Newbie question on tanks

[emily n portland]

Emily- I know a lot of citrus based juices, cinnamon, and particularly minty ones have issues with plastic, if I remember correctly?

I'm going to say yes and no.
citrus/cinnamon - can be plastic eaters. But not all citrus/cinnamon. I'm just not sure about mint.
Any reputable vendor, would disclose it in their descriptions of the liquid.

The ones that messed w/mine were a cinnamon clouded up the tank and a lavender (go figure) dissolved my drip tip into goo

edyl's point re safety is completely valid....same can be said of anything we consume out of plastic.

 

[edyle]

Edyle- do you think that a tank with a head such as the nautilus is better than one with wicks such as some Innokens or Visions?

They all have some kind of wick;
the Nautilus is a bottom coil. The coils is at the bottom so the wick is short.

Some of the innokin tanks are top coils. The topcoils have a long wick to hang downward; it's just because of the long wick you notice them.

Bottom coil tanks seem to be more popular nowadays.

Bottom coil tanks do tend to have a potential problem of leaking or flooding, because there are holes in the bottom of the tank for the liquid to get to the coil at the bottom.

Top coil tanks tend to have the opposite problem: coil going dry because the liquid has to wick it's way upward against gravity - you compensate for this by giveing the thing a twirl to wet the wick.

 

[NORCALEX]

Thank you as well, Norcalex. (sorry, by the time I'm replying to one person, two more have commented)

I know this makes me seem as unknowledgable as I actually am, but when you say "rebuilding" the heads, do you mean replacing the wick after cleaning?

yeah you replace the wick and the kanthal in it... you can rebuild it with cotton wicks instead of silica which comes in the stock coils and wicks much better IMO. it might seem a bit complicated at first but watch a few youtube videos or have a local vape shop/buddy show you how to do it and you will master it in no time. I suppose you could just replace the wick, but the coil will likely be burnt out by the time you need to replace the wick so its better to just do it all at once IMO, and then you can build it to your desired resistance.

 

[Samebito]

Emily- I completely agree that a glass tank is a safer bet because it's non-reactive and doesn't leech. The reason why I'm considering plastic tanks is because a) they're cheaper and b) I don't have any particular interest in any of the big "red flag" flavors as far as reactions.

Edyle- Ah. Looking at the Nautilus, I didn't even see any wicks. My mistake. My BCC Mega is a bottom coil. The heads in my tank though seems to get an acrid taste after a couple days. That's why I've been concerned about getting a new tank I guess.

 

[Samebito]

Norcalex- How difficult is it to replace the coil like that? If I recall correctly, you should always test the resistance when you do that, right? I've heard that cotton wicks are often preferred to the stock silica (which in turn is preferred to some stock fiberglass wicks)

 

[flowerpots]

There are differences between the wicks/coils of top-fed tanks and bottom-fed tanks. The Nautilus is a BCC (bottom coil) tank and the iClear16 is top coil. Bottom coils tend to last longer (in my experience) and can be rebuilt (meaning, you can take out the original wick and coil out and build a new one yourself) or you can buy replacement coils. Top coils, specifically the iClear16, provide really good taste and gurgle less, but you also have to be careful to keep the wicks that drop down into the tank wet at all times or they will burn very fast. So, this means constantly turning the tank upside down to re-wet the wicks and filling the tanks pretty frequently too. The iClear16 also has replaceable coils and you can rebuild them also, and the coils for each are about the same price, depending on where you buy. I have not used the Nautilus, but have used the Pro Tank, Kanger T3 and T3S, XJet, and others, and really do find that overall, the bottom coils tend to last longer than the top coils, but that's just my experience. Glass tanks are heavier, in case that is an issue for you, but they tend to last longer, can handle any juice while the plastic tanks are lighter.

If you are running through your coils faster, are you changing the juice your use? Or are you cleaning them at night? These can have an impact on the life of your coils. For example, dark juices/liquids can burn coils much faster than lighter juices.

There are disposable options also, but you may not want that as you mentioned you were not wanting to buy the whole top, but wanting to replace the coil only. But, there are disposable and cheap options out there.

Good luck!

 

[Twisted pair]

I like nautilus tank better than the protanks with the airflow controller.
I have 3 nautilus tanks and 4 protanks with airflow controllers. Also some rebuldables.
I like a airy draw and you can adjust the nautilus to suit your needs, it has 4 settings.
The choice is yours!

I'm just giving you my opinion, the decision is yours!

 

[COGamerGirl]

Thanks, COGamerGirl.

I'm assuming that even with a tank such as that, you still need to clean or replace atty's between flavors, right?

Nope, at least I never did unless the were polar opposite flavors. The first couple of draws were a little muddled but fine once the wicks soaked up the new juice.
It really is such a trial and error thing. I didn't spend much time with that set up before I switched to rebuildable but I have friends who use the Nautilus and love it!


Yes, I'm a girl and I use a Mech!

