Looking to buy my first tanks

[Saltyhawg]

My wife and I don't want to wait for vacations to the ocean to dive so we are looking to buy our first tanks for local fresh water diving.

I want steel tanks because of the bouyancy advantages. I found a steel 100cf made by Faber at a price that's not far from an aluminum tank. It's their FX series and is a high pressure tank (3442 psi) but is advertised as compatable with ALL regulators. It has a "Pro valve that is yoke and DIN compatable". Is this a yoke with a DIN adapter included or vice versa or is it some new configuration that is compatable with both? Is anyone familiar with this valve setup and are ther any negatives to this type of set up? Would it work with my AL Mikron reg(3300psi)?

Is Faber a good manufacturer? What other tanks should we look at? (steel 100's for me and 80's for my wife).

Sorry for all the questions but would like answers from someone with experience and who's not trying to sell me something.

 

[decompression]

Faber are awesome tanks, the hp100's are very good. The pro valve has a screw in insert for yoke and unscrews for DIN. No problems using them with any regs. As long as your lds can fill hp you are golden. If you check out the specs on the tanks you'll probably just go with 2 100's, they are still shorter than AL80s with lots more air. It's much better for you if she's got a good reserve of air just in case you need it. Ever heard of rock bottom?


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[tbone1004]

lots of threads on here about this exact thing but here is executive summary

200 bar din tank valves can accept a screw in plug that allows you to use yoke regulators on the tank valves. These are what is sold on almost all tanks sold in the US today and have been for a long time. With the plug in there they look almost exactly like a yoke valve. No negatives to this valve other than they look a bit funny with 300 bar din regs screwed into them because threads stick out, purely cosmetic

https://www.divegearexpress.com/gas/index.shtml

click around there, good articles.

Faber is currently the only tank manufacture for steel available in this country, they are very good, especially for fresh water. I prefer hot dip galvanized tanks, especially PST's for ocean diving but they have not been available for a decade, so used only.

How tall is your wife? 100's are usually good height tanks for most people 5'6" ish to 6'0", HP80's are very stubby little things and I don't recommend them unless you are particularly short. I've posted in a few different threads about how to find your ideal tank height, so dig around and you'll find those posts. I highly recommend buying tanks in pairs, it makes life easier in the long run, check craigslist around you and on here for sets of doubles as that is usually the cheapest way to buy tanks. Generally between $400-$450 for a pair of steel tanks in good shape.

https://littlerock.craigslist.org/for/4899477418.html
Good deal on that if you want to fill your own

 

[NWA395]

Saltyhawg,
I was in your position a few years back. Based on diving climate here in NW Arkansas and cost, I just kept searching for used tanks and picked up two AL80's, each with current viz and 4 years left on hydro each for the cost of one new tank. 50 cents on the dollar ain't bad. The majority of our diving is on Beaver Lake and the type of tank really did not make a difference as I would just switch tanks during SI. Depending on depth and temp, average bottom time per tank is better than 75 min.

There is a lot of dive gear and tanks available on CL in NWA and Central AR

 

[Saltyhawg]

Thanks guys! This site is invaluable.

I'm 6'1" and my wife is 5'2". I was just guessing based on our heights. I'll try to find the info tbone mentioned. We have only used AL80's thus far and that's all I have found new or used locally. I never think of CL for some reason. Will look there tomorrow!

tbone I bet I would suddenly have a bunch of new "friends" if I bought that!

NWA we are planning a family vacation up that way this summer and will probably do some diving/spear fishing. Most of our local diving will be Lake Ouachita and Greer's Ferry.

 

[NWA395]

Feel free to send a PM when the weather warms up a bit if you are headed this way. Unless you like 7mm and full cold water gear, Beaver is a mid May lake at the earliest.

We are usually there a couple of weekends a month and will be maximizing time until July when its back to Roatan for 20+ dives.

C&J has hotel rooms but we usually do day trips or camp at Dam Site River for the weekend.

 

[BRT]

3442 100's are great tanks. The weight of an AL80 but you can drop 5-6 lbs from your weight belt and you get over 25% more air.

 

[tbone1004]

LP72's can also usually be had for next to nothing and offer tremendous advantages over AL80's. At 5'2" your wife may want to try to find HP80's since they're short and stubby, but at 6'1" you're pretty open for tank sizes. Keep scouring Craigslist and you may find a deal that makes a short ish road trip worth while. Do not be afraid of buying tanks set up as doubles, it is usually the cheapest way to buy bottles and you are close enough to the panhandle to take advantage of their craigslist as well.

Genesis HP steel 80 cu ft scuba tanks
These are the perfect bottles for your wife btw, see if he'll go to $350 for the pair

Scuba dive tanks
hp130's, good for you, see if he'll go $500 for all three since AL100's are pretty useless

Dive Tanks LP 85
great little bottles for you there, 85cf at working pressure, about 115cf of gas when cave filled

Scuba gear - Tanks, scooters, drysuit, etc...
LP72's for $75 each, great deal on those, about the same volume as AL80's, but lighter on land and 5lbs heavier in the water, so you save a boat load of weight when walking around and they're cheap.

That is a long road trip, but may be worth a trip to the beach with the wife for a weekend or a trip to Vortex and see the springs etc. Gas is cheap right now, I'd make the drive for those deals and a good weekend of diving.

 

[JohnN]

LP72's can also usually be had for next to nothing and offer tremendous advantages over AL80's.

A word or caution. Unless you can get a "cave" fill (tank filled to > rated pressure). LP72s don't hold very much gas once they have lost their "+" rating.

I agree if have a "+" rated tank, the difference between 72 cuft (LP72) vs 77 cuft(AL80) is not much, but once you lose that "+", you're only getting 65 cuft.

That's a lot of gas to give up.

 

[Saltyhawg]

Hmmm. We might be going to Vortex in a couple of weeks anyway. We did our OW dives there last March. May see if he'll let me pay 1/2 now and the other 1/2 when we pick up?

I assume we couldn't fill past 3300 (the rating on our regulators)? Leaning towards the 80's for the wife and the 130's for me.