New Zeagle Razor 20cu pony bottle - How much integrated BCD weight should I deduct?

[flying lion]

Looking for advice on much weight to deduct from my normal BC weight pockets to account for the new Pony Bottle setup.

I dive the Zeagle Stiletto BCD and will be front side mounting this new 20cu Razor Pony bottle on the D-rings in the Zeagle pony holder.(see pic).
My dirst dive with it will be next week in North Carolina. I usually carry 14 pounds of weight in my integrated BCD pockets: 4lbs left front, 4lbs right front, 3lbs left rear and 3lbs right rear. So should I simply forego the 4lb pocket weight on the front right where the pony is carried and see how it goes? Or should I distribute the weight more in pockets if I need to carry less than 10lbs. I have some 2's, and additional 3's that I could substitute...

 

[inquis]

Specs are difficult to find for this. I did find that the tank itself weighs 12 lbs (no valve/reg), which makes it -1.1 lb buoyant, so I'd guess you're looking at dropping 2-3 lbs (including the valve/reg). If you wanted to know for sure, just measure it while submerged with a luggage scale when empty.

 

[tursiops]

First, "front side mounting" is no such thing. You are just carrying ti from your D-Rings, in front.
Secondly, it is a pony, so you do not intend to use the gas from it, right? At most, even if you did, that would only be about a pound of gas.
Thirdly, most folks carrying a small pony like that don't even both adjusting any weights....the pony and reg makes them slightly heavier (like, maybe 2 pounds at most) and they just compensate by adding a bit more gas to the BCD.

 

[inquis]

If I were using a pony, I would adjust for the empty buoyancy, because it's trivial to do so (assuming I have the needed lead bricks). I'm not giving it up during the dive; after all, it's called "pony" for a reason (Piss Off, Not Yours).

 

[Snusmumrik]

Man. Think of it : if you are in need to remove pony bottle underwater for some reason,
you should still stay neutral. So my choose not to remove any weight.

 

[Searcaigh]

I agree with the above on not removing any weight.

I milk my pony / deco bottle (30cu ft) over a period of time as I use it for occasional deco plus while washing and cleaning the tank and reg after every dive.

I currently have 90 bar in it. I normally use 40-50 bar from 21m to 6m, so it becomes slightly positive over time.