Labeling a Galvanized Steel Tank

[Russoft]

Apologies if this has been covered a million times. I did try to find some good info but failed.

Found a steel tank on craigslist a week ago. A "50 cu ft 3500 psi tank" for $100. I recognized that it was actually an HP80 (after making measurements of the cylinder) so bought it quickly. Very short tank perfect for my fairly short wife (5 ft) who carries about 20 lb on her weight belt with an AL80 (cold water diving in a 7mm 2-piece wetsuit). Turns out it was (I think...) a PST 80 with a Sherwood 6300 valve (7/8" threading). It seems to have a galvanized outer coating which is in perfect condition. It's getting a hydro and visual inspection at the moment.

My wife likes pretty things. I want to order stickers with her business logo or her name and slap them on the tank. Ideally, I'd paint the whole thing pink or purple, but I'm not prepared for that sort of undertaking. At minimum, I'd like to paint or sticker her initials on the tank in a bright color.

What special considerations should be made for a galvanized steel tank? I don't want to degrade the tank and make it susceptible to rust in any way. But we also dive for fun, and for my wife that includes pretty/girly equipment, even if that means the tank doesn't survive 40 years as a result of plastering some label or logo on it.

 

[pinshootr]

go to Walmart in the craft dept. and pick up some dimensional fabric paint in Pink. in a 4oz bottle labeled slick. (puffy paint) it works very well on steel tanks as well as all other items you would like to put her initials on. I use yellow on my stuff.

 

[fmerkel]

DO NOT PAINT THE TANK!!!!
Initial it, decorate within reason, but if you paint it you will get grief from the LDS and almost certainly from the hydro people.
Paint can indicate an attempt to cover flaws. Some durable paints need to be baked on which can harm the temper of the steel. A shop can't know WHAT the owner has done and it's their safety on the line when the fill it.

 

[Russoft]

Apart from possibly needing to remove them for visuals, is there any problem with affixing stickers?

 

[Marie13]

Your wife will love her new HP80. I just recently switched to them.

 

[Tug]

Apart from possibly needing to remove them for visuals, is there any problem with affixing stickers?

Stickers can hide corrosion and also can trap water underneath them. As long as you don't have a ton of stickers on them, I don't really have a problem with them. I used to be 100% against stickers but then I realized that I was being a bit anal since 80% of my tanks have additional stickers on them in the form of MOD stickers or something similar.

As for marking the tanks, I'd go with either a paint pen or a sharpie. Both work well, just have to touch them up every few years or so.

 

[spectrum]

Hot Dipped Galvanized is timeless, leave it alone. Paint pen or sharpie for identification. Get artsy with colored permanent markers.

 

[Compressor]

I use Sharpies on my tanks. They work well. You can get colored Sharpies too.

 

[Scared Silly]

FWIW when performing a visual inspection all stickers should be removed to check for corrosion.

My favorite sticker:

 

[scubadiver888]

I like to use the oil based Sharpie for marking my tanks. Works great and they come in many different colours. I found the standard Sharpie wears off faster than the oil based Sharpie.