WHICH type of tanks

[masscomm]

For diving in Northeast with 7 mil wetsuit, which would most prefer. Aluminum tanks say 100 or steel?

Trying to decide which I should invest in. Do not think I would ever get into cave diving, but I would like to explore wrecks.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The problem with steel tanks and wetsuits is that as the suit compresses with depth you lose buoyancy. I recommend aluminum tanks wit a wetsuit anywhere you plan to dive deeper than 100 feet.

 

[The Chairman]

Oh, I fully disagree.

You are carrying a ton of weight to sink that 7 mil suit. Going to a steel tank will help you get rid of some of that. I dive a steel 120 in a shorty or just a bathing suit all the time. I have NO ISSUES getting up from the bottom of the ocean without any air in my BC. THAT'S the acid test.

 

[Scottri]

I have both. It's really a personal choice. I am seeing more and more HP Steel tanks and less AL tanks. I prefer the AL but I could go either way. I like the AL since they are cheaper and I don't have a real need to carry much more than 80 cuft of gas.

 

[MSilvia]

Oh, I fully disagree.

You are carrying a ton of weight to sink that 7 mil suit. Going to a steel tank will help you get rid of some of that. I dive a steel 120 in a shorty or just a bathing suit all the time. I have NO ISSUES getting up from the bottom of the ocean without any air in my BC. THAT'S the acid test.

No offense Doc, but a shorty or bathing suit is nothing like a 7mm suit, in that you don't have a large buoyancy swing at depth. Your weighting at the surface is going to be quite similar to your weighting at depth, whereas someone in a 2 piece 7mm suit is likely to find themselves needing to offset a lot of buoyancy at the surface while they'll find most of that buoyancy (and insulation) gone at 100 feet. That means it's likely the diver will be very overweighted at depth, and if all of that weight is non-ditchable tank weight, a BC failure at depth can be catastrophic.

Have you ever done any deep dives in thick neoprene? It's not very similar to diving in a tropical suit. In a drysuit (redundant buoyancy that's consistant throughout the dive) steel tanks are a no-brainer. In a cold water wetsuit, I'd go aluminium.

 

[joe rock]

No offense Doc, but a shorty or bathing suit is nothing like a 7mm suit, in that you don't have a large buoyancy swing at depth. Your weighting at the surface is going to be quite similar to your weighting at depth, whereas someone in a 2 piece 7mm suit is likely to find themselves needing to offset a lot of buoyancy at the surface while they'll find most of that buoyancy (and insulation) gone at 100 feet. That means it's likely the diver will be very overweighted at depth, and if all of that weight is non-ditchable tank weight, a BC failure at depth can be catastrophic.

Have you ever done any deep dives in thick neoprene? It's not very similar to diving in a tropical suit. In a drysuit (redundant buoyancy that's consistant throughout the dive) steel tanks are a no-brainer. In a cold water wetsuit, I'd go aluminium.

If you're diving in salt water with a 7mm wetsuit, you'll have plenty of ditchable weight even with steel tanks.

 

[MSilvia]

If you're diving in salt water with a 7mm wetsuit, you'll have plenty of ditchable weight even with steel tanks.

I guess that depends on the gear, but if you'll still need significant weight with steel tanks, the weight the tanks let you remove might make it well worth it.

 

[anakin]

im all about steels. but use a drysuit. for you i would definetly stick to an AL, unless your thinking about buying a drysuit as well. Then you might as well get a steeeeel!

 

[Divin'Papaw]

I dive with 1-2 layers of 7mm neoprene. I have found (in my very limited experience) that I actually had more buoyancy issues with the 2 dives I did in steel tanks (LP80)than I did in my previous dives with an AL80. I recently purchased 2 AL80s, but to be honest, that was primarily due to cost. I plan on sticking with the AL80s until I get a dry suit and then I'll also invest in 2 HP119 or HP120 tanks.

 

[skinnydogdives]

hey guys speaking from an irish point of view it is near to impossible to get al tanks over here we all dive with steel and in irish waters you need at least a 7mm wet suit with 7mm shorty over it i dive with both dry and semi dry suits and have a 10L 300bar steel tank (65CF 4500psi) i dropped 10lbs of my weights when i switched from a 12L 220bar (80CF 3000psi) the tanks are small (better weight distrubution) and as i'm quite short 5'4 it means i dont bank my head of the valve or my arse of the boot also i find no difficulty on ascents all the students in my LDC dive with steel and there has never been an issue with over weighting but then all the BCD's have a minimum lift capacity of 13.5 kg . so if you are going for steel you should also make sure your bcd has a good lift rating