@looksgoodonpaper glad to hear it and thanks! I’m going to work on revamping more stuff on the site, but it’s lower priority (the blog posts need updates for sure haha). I’ve been slowly improving things though, thanks!
AS an Instructor for 38+ years. I want to say Good Video.... A lot of good and well thought out information. And presented information. Buoyancy training in this industry poor. It is a sad state what we have to do is develop a class for Perfect Buoyancy (SSI). Many instructors don't have time to properly teach this in their Pool & Lecture classes. (Partly they don't have good buoyancy to begin with). But the industry is trying to address this. YAY!!! I recommend that everyone get in the water before a trip and practice buoyancy and skills Also, on your website your Free Scuba Weight Calculator is a good tool.
Thanks so much for this! It’s nice to see other instructors give input and feedback too. I’m really hoping to write my own “advanced buoyancy class” or something for PADI’s distinctives where I can set my own learning objectives because you’re right, there’s just not enough time and people don’t really focus on the right areas sometimes. The workshop I’m going to start online will be my first attempts haha. Thank you again!
👍😎🤿🇵🇭! Oh you hit the nail on the head! Seems like I am always doing a weight and bouncing check especially as I upgrade with new gear! Just as I think I have it spot on and get a new backplate it’s back to adjusting all over again! Writing everything down with all the equipment per dive very detailed is great but oops I forgot the log book 😠! Just have to have fun and make the best of it! Everything added or removed makes a difference! Enjoyed your video and great advice!
Good information. I always record used weight on each dive, now I will begin log the weight location. I just bought a set of those nylon blocks with bungee to fix the weights to the sling, that will help me have more control over the placement
I'm going back diving after nearly two years and this information will be really helpful for me. Always have had the problem of my legs dipping. Hopefully I can find a placement to keep the weights higher up on my body.
It’s a very common problem, usually because people have the weight on a weight belt around their waist or in weight pockets on a jacket style BCD and that’s also fairly low on your body. Try trim pockets, or if you have hard weights you can thread them on your tank band. A future video within a few weeks is going to go over in detail the idea of weight placement. This video got pretty long (I actually cut it down from 30 minutes already haha) so I needed to look for a second follow up that covers some of these topics much more in depth.
These are all great points, I haven't been diving for long and buoyancy has been a nightmare partially cause i'm used to holding a deep breath (freediver) but also because I have 'Heavy Legs' according to several guides and instructors, so to get a good buoyancy i had to strap my tank higher and put a couple of weights on either side and thats helped heaps but I'm for sure going to try some of these points! Thank you :)
It’ll get better with time! Moving the weight up like your tank shifting or putting some weight on your tank strap is totally normal to help if your legs sink a bit. That’s part of getting your trim correct. Let me know how it goes!
Great video! I'm a fresh scuba diver, but as I see I need to learn how to breath without changing my deep level. It is good, but not perfect - I think that's the hardest part here :)
Totally agree. Got a backplate and wing but didn't decrease weighting (dumb@ss!). Snorkeling was huge. Used up my air! Once properly weighted and adjusted diving improved!
I feel my buoyancy is getting better - a dive guide said I looked good underwater. But I’m still struggling with air use - I’m taking big gulps of air when I do notice. Last time I dove, I used an Al80 in about 30 minutes(but there were issues with other people that day). My record is 45 minutes on a Al80/HP80.
Thanks!! I got your email and will reply sooner versus later! It’s been a busy week but I’ll get to the emails as soon as I can!!! I appreciate the interest!
Hey! The good thing is I’m hoping to make this something where we’d meet on a video call maybe once a week or once a month, then you’d have tasks to do and we’d review in the next session. If you’re interested, feel free to email!
Great video! I've got this pretty much dialled now, but wish i'd had this advice when I was starting. It makes such a huge difference when weight and trim are good. In my experience (some) instructors are far too happy to simply overweight students which makes everything other than kneeling on the bottom more difficult. Just a couple of points I thought you might appreciate feedback on. The subtitles at the beginning are awful, I was glad when that stopped. Secondly, I think your calculator needs some work, I know that for me (57kg) in a neoprene dry suit with fluffy under suit I need 11kg in fresh water, I'm perfectly weighted at the end of the dive. Your calc suggested 3kg lol. I know you said it's more of an estimator but that's a long way off. I look forward to future videos, cheers!
I appreciate the feedback! I wrote the calculator off “PADI Weighting Guidelines” but I’m going to double check if I have a bug my code, thanks for that! Also super appreciate the subtitle feedback. Was it the animations? That’s a newer thing we’re trying and I’m not sold on them either.
@@CircleHScuba Oh right, it might be that PADI's guidelines are a bit off, I suspect using a percentage of body weight as the basis of the calculation might be the problem. Skinny but tall people still need an XL suit which maybe throws off the calculation. With the subtitles it was the size and the animation that I didn't like. Maybe others don't have a problem but I found it very attention grabbing when I was trying to listen to you and look at the nice clips you had playing in the background. Maybe see how others feel about it, might just be a me issue lol. Keep up the great work, I'm glad I found your channel!
