What is the best size tanks for sidemount?

[The Chairman]

I love LP85s. They are awesome. Wish I had a set.

 

[Nianne]

10L carbon 300bar, same buoyancy as al tanks, but 6000l !

 

[rjack321]

Certainly not likely to do so, but if that were all I could get, it's at least remotely possible.

And you'd be the first person ever who got 4 hp100s but somehow couldn't find al80s...

For the OP, the smallest tanks that accomplish the dive. Smallest I have used are al27s (4L) which were a bit larger than I needed but my 3L tanks were busy. The largest were hp130s which - somewhat shockingly- were not bricks.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

And you'd be the first person ever who got 4 hp100s but somehow couldn't find al80s...

Probably so. Or maybe I'd rather carry 4 HP 100's instead of 6 AL80s. More likely still, I'd be carrying some combination of tanks, since a dive that requires that much gas is likely to require different mixes at different points.

 

[tbone1004]

Probably so. Or maybe I'd rather carry 4 HP 100's instead of 6 AL80s. More likely still, I'd be carrying some combination of tanks, since a dive that requires that much gas is likely to require different mixes at different points.

if you'd actually done it, you wouldn't, but you typically have 2 "main" tanks that are big steels, and the rest are al80's if the big steels are available, but taking more than 2 is unwieldy because they're so heavy

 

[Dirty-Dog]

if you'd actually done it, you wouldn't, but you typically have 2 "main" tanks that are big steels, and the rest are al80's if the big steels are available, but taking more than 2 is unwieldy because they're so heavy

I'm not even sure what you mean by "if you'd actually done it, you wouldn't" so perhaps you'd clarify.

If you recall, my initial statement was that it would be really unlikely. But not impossible. I'm really not sure why that's generating all the apparent angst.