Tank For Newby?

[rhadamanthus]

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.

I think they mean the swing from negative to positive. Steel tanks start negative and end negative. Aluminum tanks (80's anyway) start negative and end positive.

You can get a "neutrally buoyant" AL80 tank for about 30 bucks more though.

Scroll down to the chart on the bottom.
http://www.diveriteexpress.com/gas/steel.shtml

 

[Charlie99]

Rhadamanthus, unfortunately, there are many divers that have the misconception that the change in buoyancy is greater with an aluminum tank.

Your statements are correct, but Doc Intrepid was clearly making an additional, unsupportable claim.

 

[The Great Orca]

E7-80 Steel is 200 bucks, How many breaths can u make on it? Does the 80 cubic feet meen you can only go 80 feet under water?

Thanks(sorry on my newbnesses(made this word up))

 

[rhadamanthus]

E7-80 Steel is 200 bucks, How many breaths can u make on it? Does the 80 cubic feet meen you can only go 80 feet under water?

Thanks(sorry on my newbnesses(made this word up))

Hey Shim.

I would just rent Aluminum 80's for a while till you get a better idea of what you need. I have met a lot of divers that rent just so they have one less thing to lug around.

Rhad

 

[The Great Orca]

Hey Shim.

I would just rent Aluminum 80's for a while till you get a better idea of what you need. I have met a lot of divers that rent just so they have one less thing to lug around.

Rhad

At the scuba classes will they charge you if you borrw their tanks?

 

[OE2X]

At the scuba classes will they charge you if you borrw their tanks?

It's likely. Ask your LDS when signing up.

To answer your question about an 80 cf tank and it's depth:
This is the amount of air that a tank will hold. Generally an 80 cf steel tank will be physically smaller than an 80 AL (I'm thinking of a PST 80 high pressure). Assuming you are only diving with one tank, both are capable of going to whatever depth you can go to and safely get yourself back to the surface. This is mainly based on your Surface Air Consumption (SAC) rate. How long this tank will last underwater depends on many factors like depth and activity. The deeper you go the less time you will get on the tank. If you are swimming into current the whole time you may well hoover through the tank very quickly.

It sounds as if you are looking into taking a course. Do so before buying your gear. Try out a bunch of different tanks before buying. The advantages of steel are that you will have to wear less weight overall. Since you diving with a wetsuit, you will incur a weight penalty there. With an 80 AL you will carry about 6 extra pounds versus a steel 80.

 

[The Great Orca]

It's likely. Ask your LDS when signing up.

To answer your question about an 80 cf tank and it's depth:
This is the amount of air that a tank will hold. Generally an 80 cf steel tank will be physically smaller than an 80 AL (I'm thinking of a PST 80 high pressure). Assuming you are only diving with one tank, both are capable of going to whatever depth you can go to and safely get yourself back to the surface. This is mainly based on your Surface Air Consumption (SAC) rate. How long this tank will last underwater depends on many factors like depth and activity. The deeper you go the less time you will get on the tank. If you are swimming into current the whole time you may well hoover through the tank very quickly.

It sounds as if you are looking into taking a course. Do so before buying your gear. Try out a bunch of different tanks before buying. The advantages of steel are that you will have to wear less weight overall. Since you diving with a wetsuit, you will incur a weight penalty there. With an 80 AL you will carry about 6 extra pounds versus a steel 80.

thanks, when I take the courses will they have a variety of gear for me to choose?

 

[OE2X]

thanks, when I take the courses will they have a variety of gear for me to choose?

Hard to tell. Again call the LDS where you will take your class from. If you ask, they may have different tanks to try. When I did my advanced open water re-cert. my instructor had a couple of steel 100's that he let me use. It was very different then using the AL 80.

 

[Moogyboy]

E7-80 Steel is 200 bucks, How many breaths can u make on it? Does the 80 cubic feet meen you can only go 80 feet under water?

Thanks(sorry on my newbnesses(made this word up))

It's all good, diving is like going to the bathroom: there was a first time for all of us.

To answer both of your questions...80 cu. ft. is the nominal volume of air the tank will hold. It doesn't matter whether the tank is aluminum or steel; 80 cu. ft. is 80 cu. ft. The Luxfer and Catalina websites give the actual capacity of their standard 80's as 77.4 cu. ft.

How many breaths you take depends on how deep you go. At 15 feet, breathing normally, you can stay under for over an hour (I did, twice, in Bimini...and what a great place to spend over an hour at a time!). You go down to 100 feet, and you're breathing something like three times as much air as at 15 feet. Also factor in whether you're naturally an air-hog, or tired, or cold, or whatever...the short answer is that you can't really say how many breaths an 80 tank will give you. I've heard a rule of thumb that at recreational depths an 80 will last between 30 and 45 minutes. Someone correct me? I don't wanna sound like a newbie myself. hehe

Anyway, all this should (have) be(en) covered in your OW class. But of course no question is ever too silly in diving, unless of course I ask it.

cheers

Billy S.

 

[Don Burke]

Hi,
Whats a good tank for a newby?

Doing beach and OW dives!

My first choice would be a rented AL80.

My second choice would be an AL80 that you bought.

Unless you do quite a bit of diving, owning your cylinder is a matter of convenience, not economics.

Use the AL80 until you have a chance to figure out what you really want to use. The most expensive cylinder is the one you never use, so be sure before you spend your money.