Being sick and tired of the DIY C02 for my planted tank, I've made the decision to go "high tech" and use bottled C02. Because my tank is only 55 gallons I went with a paintball set-up.
So, I have everything I need except for the bottle of C02. Go down to a sporting goods store (Dunhams) and pick up a 12oz paintball bottle. They also fill them at the store. The guy that filled it seemed like he was having a hard time with it, but literally 1/2 hour later (I think my kids "camped" in every tent in the store while we were waiting) he managed to get the C02 tank filled and I checked out and left. Side note here: the kid at the register couldn't figure out how to calculate the cost of the C02: 12oz @ .20 an oz just caused his brain to shut down until someone brought him a calculator.
Anyway, I get home and put the C02 canister on the counter, next to my cat's food dish, and forget about it (wasn't planing on messing around with it until today.) Eat dinner, kids are playing, I'm watching TV, when...
THE C02 TANK TAKES OFF LIKE A FICKIN' ROCKET!
I seriously thought my stove or microwave or somthing exploded, I didn't know what the noise was until I got into the kitchen and saw the tank shooting down the hallway into my son's room.
The kids and I are freaking out, my son thought it was the coolest thing EVER! and my daughter thought it was filled with carbon-MONOXIED, so she is all "get out of the house, it's poison!
", and I can't help but think what would have happened if that thing blew like it did in the van on the way home from town (a 30 minute+ drive.)
So, we leave the tank spinning on the floor in my son's room, afraid to go near it, and I call up Dunhams to tell them what happened.
The manager seemed to act like this happens all the time and actually said to me, "You would of had a great YouTube video if you cat was eating next to that when it went off!"
Anyway, he said he couldn't do anything for me, they are not responsible for stuff like this and they have signs at the fill station stating as much. He blamed me for putting the tank in the sun, or near a heat source and that was why it blew. After arguing with him about how the tank was on a counter top and in NO WAY in the sun or near any heat source AT ALL he finally agreed to give me a new tank (but I still have to pay to have it filled.)
My hubby gets home from work and the kids and I tell him what happened. He walked into my son's room and picked up the bottle (no way was I going near it!) to look at it.
Hubby is trained and certified in many things, one of them being the handling and filling of gas cylinders for welding and such. He asked me how they filled it, what kind of gauge did they use. They didn't use a gauge, the guy put the empty tank on a digital scale and filled the C02 tank until the scale reading was the correct weight. Hubby seemed upset at this. He thinks the tank was overfilled and that is why the safety valve blew. He wants to know if the guy who filled the tank is even trained and certified to do so. I don't know, so I couldn't tell him. Hubby took the tank to work today, along with the rest of my set-up (gauges, selonoid, check valve, bubble counter, difusser) so I could "have it done right!" He wanted to show the whole thing to the Airgas guys I guess, to see what they think.
Long story short: I am now afraid to use pressurized C02 in my planted tank. What if this happens again, in the fish room?!
I don't even want to think about the damage it could cause! Does this happen often? The manager at Dunhams told me to keep the tank from getting hot but the fish room is 80 degrees, is that too hot? Hubby assured me No, that either the tank was bad to begin with or it was overfilled (which he thinks is the case.)
So yeah, that was my exciting moment in an otherwise normal day story.
So, I have everything I need except for the bottle of C02. Go down to a sporting goods store (Dunhams) and pick up a 12oz paintball bottle. They also fill them at the store. The guy that filled it seemed like he was having a hard time with it, but literally 1/2 hour later (I think my kids "camped" in every tent in the store while we were waiting) he managed to get the C02 tank filled and I checked out and left. Side note here: the kid at the register couldn't figure out how to calculate the cost of the C02: 12oz @ .20 an oz just caused his brain to shut down until someone brought him a calculator.
Anyway, I get home and put the C02 canister on the counter, next to my cat's food dish, and forget about it (wasn't planing on messing around with it until today.) Eat dinner, kids are playing, I'm watching TV, when...
THE C02 TANK TAKES OFF LIKE A FICKIN' ROCKET!
I seriously thought my stove or microwave or somthing exploded, I didn't know what the noise was until I got into the kitchen and saw the tank shooting down the hallway into my son's room.
The kids and I are freaking out, my son thought it was the coolest thing EVER! and my daughter thought it was filled with carbon-MONOXIED, so she is all "get out of the house, it's poison!
", and I can't help but think what would have happened if that thing blew like it did in the van on the way home from town (a 30 minute+ drive.)So, we leave the tank spinning on the floor in my son's room, afraid to go near it, and I call up Dunhams to tell them what happened.
The manager seemed to act like this happens all the time and actually said to me, "You would of had a great YouTube video if you cat was eating next to that when it went off!"
Anyway, he said he couldn't do anything for me, they are not responsible for stuff like this and they have signs at the fill station stating as much. He blamed me for putting the tank in the sun, or near a heat source and that was why it blew. After arguing with him about how the tank was on a counter top and in NO WAY in the sun or near any heat source AT ALL he finally agreed to give me a new tank (but I still have to pay to have it filled.)
My hubby gets home from work and the kids and I tell him what happened. He walked into my son's room and picked up the bottle (no way was I going near it!) to look at it.
Hubby is trained and certified in many things, one of them being the handling and filling of gas cylinders for welding and such. He asked me how they filled it, what kind of gauge did they use. They didn't use a gauge, the guy put the empty tank on a digital scale and filled the C02 tank until the scale reading was the correct weight. Hubby seemed upset at this. He thinks the tank was overfilled and that is why the safety valve blew. He wants to know if the guy who filled the tank is even trained and certified to do so. I don't know, so I couldn't tell him. Hubby took the tank to work today, along with the rest of my set-up (gauges, selonoid, check valve, bubble counter, difusser) so I could "have it done right!" He wanted to show the whole thing to the Airgas guys I guess, to see what they think.
Long story short: I am now afraid to use pressurized C02 in my planted tank. What if this happens again, in the fish room?!
I don't even want to think about the damage it could cause! Does this happen often? The manager at Dunhams told me to keep the tank from getting hot but the fish room is 80 degrees, is that too hot? Hubby assured me No, that either the tank was bad to begin with or it was overfilled (which he thinks is the case.)So yeah, that was my exciting moment in an otherwise normal day story.
