Reusable Tank Caps
As a recreational scuba diver there are practices within the dive industry which go unnoticed, like how to tell if a scuba take is full or empty? When divers show up ready for the day, scuba tanks are already on the boat or ready to be equipped in the shop.
But before guests arrive it is a divemaster or instructors job to prepare equipment and tanks for the dive. It’s pretty impossible to tell if a tank is full just by looking at it, and unless you want to test each tank with a pressure gauge before hauling them back from the compressor room, it’s better to have a system in place for identifying full vs. empty tanks.
After a dive, empty tanks are sent off to the compressor to be filled with air. Often a simple piece of masking tape is used to cover the valve opening as a way to quickly identify full tanks.
But little things add up and hundreds if not thousands of divers every day are removing this small piece of tape and sticking it on their tank before a dive. These pieces of tape inevitably end up in the ocean, polluting our favorite dive sites.
So what can YOU do about it?
Green Fins has put together this short video showing a cheap and simple solution to the problem. Using old tubing and some rope dive shops can fabricate all the reusable tank caps they need. Sure a little piece of tape might seem harmless but left in the ocean this marine debris can be ingested by fish and marine mammals.
If you are a dive professional with a down day at the office, start making reusable caps for all your tanks. If you are a recreational diver and notice masking tape being used at your dive shop, show them this video, and suggest they try reusable tank caps instead of tape.
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