What size tank should I get I'm Confused.

[seaviper]

I agree with Atticus and The RedHead. Experience will reduce your consumption alot. And it won't take too long either if you dive alot. I am 6ft 185lbs and can do that 48ft dive for 55 minutes easy on a single AL80.

I pretty much have always dove a BP/W setup. And No, you cannot have too much air.
I really like steel tanks, but my old ST120 was a back breaker. Thinking about picking up a Worthington soon

 

[cummings66]

I'll chime in with one word of how I chose my tanks.

First I wanted to have 100 cf of air. I also wanted a tank as light as possible and it must be either neutral at the end or slightly negative to suit my requirements. It also needed to have 100 cf of air guaranteed at any dive shop.

So, the HP100 while being the tank of choice due to size was not what I needed because you can not reliably get it filled to 3500 psi. I refuse to dive a LP steel tank because that's more weight for the same volume of air, although rumor has it they last longer. Thus I had to have a tank larger than 100 cf if it was a HP steel. The HP120 happened to be the size I chose, it's weight is right and the length is only slight longer than an AL80 and it's not wider either so I'm not adding restrictions by a larger dia.

My LDS always gives me 3500 psi, the remote dive shops almost always give me around 3000 psi. I've yet to actually get a fill over 3500 psi in the state of MO. outside of my LDS. They can but they just don't want to take the time to do it right. However I knew that was possible so that's why I have the HP120. I get a bit more than 100 cf at the typical fill pressures of other dive shops and 120 cf from mine.

There's nothing wrong with a larger tank for any reason, if you choose it for this one fine. You must of course plan with your buddy's and that means you need to tell them your SAC because you still won't come up based on your tank psi or cf left, you will come up on theirs because if "you" run out of air and share theirs you're going to suck them dry ASAP. That means at this point in your diving you are still going to end their dives early if you do it right. When you get to the point where you're equal it's entirely different. I dive with a lot of guys using HP100's and we're more evenly matched.

The point being different tank sizes will NOT help you stay down longer unless you dive without regard to an OOA situation. The only way you will stay down longer right now is to buddy up with guys diving something larger than an AL80 with you having the 120 or larger tank, and you dive more often to lower your air consumption.

 

[ChrisA]

Hey guys, I'm alittle confused, right now I'm diving a AL 80 which is to small I'm only getting about 16 mins out of if it when i go to 48'
.....
Anyway, I want more bottom time darnit...:evilsmile

Sounds like you might be a new diver. If so bottom times will improve if you dive freqently. But you you must have more air why not buy another AL 80 and a manifold. Then you'd have a 160 cu ft tank for a cheap price. AL doubles are good

 

[Tagerisatroll]

Sounds like you might be a new diver. If so bottom times will improve if you dive freqently. But you you must have more air why not buy another AL 80 and a manifold. Then you'd have a 160 cu ft tank for a cheap price. AL doubles are good

I did find a way to double my bottom time I replaced a brand new hose that had split out of the box, I had a significant air leak in my octpus my buddy spotted it on my last dive, Brand new air line was defective out of the box. LDS Fixed it much better now Still getting the bigger tank so I can leave some weight off the belt though. Don't really like the bouancy charector of the AL 80.

 

[spectrum]

Good buddy! A bubble check should be done early on during every dive.

That should belp a lot.

Pete

 

[cummings66]

Yeah, I have to explain to my buddy's that when they see it coming out of my first stage it's fine and not to worry. I had an instructor say it was broken and didn't believe me and I had to show him the manual where it said it's fine and should bubble. He said he'd never heard of it.

Bubble checks are good, but beware that sometimes it's normal and if there isn't a bubble leak then there IS a problem.

 

[PerroneFord]

Sounds like a Sherwood. I avoid them. If you can't bubblecheck the thing... why bother?

 

[RiverRat]

After you work on getting in more dives, getting your weight and trim right etc. you can start to think about breathing technique as well. But right now you're still a new diver and anxious to some degree. Anxious = poor breathing technique. On land we breathe like this....inhale - exhale - pause...inhale - exhale - pause.............
What we want to do underwater is inhale - pause (not hold breath) exhale.....inhale - pause - exhale. By pausing after inhale we allow more time for a better gas exchange. More time for CO2 to exit the lungs and more time for O2 to enter. One thing you don't want to do is skip breathe, or hold your breath. That is dangerous and actually doesn't do much at all for efficiency. It's probably still a little early yet to work on this, but start thinking about it. When you can control your buoyancy using your lungs only you've got it nailed. Give it time.

 

[Tagerisatroll]

Sounds like a Sherwood. I avoid them. If you can't bubblecheck the thing... why bother?

I like my sherwoods, easier to breath on than the scuba pro's i did my checks on. Even if the first stage did mask a leak in one of my hose but when my buddy grabbed the hose and gave it a little wiggle it became pretty clear where the bubble's were.

 

[divermike1989]

Dang im 6-1 164 lbs and I can get 45+ minutes at that depth