All About Tanks.... Size, Make, Contents, Ops, Etc.

[Carlos Diver]

When Jeremy switched tanks I only noticed after the fact. Those LP95s are really nice.

 

[DandyDon]

Planning 8 days of diving in Cozumel and trying to work out the situation with tanks and impact on ops selection, dive time, price, etc. I have searched to see if there was a consolidated thread, but could not ID one (especially not recent). And there seems to be general consensus that this could have a big impact on experience.

So what do you want exactly? The thread linked here is very informative...

Recently @jonhall put together a very nice sheet that answers a lot of your questions

Finding a (Best) Dive Op in Cozumel

On top of this, when I have reached out to dive operations to understand options, I seem to be getting a lot of... 'all the same makes no difference'.

Tell them what size of tank and what gas you want and get a price or a no.

And remember that old saying... its not the size of the tank, but the motion of the ocean and the length of the trip....

20 years of diving and I've never heard that one. I like 100 cubic foot tanks because I'm sure an air hog.

 

[ggunn]

Planning 8 days of diving in Cozumel and trying to work out the situation with tanks and impact on ops selection, dive time, price, etc. I have searched to see if there was a consolidated thread, but could not ID one (especially not recent). And there seems to be general consensus that this could have a big impact on experience. On top of this, when I have reached out to dive operations to understand options, I seem to be getting a lot of... 'all the same makes no difference'.

I'm not sure what you are saying, but I would hazard a guess that 95+% of the tanks used by divers on Cozumel are 80ft^3 aluminum.

 

[Brules]

You are right sir, other than those 3 ops - 99% of the rest us AL80s and AL100s but you have to request it.

Only 32/36% nitrox is available on island (pre mixed still I assume? has this changed?).

I usually dive an AL100 on air 1st dive and a Nitrox AL80 on 2nd tank. I do the AL100 so I dont have to sip air on 1st dive and am not depth limited in case I get on the boat and some yahoo demands we go do devils throat lol.

Your choices are limited to the above unless you dive with Aldora, Liquid Blue or Living underwater. Aldora fills their own air now I believe - not sure about the other 2.

 

[divingjd]

Aldora has HP steel 120s, HP steel 100s, and HP steel 80s. We use the 80s for shore diving at the Villa, but I think you can get them on the boats if you want. Aldora fills it own air and nitrox. It’s not just the weight of the tanks that matters, it’s the buoyancy characteristics. The HP steel tanks, unlike AL80s, do not become positively buoyant at low tank pressure. You can definitely reduce added weight. Aldora fills, by the way, are never short.

 

[MMM]

Jeremy switched to LP95's

He has always had LP 95s. Are you certain that he doesn't have 120s still?

 

[horn34]

He has always had LP 95s. Are you certain that he doesn't have 120s still?

That's what he told me the last time I asked and the Living Underwater website only lists LP95s now.

 

[MMM]

I just asked him. He said they are planning to make 95s the default. He plans to have some new 120s for people who need them, for not for about 6 months. Doesn't matter much to me...I was usually the only one on the boat with a 95 and outlasted everyone on 120s.

 

[John Trecker]

Why not both nitrox? Is there an upside to first on air.

You are right sir, other than those 3 ops - 99% of the rest us AL80s and AL100s but you have to request it.

Only 32/36% nitrox is available on island (pre mixed still I assume? has this changed?).

I usually dive an AL100 on air 1st dive and a Nitrox AL80 on 2nd tank. I do the AL100 so I dont have to sip air on 1st dive and am not depth limited in case I get on the boat and some yahoo demands we go do devils throat lol.

Your choices are limited to the above unless you dive with Aldora, Liquid Blue or Living underwater. Aldora fills their own air now I believe - not sure about the other 2.

 

[rongoodman]

Why not both nitrox? Is there an upside to first on air.

It sounds like he doesn't want to be precluded from going to a spot deeper than the MOD of the nitrox mix supplied, most likely to happen on the first dive of the day.