Tank For Newby?

[The Great Orca]

Hi,
Whats a good tank for a newby?

Doing beach and OW dives!

 

[Henryville]

A rental.

Seriously, though, the good old Luxfer aluminum 80 is the standard everywhere I dive except Japan, where a 10 or 12 litre LP steel is standard.

 

[Charlie99]

The best tank depends upon upon where you are, and what sort of diving you are doing. So rather than giving you a direct answer, I've just listed some of the considerations.

1. If you are always going to be using your own tank, then definitely get them with DIN valve instead of the yoke style. If you will be using both your tanks and either rentals or the tanks of a buddy, then it may be more convenient to use the same type of fitting, and maybe even the same type of tank, so that your weighting and trim doesn't change according to whether you are using your tank or a rental.

2. If you are in warm water with little or no wetsuit then aluminum 80 is reasonable and low cost choice.

3. If you are in cold water and have to carry a lot of weight to overcome the buoyancy of a thick wetsuit or a drysuit, then a negatively buoyant steel tank will reduce the amount of lead you need to carry.

4. Check the availability of high pressure fills, both air and nitrox. If the max fill pressure at your local shop is only 3000psi, then you don't want a tank that needs 3500psi for a full fill.

5. Although right now you may be an airhog and using up lots of air, later on you might regret it if you go out and get a monster-sized super heavy tank that is awkward in shore entry/exits.

 

[rhadamanthus]

Things to consider:

Your height and weight

Warm or Cold diving

Wetsuit (size and thickness) or Drysuit

Remember that even though a HP steel tank holds less at 3000 than 3500, it is used a lot of times filled that way (an E7-120 filled to 3000 holds about 100). If you dive cold water you will naturally use more air than a warm water diver. A lot of cold water divers like the PST E7-100's. They are roughly the same size as a standard AL80, but hold more. Nobody ever died from having too much air.

So, once you have answered the above questions, start to look at the tank specs. Size, buoyancy characteristics (when full and empty), and pick a couple. Then post back with the answers to the questions above, your choices and ask for peoples opinions.

EDIT: Most new tanks come with a convertable DIN / YOKE valve. http://www.diveriteexpress.com/gas/thermo.shtml

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Hi,
Whats a good tank for a newby?

Doing beach and OW dives!

Spider,

This is exactly the type of question that cannot be answered without more information about you, what sort of gear you use, where you are located, and the type of diving you do or want to do.

Take a minute and fill out your profile. This will put your question into a context that people can use to respond to you more accurately.

There are likely 30 or 40 different tanks out there, including options like sets of steel 45 doubles, any of which might be optimal for you in terms of whether you're real small, real tall, tropical, arctic, rappelling down to the beach, diving off boats, wetsuit, drysuit, etc.

No one knows quite where to start. Well, taking a wild shot, steels are better tanks for pulling weight off your belt, but they're more expensive. Aluminum is more affordable, but they have wicked bouyancy swings from full to empty.

Regards,

Doc

 

[The Great Orca]

Ummm. I'm 6' and 150 pounds. I will be diving cold water, 60- 40 degrees. I have a 7mm Alpine w/ attached hood. Diving all along Cali. Would the steel be good for Beach and OW dives?

 

[JeffG]

Ummm. I'm 6' and 150 pounds. I will be diving cold water, 60- 40 degrees. I have a 7mm Alpine w/ attached hood. Diving all along Cali. Would the steel be good for Beach and OW dives?

Personally..I would get a Luxfer 80. You can use it for your entire diving career. You can use it for singles diving in warm or cold water, If you move to Tech, it can be a stage or deco bottle. It will always have a use.

 

[paulwlee]

If cost is a consideration, get the Aluminum 80's. They are the cheapest option in the US. (Before someone comes and says used steels can be had for cheaper, used AL80's can be had for even cheaper than the used steels.)

If you are willing to pay more for better tanks, get steel tanks.
If you can reliably get high pressure fills, get the Pressed Steel E7-80's. They are small and light. Compared to the AL80's which are 4lb postive empty, these tanks are about 1lb negative empty, so you can drop 5lb off your weightbelt. These tanks are also lighter, so overall you are more than 10lb lighter than when using AL80's. Your legs/back/shoulders will thank you when diving from shore.

If you can't reliably get high pressure fills, then get the LP80's. About same size/weight as AL80, but still ~1.5lb negative empty, so you drop 5lb off your belt compared to AL80. Or even better, get the new Pressed Steel E7-100's, which are very similar to the LP80, but are rated to be filled to 3442psi, for a capacity of 100cf.
When filled to 3000psi, it's still 87cf, 10cf more than the AL80 (78cf).

One downside is that Pressed Steel tanks are so popular that sometimes you need to wait to get some.

 

[OE2X]

I
One downside is that Pressed Steel tanks are so popular that sometimes you need to wait to get some.

WAIT and WAIT and WAIT. Getting a PST especially either 119's or 130's is like winning the lottery these days. I had a shop call me yesterday to let me know that one of their customers was selling a used one - 6 weeks old with 10 dives for $400. I bought it right away. It cost me $50 more than any of my other PST's that were new.

Are they worth it? IMHO absolutely. Without a doubt the nicest tanks I've ever used especially for colder water.

 

[Charlie99]

Aluminum is more affordable, but they have wicked bouyancy swings from full to empty.

Doc

Please explain!!! The last time I looked, air weighs the same whether it is inside a steel tank or an aluminum tank. The buoyancy change in an steel 80 is the same as for an AL80.