regulator question?

[zoo minsi]

have a question about how your regulators work. i have mine on a 5lbs tank and everything was going great, till the tank ran almost empty. when it was almost out my bubble count raised a ton. luckly i caught it (saw the fish gasping) but im curious is this something i should be watching for when the tank runs empty again? thanks for any info. this is the first time ive gone through a whole tank so very concerned that it could gas my fish if im not real careful. Oh and its working fine again with a newly filled tank.

[oldpunk78]

Using a Milwaukee?

Right before the tank is empty, there will be a rise in pressure. This rise in pressure can cause some regulators to have a rise in output pressure. This is most likely what you caught in action. Just watch you tank, and when it gets down to 400-500psi get a refill.

[zoo minsi]

ya using a milwaukee and ya it was around 500 so ill have to keep an eye on it. bad part is it takes so long to run that tank down i can see forgetting about it, have to figure something out. would be horrible if i lost all my fish.

[Complexity]

What you experienced is what is commonly referred to as the "end of tank dump." If you do some searching on that phrase, you will get a lot of information with lots of scary stories of people losing all their fish when it happens. That's when you'll also read a lot about single stage vs. dual stage regulators.

This page offers some good, basic info on the process. It's about halfway down the page. http://www.wcf.com/co2iron/faq.html. Read the whole thing and take note of things such as the effects of having a lid on the tank. Some of the information may help you to avoid having the bad effects of an end of tank dump happen on your tank.