 

[Jscheiben]

I've used both plastic(aspire bdc, ce4, iclear 30) and pyrex(nautilus) and have not noticed any "plastic" taste or anything that would lead me to believe anything was leeching into the juice. That being said I have come across one juice that did cloud my plastic tank. My iclear 30 is my backup in case something happens to the nautilus. I have yet to venture into rebuilding(picking up an RDA tomorrow possibly) so have no experience with cotton wicks but will let ya know as soon as I do it. Also ohm checking is important as regulated devices will not fire below a certain resistance(correct me if i'm wrong). You can either get an ohm meter for testing the built coils or if you have a mod that reads ohms like the MVP 2.0 I use, it can test them for you.

 

[NORCALEX]

Norcalex- How difficult is it to replace the coil like that? If I recall correctly, you should always test the resistance when you do that, right? I've heard that cotton wicks are often preferred to the stock silica (which in turn is preferred to some stock fiberglass wicks)

Like I said, with a little bit of help from youtube or someone that knows what they're doing and some practice - it's not too hard. Yes you test your resistance whenever rebuilding for safety but if you use a regulated device it will keep you safe (it won't fire with too low ohms) and I'm not sure how safe it would be to use a build that you have not tested the resistance for, as I don't know if it will not fire if its too low or if it will fire and be pushing the limits of your batteries amp discharge rate (which is never a good thing - dangerous).

 

[Samebito]

Thank you very much, Flowerpots. Very informative.

I think I've decided I want to go for a glass bcc tank, just one that's better than the one I've been using (which to be frank I kinda knew was cheap when I got it, but I wanted another option to the stock ego-cc). I don't have a problem with the tank weighing more or less as it's often either on my desk/shelf/table, or briefly in my jacket pocket while going from place to place.

I've used a couple different juices while experimenting with how quickly the taste becomes acrid. I haven't been cleaning them at night, but have cleaned them when the taste becomes unpalatable. Some of my juices have however darkened with age- so that may be a fair point.

 

[Samebito]

Thank you Twisted Pair.

COGamerGirl- Makes sense.

Thank you JScheiben. I have a multimeter that I use for checking leads on some electronics work I've done, and it does read ohms (in addition to 4 or 5 other things, hence multi obviously). Would that work effectively for testing coils?

Norcalex- I know the dangers of trying to overwork a battery. As I said to JScheiben, I do some work with electronics and have had to deal with some things like that.

 

[NORCALEX]

Good to know you realize the dangers and are being safe. I'd say I'm pretty confident that with your knowledge of electronics you'll be sure to be safe no matter what route you go. Keep us updated on what you decide to go with and how you like the results. Good luck bud!

 

[Samebito]

Norcalex- I'm not exactly a professional, but I'm well aware of the issues that could arise with badly done electronics work. I may not be able to get it working optimally, but I can generally get stuff working and have it work safely. haha

Also to anyone around- I do have another question. For the Nautilus (for example) what type of kanthal and wick should I be looking for? and where is generally best to buy them?

 

[edyle]

I have some kanthal and have done a few recoils, but I rewick my coils several times before they end up needing recoiling.

Before rewicking the coils, for several months I only used to dryburn the coil and replace the loose topwicks, and leave the center wick alone, but when one of the center wicks finally fell apart from repeated reusage, I tried running some cotton through it and despite my 50 year old eyes that I thought couldn't see it, I've been rewicking coils ever since; taste is a whole level better rewicking with fresh cotton than reusing old silica wick.

btw you mentioned acrid taste after a few days - yes - time to dryburn and rewick.

Rewick

 

[^Top-Shelf^]

While I mainly use RBA's and drippers, occasionally I'll grab a clearomizer and ego twist if just running to the store. I've found the mini protank 2 or 3 to be very nice little tank. Can fully disassemble it to clean, has glass tank section, and can use whatever drip tip you like.

 

[edyle]

Norcalex- I'm not exactly a professional, but I'm well aware of the issues that could arise with badly done electronics work. I may not be able to get it working optimally, but I can generally get stuff working and have it work safely. haha

Also to anyone around- I do have another question. For the Nautilus (for example) what type of kanthal and wick should I be looking for? and where is generally best to buy them?

Temco for kanthal; you'll find them on ebay.
100' roll.

32 gauge.

or 30 gauge.

 

[Samebito]

Thanks Top-Shelf.

And thanks again to everyone else. I think I've decided I'm going to go for a nautilus in a couple days when the tills are refreshed as it were. I'll let everyone know how it goes when I get it in! (who knows, I may have more questions)

 

[EDog13]

the protank II and III end up being better than the Aerotank if you swap out the bottom they come with and switch to the kanger airflow bottoms. that can be bought seperately. the aerotank has predefined settings for airflow but the replacement bottom for the other tanks is fully adjustable.

 

[Jscheiben]

Thanks Top-Shelf.

And thanks again to everyone else. I think I've decided I'm going to go for a nautilus in a couple days when the tills are refreshed as it were. I'll let everyone know how it goes when I get it in! (who knows, I may have more questions)

Hey Samebito, figured since you're going to go with the nautilus and have asked about rebuilding coils i'd link to a nautilus coil build video for you by rip tripper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAmIJIUeEUg. Once I get my RDA and the equip I need i'm going to try my hand at rebuilding mine.