Review on 🐠 FZONE Pro Series Aquarium CO2 Regulator with Dual Stage, Adjustable Output Pressure, DC Solenoid, Integrated High Precision Needle Valve, and Bubble Counter by Ryan Frazier

There are many aquarium regulators out there and they tend to fall into one of two categories: affordable and very expensive. Expensive ones ($400 and up) are usually made by amateurs who really know what they're doing. They use state of the art regulators and needle valves. The needle valves on them alone can cost more than the entire system. These are definitely the best. But in the end do they work better? Not necessarily. This model of FZone does its job effectively. It provides the CO2 your tank needs and offers the protection and comfort that more expensive ones offer. I would recommend this aquarium to all but the most discerning and demanding. What do I like about it? The manifold design is great for adding multiple aquariums and using a single CO2 tank and regulator. This design makes it much easier than using splitters on other ESCs. It looks nice and is of good quality. More on that later. - He's reliable. The bubble speed and the CO2 level remain constant even after switching on/off. The price is correct! It is almost identical to the others. Most of the parts come from the same factory. What's wrong with that? - Poorly? There is nothing bad. what would be better It is worth paying attention to a few small details. If they could sort it out for a little bit more, they would dominate the market. Needle valve should be better. It works but is difficult to set up. It hardly needs to be pushed down and I don't even notice it turning to fine-tune it. It's probably 1/100th of a turn or less to go from 30bpm to 60bpm. I use it on a 5 gallon tank that requires 35-40 bpm (bpm). I dialed it, but the needle on it has a high Cv. The Cv coefficient determines the flow rate. With $100 needle/meter valves, you can turn the dial one full turn and go from 10 bpm to 60 bpm, maybe even less. Some of them peak at around 120 or 180 beats per minute (2-3 beats per second). A quality marked flow meter/needle valve would be AMAZING and the best single upgrade. I can just do it myself, it's worth it. The sensors are in the wrong range. The tanks we use are around 850psi when full. We use a working pressure of 20-30psi. The readings should be 0-2000 for the tank and 0-100 (or less) on the working side. The sensors are most accurate in the 50% range. Both ends of the range are not exact. At the pressures we use, these gauges operate in a less accurate range. So 25psi today may not be 25psi next time you need to adjust it. - The main dial to open and close the regulator could be better. It just seems cheaper than the others. The electromagnet can consume less electricity. It runs at 4.3 watts. My FZone mini runs at 1.3 watts. The solenoid needs a light to indicate that it is on (open). It was great on my my mini. I could easily tell if it was open or closed. Mine worked fine, but it's only been a week. Others say they're reliable, but there are some hiccups. To get the best quality, you need to look at one of the $500-$800 handcrafted models and use the best line regulators and metering valves. I'd say it's just as reliable as the others you hear more often. That's all. It's very good value for money and it gets the job done. I would definitely pay more if they had a newer version with good low Cv metering/needle valves and gauges rated for the pressures used in a CO2 aquarium. However, in the end I can set it up and run it for weeks/months and my plants and animals don't care.