Not sure how I did this but I did. Duh. After retrieving a straw of semen the cane it came from somehow missed the cannister it was supposed to drop in and is now somewhere at the bottom of my tank. Any ideas about the best way to fish it out??
Best bait for fishing in my semen tank?
- Thread starter Bum Steer
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Double R Ranch
Well-known member
I use a mechanics claw retriever. It takes a little maneuvering to get the end of the straw but works well for me. I have one that stays right next to the tank. Don't use it often but it's worth having around to me.
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Redgully
Well-known member
I tip some nitrogen into an esky, put all the straws in there and then tip the tank up and empty it into another esky, using long tweezers pick out the straws/canes. Helps to swirl nitrogen in tank before tipping as that help centre the canes. Sometimes it takes two or three goes.
Dsth
Well-known member
I would repeat what Double R Ranch suggested.
simme
Old Dumb Guy
If you have all the canisters in the tank, you may not have enough room to work with the claw retriever, depending on where the cane is. If you have a canister removed or able to remove an empty canister, you can probably move canisters around to spot the cane and retrieve it. Use a flashlight to spot the cane. Otherwise and probably best, work with the AI rep that fills your tank. They probably have an empty tank that they can add nitrogen to and transfer your canisters into. Then dump your tank into a cooler (Australian esky), refill your tank with some nitrogen, put the canisters back in and retrieve the cane from the cooler and transfer to tank. Your AI rep probably has experience doing this. If you attempt to dump the tank yourself, there is the risk of not having enough nitrogen to refill it.
Redgully
Well-known member
While on that, how much nitrogen do you need in a tank to keep it at right temperature. I have talked to some people who say you need to keep it above straws, others say a few inches. One rep i spoke to said as long as you have vapour the temp inside is still ok, of course he didn't recommend that but was saying they came across some cans that had tipped over and just had vapour left. They tested semen in there and all good. I myself have a 20L tank and try to maintain minimum of 10L but have got down to 5L and semen still good. I'm lucky, i order nitrogen and there the next day.
simme
Old Dumb Guy
Straws don't have to covered by the liquid. The academic answer is that you are OK as long as there is any liquid in the tank. Since it vaporizes at a constant temperature of about -300 degrees F. But as soon as the liquid is gone, temperatures will drop and semen will be ruined. Practical answer is to keep at least 5 inches in the tank with 2 inches being the point to have big anxiety. The common 20 liter tank will evaporate about 0.1 liter per day. Vapor shippers are an exception. They are used to ship semen with Fedex and UPS since liquid nitrogen is considered hazardous to ship. They have an absorbent material that soaks up the liquid nitrogen and will not spill it if the shipper tips over. So it is still there in a liquid state, but soaked into the material - not pooled in the tank.
If transporting a conventional tank, I put the tank in the seat of the truck and fasten it with the seat belt. However this is dangerous in a couple of ways. In a crash, it can release all the nitrogen into the vehicle, freezing you or vaporizing and smothering you since it will displace the oxygen in the air. If you transport in the bed of the pickup, tie or clip the plastic cover so it does not open. If that plastic cover opens, the moisture in the air rushing by the foam plug as you drive can freeze the plug to the tank since the nitrogen vapor against the foam plug is cold. Then the nitrogen vapor cannot escape and pressurizes the tank. Remember the 0.1 liter of nitrogen per day that vaporizes. Some may remember (probably not) the equation PV=nRT. What that means is that the vapor takes up a LOT more space than the liquid and will build pressure in a plugged tank until the tank splits or erupts.
