New Tank Questions

[Crush]

Others have answered your VIP and gas mix questions.

FWIW, I believe that you should regularly breathe off your pony - for practice. Deploy, breathe, then stow. Once you are good with that, try simulating a burst disk by using the oral inflator on you BCD rather than the power inflator.

That being said, you will breathe down your pony if you practice with it. To top it up from your main tanks between dives, try something like this: Tank to Tank Equalizer With Gauge reviews and discounts, IST

If ordering from ScubaToys.com, in your comments section mention that you are a ScubaBoard member and give them your user ID - you will get 10% off.

 

[willembad]

Hi,

I have a different opinion on this than most but will give it anyway. I think that most of us agree that diving to rock bottom in open water is a fair way to stay out of trouble. If you follow rock bottom rules you are keeping enough gas in reserve to allow both you and your buddy a safe ascent after a (one) failure. This would mean that most dives are thumbed with substantial back gas unused. If you carry a pony (bail-out bottle) you have emergency reserve for one diver in it by definition. I see no problem with planning to dive your back gas to half of the original rock bottom number as long as the pony is available. This in effect extends bottom time by allowing lower reserve in back gas.

To suggest to dive the pony as a deco bottle to someone who doesn't necessarily know what that entails is wrong. The gas in the pony should have a MOD deeper than back gas and for all practical purposes should be air, since you will use very little of this gas (checking reg functionality) and would have to dump gas every fill to match mix of back gas.

Willem

Sent from my Moment using Tapatalk

 

[BadaBing]

Others have answered your VIP and gas mix questions.

FWIW, I believe that you should regularly breathe off your pony - for practice. Deploy, breathe, then stow. Once you are good with that, try simulating a burst disk by using the oral inflator on you BCD rather than the power inflator.

That being said, you will breathe down your pony if you practice with it. To top it up from your main tanks between dives, try something like this: Tank to Tank Equalizer With Gauge reviews and discounts,

If ordering from ScubaToys.com, in your comments section mention that you are a ScubaBoard member and give them your user ID - you will get 10% off.

That is a handy little device. I didn't know about the 10% SB discount -- I could have saved a few bucks if I had purchased my pony tank there!

Lots of different opinions on the use of a pony bottle, more than I expected. Very good suggestion to get used to switching between main tank and pony, so that it is second nature if I have to do it in an emergency. I've been kicking around the idea of getting a bridle for the pony reg (the rubber necklace that keeps it right in front of you). Seems like if I just let it hang I could grab my octo by mistake.

 

[halocline]

You might consider slinging the pony bottle and rigging it like a stage. There are lots of drawings and instructions on any of the technical dive sites.

 

[Crush]

You might consider slinging the pony bottle and rigging it like a stage. There are lots of drawings and instructions on any of the technical dive sites.

+1 for slinging the pony.

If you want to do it yourself, see DIR-diver.com - Stagebottle rigging

If you want to buy something, see Dive Rite Stage Strap reviews and discounts, Dive Rite

When I dive I always have my main reg and my octo. I think of my pony is an added bonus and therefore do not remove my octo.

My octo is always around my neck - I don't understand why anyone would ever do it differently. Having said that, I don't care what others do - if it works for you, good. I started off with a rubber necklace for my octo - it might have cost about $8. I recently gave it to a friend in favour of about $1 (total) for bungee cord and a cable tie. The benefits of the rubber necklace are that you can easily donate either your primary or your octo, and it is very easy to strip off all of your gear while floating in your water if you are being picked up by zodiak/RHIB. However, I felt that I would only donate my primary (I have a long hose on it) and the necklace was just a bit too short, preventing me from looking down. To see what the bungee cord looks like, see DIR-diver.com - Backup Reg Rigging .

Have fun diving!

 

[Crush]

That is a handy little device. I didn't know about the 10% SB discount -- I could have saved a few bucks if I had purchased my pony tank there!

They are not the only ones that offer a discount.

Does anyone know of a comprehensive list of online dealers that offer discounts to SB members? You'd think there would be a sticky somewhere...

 

[Doc Harry]

I can't imagine ever tightening a valve to 50 ft lbs. Why so tight I wonder? With any air pressure at all it's not going anywhere.

The valve has to be tight because of the internal pressure. The internal pressure does not keep the valve on tight.

 

[mksmith713]

Filling with 40% isn't such a great idea.
If you need it to bail, the highest O2 content you'd want is what's appropriate for your MOD which would probably be air.

 

[GKaplan]

Very helpful! Thanks!