OP
To Nitrox or not to nitrox ,Why and how ?
- Thread starter Frosty
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
If you are doing multiple dives at depths of more than 60' and have to come up due to bottom time limits rather than air remaining in your tank, nitrox is the way to go. Where I live, we do 60' to90' dives in a drift dive condition. An air diver is limited to 25 min. eaach dive, whereas a nitrox diver can stay down for 45 min. If your remaining air is above 1,000 after 25 min., you'd be better off using nitrox and getting extended bottom time. On air, a diver needs 60 min. to offgas on surface before they can get a decent 2nd dive off of a boat. A nitrox diver, on the other hand, only needs 45 min. of SI to get a decent second dive in. The decision to be nitrox certified or not lies mainly in how much air (enriched or not) you use per dive. If you are going up due to bottom time rather than air time, you should def. go nitrox. If you have to surface due to air left, don't bother. Wait until you have your breathing under control.
As Lynne said, Nitrox gives you longer bottom times or shorter surface intervals. There has not been any significant drop in DCS cases since Nitrox became popular in recreational diving, so it has not been shown to be any safer than diving air. Some divers insist they feel better after diving Nitrox, but if that were true you would hear divers say they feel great after a one hour dive to forty feet, but fall asleep in their soup if they dive to sixty feet. Some people go through life hoping for miracle cures, some accept life as it is. Nitrox is a tool that allows you to make a given dive longer than it would be on air and it gives shorter surface intervals, no more, no less.
Dr Wu
Contributor
- Messages
- 1,469
- Reaction score
- 59
- # of dives
- I just don't log dives
It extends bottom time significantly and also shortens your NDL time. Though its not backed by scientific data most (Not all) people who use it will swear by having a relaxed feeling post dive versus that of air. I can personaly say I feel better post dive off of nitrox but again thats just my opnion. 
DazedAndConfuzed
Contributor
But you can't go as deep with Nitrox, unless you want to risk nerve damage.
OP
OK --Im liking the sound of longer bottom time especially at some of our local dives. I suspect its a waste of time for vacation diving given the first diver in the group that signals they are low on air thumbs the dive for the group anyway
Last edited:
elan
Contributor
elan
Contributor
It extends bottom time significantly and also shortens your NDL time. Though its not backed by scientific data most (Not all) people who use it will swear by having a relaxed feeling post dive versus that of air. I can personaly say I feel better post dive off of nitrox but again thats just my opnion.
I always thought that the bottom time and NDL are actually correlated
Did you mean to say SI time ? 1. Best in 20-30m range.
2. If you are heavy breather then "extent bottom time" could be dangerous.
3. I do not believe it will cut short on surface interval. If you stretch your nitrox dive to 0/near 0 ndl, your N2 intake is the same as using AIR.
4. Use Nitrox but on air profile, as long as you do not violate the MOD of the mix.
2. If you are heavy breather then "extent bottom time" could be dangerous.
3. I do not believe it will cut short on surface interval. If you stretch your nitrox dive to 0/near 0 ndl, your N2 intake is the same as using AIR.
4. Use Nitrox but on air profile, as long as you do not violate the MOD of the mix.
Similar threads
