buy steel and if so what size?

[hermosadive]

Ask yourself what kind of diving are you buying the tank for, beach, boat? I have both steel LP95 and a couple AL80s. Both have their benefits. Extra air is great, but are you using/needing? An E8-130 is 8" dia vs. 7.25 AL80/e7-120. 8" may be a problem on some boats since it might not fit in the tank holders. Many boats won't fill to 3000+psi, so you won't always get a full fill with either. Lots of options and stuff to consider besides cost.

I hated my AL80's until I finally got my rig weighted correctly, now I don't care if they are +4# when empty. I love my LP95 too, but hate adjusting the cam straps so lately I'm using the 80's. Most of my diving is from shore so the lighter tank is nice as well.

 

[David P]

The only sticker you will need is a shop visual sticker.

Thats the strange thing, neither of the stickers are from the shop that I bought it. I guess theyre PSI certified, so the PSI sticker is theirs? Am I correct in the thought that the eddy current exam is what they do to the neck of aluminum tanks and it is not needed on steels?

 

[OE2X]

In the case of all my tanks, I had to get vis stickers from the shops that I bought the tanks from. In my case this was a freebie. They do this because the tanks are shipped either with valve off or loose.

BTW - if you are going to use Nitrox make sure you have a Vis sticker that says that. Also use only hyper air if you are putting 21% in it, otherwise you will void your tanks nitrox rating.

 

[Dryglove]

This was directly from PST concerning VIP sticker and O2 clean.

"Our cylinder is O2 cleaned and the Valve is cleaned to CGA G-4.1 from the factory and ready for a 40% nitrox mixture.
Our tanks do ship with a VIP sticker on them"

 

[David P]

Dryglove/OE2X that doesnt make a lot of sense, the manufacturer goes through the trouble of puting on a vip sticker, and then shipping it with no valve (Ive heard this before) only requiring another vip.

OE2X by hyper air you mean to only fill it with 21% nitrox? All the shops around me (that I know of or use) fill by membrane not partial pressure, so I shouldnt have to get an O2 cleaning or worry about a nitrox vip sticker right?

 

[Dryglove]

Dryglove/OE2X that doesnt make a lot of sense, the manufacturer goes through the trouble of puting on a vip sticker, and then shipping it with no valve (Ive heard this before) only requiring another vip.

OE2X by hyper air you mean to only fill it with 21% nitrox? All the shops around me (that I know of or use) fill by membrane not partial pressure, so I shouldnt have to get an O2 cleaning or worry about a nitrox vip sticker right?

Actually it doesnt make a whole ot of sense but thats what PST does

PST tanks come equipped for use with nitrox up to 40% meaning that you can utilize banked fills or membrane fills upto 40% but no partial pressure fills cause the tank is introduced to 100% O2.

 

[Jason B]

Maybe the vip stickers from PST are a quality control type thing. Could be vip'ed in house prior to shipping....just guessing of course.

Jason

 

[lamont]

OE2X by hyper air you mean to only fill it with 21% nitrox? All the shops around me (that I know of or use) fill by membrane not partial pressure, so I shouldnt have to get an O2 cleaning or worry about a nitrox vip sticker right?

most of the places around here seem to fill either with membrane or if they partial pressure blend, they use EAN40 instead of 100%. there are shops that mark their VIPs "Nitrox 40%" which just means that in addition to a VIP the o-ring is viton and the lube used was christolube (aka "O2 compatible" vs. "O2 clean"). if you don't have at VIP which says nitrox on it somewhere, shops can still get testy about filling your tanks.

 

[Tavi]

Dryglove/OE2X that doesnt make a lot of sense, the manufacturer goes through the trouble of puting on a vip sticker, and then shipping it with no valve (Ive heard this before) only requiring another vip.

While the tanks are shipped without the valve in place. There is a plastic piece to keep contaminants from getting into the cylinder.

I still O2 clean mine myself, That way I know it's been done and not contaminated

 

[Dryglove]

While the tanks are shipped without the valve in place. There is a plastic piece to keep contaminants from getting into the cylinder.

That makes more sense. I have seen them at a few dive shops on the show room floor with no valves and nothing covering the opening.