 1/4" tube fitting outlet assembly, standard assembly bar/psi gauges."
This will also work for other model numbers like the 212- I also have a 2123331 which is also "Concoa 212 Dual Stage High Purity Brass Chrome Plated Regulator- 0-100 psig outlet pressure, 30"-0-200 psig outlet gauge, 0-4000 psig inlet gauge, diaphragm valve 1/4" tube fitting outlet assembly, standard assembly bar/kpa gauges" the only different was the bar/psi vs bar/kpa.
If anyone knows anymore of the model numbers for other brands like Matheson, Airgas, Linde, etc lets try to get a page started here so we can easily remember the codes when searching online (Thats you Charlie1 and FlyingHellFish !!!)
