what is coming out of the tank?

[aboalreem]

Yesterday, I was diving with a group of people out of bay island, and while diving, I saw a diver's tank (from where is the first stage is connected) I saw a white ground stuff getting out of the tank..I thought it was some bubbles, but no..the stuff (white like ASH) were falling down!!!! anyways..everyone was OK..
Today,,,I was diving and while breathing I felt some smokey tast or chemical tast...by the end of the dive....My computer told me that my tank has 600psi, but I felt the breathing was little diffictult and the computer warned me that I have 70 PSI.....Went to the boat, and when I took the first stage off I found whitle like stuff around the first stage just like white mud!! and smelled funny....so my fist stage was stuffed with these things that I read the tank as having 70 psi and almost empty tank breathing.everyone on the boat said I have no idea what is that....any of you know!!!

 

[rakkis]

Aluminum Oxide. The tank has had moisture inside it and likely hasn't had a visual inspection in a long time. Is this your personal tank or a rental?

 

[Orlando Eric]

I am sure there will be many guesses. Mine is corrosion from the inside of the Alum tank. It makes a white powder but when mixed with the water (which caused the corrosion) which is in your tank (and should not be) the powder came out to make a mudd. The water is yucky smelling from being in there so long.

That is my guess.

Either way I'd take the whole Koboodle in and have it serviced.

 

[cdennyb]

definate corrosion problem there. The tank will no doubt be 'whiped' and or rolledto clean it, then it'll be hot rinsed, and clean air dried, then inspected. Hope you don't have any other tanks like that! At least none you're breathing off of.
I ran across one I did a VIP on that was previously used for paintball. It had poor care, being sucked completely empty numerous times and the valve left open while it was stored. This allowed moisture to enter and over time it was pretty bad inside. It cleaned up though, passed the VIP and went back to dive service and has been fine ever since. Hence the reason for leaving at least 200-500 psi in them when they are stored.
Good luck with that.
db

 

[Warren_L]

Yes, it's aluminum oxide from corrosion inside the tank. I ran into this with a few tanks when I was in San Andres a few months ago. Any tank that does this needs to be visually inspected right away, and you should have your regulator serviced. The filter basket is probably completely clogged.

 

[Matt_NJ]

It's also probably a good idea to note that if your air ever tastes funny you should not dive with it.

 

[jonesbf]

I'm not sure what the substance was. The corosion theories are in line though. The only thing I'd suggest is never dive funny tasting air. You have no way of knowing what is going into your lungs.

 

[Guba]

Yes, indeed, I'm no expert, but I definitely have experience in this one! The substance, as many noted, is aluminum oxide with possibly a trace of aluminum chloride tossed in to boot. (Depends if any seawater got into the tank.) And you are indeed lucky not to have experienced a problem underwater.
My experience was a near total plugging of my first stage at 65 feet using a rental tank in Playa del Carmen. I was able to get about 20% of the air I needed to function normally, but I was able to make a safe ascent by NOT MOVING unnecessarily (no kicking), keeping very still, and concentrating on drawing and exhaling very long, slow breaths. I was also careful to make a very slow and cautious ascent with a DM close by (he just happened to be closer than my buddy, who was a newbie with only 9 dives).
I'm much more careful in the dive operators I use now. By the way, I'm also much more careful about the distance between me and my buddy, too.
Congratulations on surviving the experience!

 

[musicalmike]

You need to be a little more specific to determine how it got there. Yes I agree that with an aluminum tank this is easy to identify and fortunatly not as devistating as this could be with a steel tank.
You said you saw a divers tank with white ground stuff. Was this a rental tank or his own? Then you said "today when I was diving and while breathing I felt some smokey tast or chemical tast". Was this your own tank or a rental? Or were these tanks supplied by the boat? Is it possible the boat is spewing something into the tank?

 

[aboalreem]

It is a rental tank...!! this was my couple of my dives with my Zeagle reg ....should I have the reg serviced? it is brand new...maybe the corrosion got in my reg!!