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Cylinder Stickers
Tank marking stickers and decals from The Scuba Doctor are the perfect way to correctly and safely label the contents of a cylinder.
Tech Tip: Do I really need that big Nitrox wrap decal on my cylinder?
The large Nitrox tank wrap requirement mostly depends on your local dive shop fill policy. When Nitrox was introduced to sport diving there was widespread anxiety at local dive shop fill stations about cylinder contamination and handling safety. There were also fears of an injury as the result of an unqualified diver inadvertently breathing Voodoo Gas. While there is no law that requires the Nitrox wrap, the highly visible 'Nitrox', 'Nitrox Only', or 'Enriched Air Nitrox' tank wrap was helpful in addressing those early concerns.
Today, experience has demonstrated those safety worries about Nitrox to be relatively minor issues for the sport diving community. The large Nitrox tank wrap was quickly proven to be an imperfect solution to ensuring handling safety and identifying cylinder contents.
Many fill stations have adopted policies and practices that do not rely upon the presence of the Nitrox wrap. As a result, some local dive shops have become ambivalent about requiring the large wraps and are satisfied with a small removable tape label or tag that indicates cylinder contents analysis.
The factor that often determines the large permanent wrap requirement at many local dive shops is how the shop handles Nitrox fills. Shops that fill using premixed gas tend not to require the large wraps, but shops that partial pressure blend in the cylinder itself may still require the wraps.
In the early days practically all Nitrox fills were done using partial pressure blending, causing a common misconception that presence of a Nitrox tank wrap indicates the cylinder and valve are oxygen clean and oxygen compatible. However, the Nitrox wrap does NOT indicate the oxygen cleanliness or oxygen compatibility of the cylinder and valve, the wrap is just a label of what type of gas blend the cylinder may contain.
A separate evidence of inspection decal (aka VIP sticker) is what indicates if cylinder and valve are both suitable for use with compressed gases containing more than 23.5% oxygen at the date of inspection. Dive shop filling stations doing partial pressure blending will insist on your tank have an in-date Oxygen Clean sticker applied by the testing station that oxygen cleaned your cylinder.
Neither the Nitrox sticker or the Oxygen Clean decal indicate what compressed gas is stored in the cylinder. You should properly and clearly label your cylinder with your analysis of the gas mixture.
Clearly label anything that isn't air. If the MOD is less than the maximum possible depth of the dive (think deco cylinders), make sure the MOD stands out where not only you can see it, so can your buddies. Make it obvious to everyone if you are using the wrong cylinder at the wrong depth.
Consider putting a small piece of tape on each second stage, just in front of the mouthpiece, that has the MOD for the cylinder it is attached to. (This is in addition to the standard cylinder markings.) Any little thing that may save your life helps.
Tech Tip: Perfect Positioning of Scuba Tank Stickers
Select the general spot on your scuba cylinder to place the sticker and remove any old stickers and decals from that spot. On painted aluminium cylinders we recommend scraping any blistering or peeling areas to remove loose paint. Take an appropriate cleaner/solvent and wipe the area down a couple of times to remove dirt, wax and all other enemies of good adhesion. If you use any cleaning solvent, keep it off the valve and neck and be sure to rinse with soap and water when you are done.
Once the cylinder is clean, peel the backing off your sticker. Now the trick is to simply spray the area where the sticker is to be placed and also lightly wet the adhesive back of the sticker, with a thin coat of soapy water or Windex before you install the sticker. This gives a little lubrication and just enough surface tension to hold the sticker but not fully adhere it to the surface.
Apply the sticker to the cylinder. While wet, you can slip and slide the sticker into the perfect position. When you're sure it's in the right spot you simply hold it with one hand and squeegee the liquid out with the other.
Once it feels fairly adhered, blot the excess liquid off, and stand back to confirm placement. We say this because you still have some time to pull it off and re-position without penalty as there is a bit of liquid still under the sticker. Once the soap evaporates, the sticker adheres very well to the tank.
Spec Reef
Reef Dive | 
Boat access
Depth: 22 m (72 ft) to 60 m (197 ft)
Spec Reef | © Ian Scholey
Spec Reef (aka Spectacular Reef) is part of the former Yarra River bed and lies in the South Channel, Port Phillip, Victoria and is therefore subject to shipping traffic. The area is quite large and offers many different dive sites. All dives are characterised by a spectacular wall which has large undercuts housing Southern Rock Lobster (aka Crayfish), Southern Blue Devil, beautiful soft corals, and an abundance of other life including Bastard Trumpeter, Leather Jackets, the Rosy Wrasse, and inquisitive White-ear, along with literally thousands of small baitfish.
Spec Reef is very aptly named. The scenery, rock formations, the sheer drop-offs and the most abundant fish life in the Bay, make it a special place.
On days of good visibility you will understand why this area is called Spectacular Reef. The terrain is quite dramatic with large deep ledges. It can only be dived on the slack water when there is no shipping as it is right in the middle of the channel. This makes another elusive site but well worth the effort. It starts in 15 metres and runs East to West with deeper water down to over 33 metres to the South. The current here is not a strong as in other places, which means that this dive can be done on either of the slack waters.
Spec Reef has an unusual combination of huge undercuts and sheer drop offs. The sheer sides of the reef have fantastic overhangs and lovely colours in the sponge life. The area is big on sponges and very, very fishy. This is truly one of the prettiest dives in the bay — in fact it's spectacular.
Crayfish Dive Site | © Ian Scholey
Divers have the opportunity to catch Southern Rock Lobster (aka Crayfish) at this dive site. Remember your catch bag, current Victorian Recreational Fishing Licence, rock lobster measure, and cray tags. Once you get back to the dive boat, or shore, make sure you clip the tail and tag your Crayfish as per Fisheries requirements. Please abide by all current fishing regulations if you intend to catch crays. See article-catching-crayfish for practical cray hunting advice from The Scuba Doctor, plus melbourne-cray-dives for a list of other crayfish dive sites near Melbourne. For tips on cooking your Crays, please see article-cooking-crayfish.
Finding the Spec Reef
Over the years we've been provided with different GPS marks for the Spec Reef. The GPS marks we know of in circulation for the Spec Reef are:
- GPS
Latitude: 38° 17.294′ S (38.288233° S / 38° 17′ 17.64″ S)
Longitude: 144° 39.946′ E (144.665767° E / 144° 39′ 56.76″ E) - Geoff Rodda:
Latitude: 38° 17.304′ S (38.2884° S / 38° 17′ 18.24″ S)
Longitude: 144° 40.068′ E (144.6678° E / 144° 40′ 4.08″ E)
178 m, bearing 95°, E
Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) country
Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) people of the Kulin Nation. This truly ancient Country includes the coastline of Port Phillip, from the Werribee River in the north-east, the Bellarine Peninsula, and down to Cape Otway in the south-west. We wish to acknowledge the Wathaurong as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Bunjil the Creator Spirit of this beautiful land, who travels as an eagle, and Waarn, who protects the waterways and travels as a crow, and thank them for continuing to watch over this Country today and beyond.
Spec Reef Location Map
Latitude: 38° 17.294′ S (38.288233° S / 38° 17′ 17.64″ S)
Longitude: 144° 39.946′ E (144.665767° E / 144° 39′ 56.76″ E)
Datum: WGS84 |
Google Map
Added: 2012-07-22 09:00:00 GMT, Last updated: 2021-07-16 21:51:20 GMT
Source: GPS
Nearest Neighbour: North Wall, 245 m, bearing 251°, WSW
Depth: 22 to 60 m.
Dive only on: SWF, SWE.
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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.
The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.
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