The needle valve just came all the way off the regulator and fell apart when i tried to turn it on. The knob that turns the valve is made of a very thin and malleable metal that easily bent when I turned the knob with my fingers. The consensus seems to be that half of the people who buy this have great success and the other half of the people who buy this have it fall apart in their hands as soon as they open the box. Some people even say that the first one they ordered fell apart, but when they exchanged it for a new one, that one worked great. To me, these are just unacceptable odds for such an important and expensive piece of high tech planted aquarium hardware. If your gut is telling you "at that price, it seems too good to be true", do yourself a favor and listen to your gut and avoid this product. If you are new to pressurized co2 and are having trouble figuring out what you need and how to afford it all, here is the setup that I use for my 30 gallon, which works great and is relatively affordable compared to most co2 setups: get a Fluval Pressurized 88g-CO2 Kit - 3.1 Ounces, a Hydra Aquatic CO2 Paintball Adapter, and an Empire Paintball 24oz CO2 Tank. All three of these item can be found on amazon, for a total price of $106.77. A 24 oz co2 refill costs about $4 at any sports store that refills paintball tanks (like academy) and in my 30 gallon tank, one refill lasts me about 4-5 months. You will have to manually turn the co2 on and off because this setup does not include a solenoid, but for the price and ease of use, it's a far superior entry level method compared to this unreliable Aquatek regulator setup.

I'll be fair and honest with this regulator...

From day 1 of receiving the product I heard a leaking sound. I honestly thought perhaps the tank was a bit overfilled, but it wasn't as indicated by the gauges. I filled the tank again, clipped the airline, secured everything and I made sure to reapply some O-ring lubricant to help eliminate possible causes of leaking. Once I turned it on I heard the hissing sound again indicating a leak.

My regulator was leaking from the solenoid towards the base of it. To me there is two possibilities that happened I got a faulty regulator or the solenoid got blown out from hooking up the tank. I would lean towards just bad luck, since I'm well versed with regulators.

Overall I would rate this product 3 stars.

Pros

Ease of use, sleek design and the cord has enough length to reach under a cabinet for aquarium use.

Cons

Possibility of getting a faulty one, which is understandable with any product
The airline has the smallest nub to put the hose on. This could be lengthened just a bit to make sure the airline hose is truly secure.

You really get what you payfor. It worked for about a year and then the solenoid decides to misbehave. It requires a manual on/off action to trigger to solenoid to turn off the CO2. Aquatek does not have a call in number and only takes in support questions via email. It would have been nice if they at least provide some form of support for their product. No email responses, no call backs. No FAQs for simple trouble shooting assistance. This regulator is like Kaiser. Its great when you are not sick but forget about getting an appointment with a doctor when you need to see one. My recommendation would be to go to another regulator. I guess they do not understand the concept that keeping a customer is easier than getting a new one as a happy customer would tend to do repeat buys. Buyer beware.

It does the job..,it's better that DIY CO2 BUT....CO2 is not consistent. You really have to adjust the valve to get the Bubble count right. Don't be shocked if the count is different than you set the day before. Frustrating...becareful especially when the tank gets low, I had an issue when the regulator releasing way more CO2 then I set that morning. I came home to the fish looking drunk. Most were at the top on the tank gasping for air. Others were at the bottom of the tank upside down. I must say that the feel of the regulator seems quality and sturdy. I recommend this regulator for people who want to save money BUT have the time and patience to fiddle with the valve. Over all three stars because it does accomplish the job.

I initially bought this 8 months ago and it had served its purpose well in that time, until all of a sudden it failed. Before that happened, it didn't appear to have any issues, but the adjustment knob for CO2 output was very frustrating to use. It sometimes took 10+ minutes of micro adjustments on the knob to finally get the CO2 output correct.

Then I came home from work and my diffuser was billowing CO2 like I had never seen before, output pressure on the regulator gauge read well over 100PSI (I normally never see it above 50). All my fish and shrimp had died because they had jumped out of the tank in an attempt to save themselves (20+ Amano shrimp, 15+ Neon Tetras, 5 Pygmy Catfish, 2 Otto Catfish). Additionally, a lot of my plants have begun to die, their leaves were all translucent, rotted and floating around in the tank.

This was a devastating experience to say the least. This product appeared to have OK reviews, and even though it was close to the bottom of the price range for regulators, it looked like a good pick. But that was the wrong assumption. I would suggest that if you are in need of a CO2 regulator for your planted tank, save up more for a quality CGA 320 threaded regulator and an adapter for your paintball canister if you are using one, instead of getting a cheap unreliable regulator like this one made specifically for a paintball canister.