I know this shocks most folks, but North Central Texas is not exactly a dive mecca. There are couple of mud holes and that's it up here. Got my OW in one with about 3-5' viz.
Most all my tanks are craigslist or eBay saves. Got em hydroed and then cleaned them up pretty good, VIP stickered them and then put on new valves and voila a wall full of tanks. A couple of the valves I got were the wrong pressure rating for the tanks I have so I started swapping out burst disks, then rebuilding valves, and so I want a bottle that is mostly trash to hold valves when I torque the stem packing nut or the burst disk.
Most of the stuff I find locally, if it includes tanks, the folks are wanting to unload their whole box of 20-30 year old once used scuba crap. Never mind that the arm of that wet suit they stored balled up in a 147 degree attic for the last two-dozen Texas summers is so rotted it has almost totally cracked off. And they want current full retail prices. Maybe more since their stuff is likely high-value collector grade equipment.
I want none of their soft stuff, and a lot of the time, they are not willing to part any of it out. The tanks I've bought, I've bought really cheap, explaining they're out of hydro, that local shops charge $60 for a hydro/VIP/fill. Plus a valve rebuild for $20 + parts kit. So that right there is $80 to 100 just to get the old one up to usable condition. New I can get delivered for $200. So I'll offer $45-50 for an old but otherwise servicable tank. A few I got look brand freaking new. A couple were. Just old. I figure if I get a 6351 tank, I won't be tempted to "fix' it. To my knowledge, there's no shop up here that will even hydro an old, pre 1990 AL tank. Koetter Fire does tanks for virtually every single LDS of which I'm aware. The 1990 is their shop policy.
I've looked every day for a year. One local 6351 tank that's surfaced. The guy wanted $150. I explained its value in the local market and offered him about $10 more than recycle AL value for it, with me coming to schlep it off. He got real snotty and told me he would just as soon take it down to be recycled himself than sell it to me at the reasonable price I offered So I still look. One will eventually surface that I will snag.
OMMOHY