Do you turn the air off or leave it on after setting up on a tank?

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For an inexperienced diver, I'd recommend leaving it open, especially for anything under 30 minutes. It's better to not leave things to chance, such as jumping in the water and forgetting to turn the air on. If you do your pre-dive check properly and immediately before a dive, by taking 2-3 breaths from each regulator while watching the pressure gauge, you should catch whether or not your air is on. However, people make mistakes on pre-dive checks so just leave it on.

When you're much more confident and experienced with your pre-dive checks (after maybe 40+ dives), then it might be worthwhile to turn it off to preserve a few PSI if you're uncertain how soon the next dive will be. If you do that, I'd recommend depressurizing your regulators with your purge button, when you turn the air off. This reduces the likelihood you'll make a mistake like taking a breath from your regulator thinking the air is on, only to discover in the water after 2-3 breaths that it was actually off.
 
If you are back mount - and you turn off your tank you should get about 3 normal breaths before your out of air/gas. Now I imagine rolling off a boat, dumping your wing, starting to descend, and trying to take breath 4 and realizing your valve is off. Valve is hard to reach and you have a big problem. All to maybe save some air/gas loss. IMO not worth is. Create good logical habits and don’t make changes. If possible - while in the water and positivity buoyant and with your mask off, breath your reg(s). They should breath easy and dry. Check your tank pressure before and after breathing your regs. Why with the mask off? - again good practice in a controlled environment to practice breathing with your nose exposed.
 
This is my procedure:
1. Open the valve first to make sure there is gas in it. Turn it off.
2. Set the equipment and check the content again with spg to make sure the tank is full. Turn off the gas.
3. Prior to the dive, open the tank, don the equipment and check everything first before the final buddy check(if I have one).
4. Allow no one to touch my gear after I have put it on.
 
My tank is off regs depressurised as I sit into my gear arrange my hoses and strap and clip in, as this is far easier to do when depressurised and not fighting stiff hoses, then when I'm ready I wriggle down a bit reach back and turn my valve on two turns and go
 
My tank is off regs depressurised as I sit into my gear arrange my hoses and strap and clip in, as this is far easier to do when depressurised and not fighting stiff hoses, then when I'm ready I wriggle down a bit reach back and turn my valve on two turns and go
Two turns and go? Not fully open?
 
Doing mainly boat dives with a buddy and a crew, I turn it off after checking that there is air in the tank. Just a habit probably brought about by the thought that a small amount of air might escape while waiting. If by some chance I don't turn it on (before donning gear/during a buddy check) I know I'll find out just before entering the water as my routine is to take a couple short breaths on the reg and put a couple puffs of air in the BC. If it's off, a crew member will turn it on - many check anyway as a part of their routine.
 
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