I totally agree, I think the percentage based is the issue but I’ll double check the formulas just in case! I appreciate the feedback on the subtitles, truly. I’ll chat with my editor about it too 🤙 Oh and of course, happy to have you here!
Thanks for this. While I'm familiar with 99% of the information in this video, they come at a cost of experience. Your video succinctly captures the essential aspects of buoyancy management. Regarding Al tanks, my experience is limited. According to your video, using an Al tank requires approximately an additional 2kg of weight. If I use two Al tanks, should I double that? When it comes to steel tanks and wreck diving, maintaining buoyancy with my sidemount setup is usually straightforward-I stay trim. How does this change with Al tanks, especially as I approach the end of my gas supply? I apologize for these basic questions, but I'll be diving in a few months in a tropical location with Al tanks, and my background is mainly in Steel tanks and cold, saltwater environments. Thanks once again, and I'm eagerly anticipating more of your new videos. I enjoy watching them as they always offer fresh insights.
Thanks for this comment, I’ll try to address each point. If you are diving doubles, weather sidemount or backmount, are you still going to breathe down to 20-30 bar in each tank? If so, then yes I’d double the weight added to 4kg roughly as a starting point. However when I’m tech diving I don’t normally breathe my tanks down that far on my plans, therefore I still have the weight of that gas in my tanks and don’t need to add as much weight to compensate. On a normal 12L aluminum tank, if you breathe down to 20-30 bar, you’ve breathed about 2kg of gas that has been exhaled on open circuit and that’s what you compensate for. There are equations to determine actual gas weight and loss of gas on a dive plan but it’s a bit advanced for the more beginner friendly video I made. Feel free to google for those though! I hope that makes sense that we are compensating for how much gas we breathe, because that gas has weight. For sidemount in aluminum, you’ll likely need to move the tanks more forward on your hips as your dive goes on. The tanks will start to float along your sides so taking your bottom clip on each tank and moving them toward front D Rings or on a sliding d ring that you slide forward will help you keep them in trim. Otherwise your buoyancy and trim shouldn’t be that different except that you will have to change where you distribute weight on your BPW and/or weight belt since you won’t have the weight of the steel tanks along your sides. Hope that helps!
Thank you for the information. My dive is always dependent on my dive buddy, who is usually a tourist with varying skills and experience. In a single tank configuration, I typically ascend when my pressure gauge reaches 70 bar. I came across ruclips.net/video/aBuzXCi2eBY/видео.html and wonder if you’ve tested this for Al tanks to address the floaty Al problem. Otherwise, a sliding D-ring is a popular choice among divers, sparking debates on the best option. You shared a video on O-rings but didn’t mention the use of Silicone/non-silicone lube (e.g., Christolube). Can you clarify when this is necessary? My regulator service person dismissed the need for Christolube, suggesting sticking with silicone lube. Thanks, and I look forward to more amazing videos from you. If you ever come to the USA, I plan to visit. Also, if you’re heading to NZ, let’s dive together at Pearce Resurgence. Or, if you’re in Indonesia in July/August, let’s connect. Take care and happy diving.
silly question can you use weights when you're wearing a life vest. because I snorkel, and I wear a wet suit but sometimes ill dive because I look for Tresure or lost items. I feel safer with a vest on. I get nerves if I can touch bottom, I'm trying to get used to it. I way 185 and my wet suit is 3mm how much weight would I need I want to stay at least 2 feet of the bottom. if it's possible with a vest on. I don't use dive tanks or nothing. just a snorkel kit
So if you added enough weight to sink a life jacket, it would be too much weight for the life jacket to lift so the jacket wouldn’t really work out. Divers use a vest that can inflate and deflate as needed which changes how buoyant the vest is (we call it a BCD). I’m not sure if any free divers that are actually diving under without scuba kits are wearing vests 😬
Well if you need to spread the weight out then yes, smaller denominations will be better. Also you may find 5 total pounds means 1 side is heavier than the other, so doing 2 lbs left, 2 lbs right, and 1 lb in a centered trim pocket or on the tank band may give better trim.
Free Scuba Weight Calculator 👉 circlehscuba.com/scuba-weight-calculator/
Proper Weighting for Scuba Diving ▶ ruclips.net/video/socJS7i6qRQ/видео.html
Interested in a Buoyancy Workshop? Email: training@circlehscuba.com
Thank you!
You’re welcome!
What a great resource! It was spot on for me!
Great looking website as well; easy to navigate and full of interesting and useful information.
@looksgoodonpaper glad to hear it and thanks! I’m going to work on revamping more stuff on the site, but it’s lower priority (the blog posts need updates for sure haha). I’ve been slowly improving things though, thanks!
Buoyancy calculator has discrepancies.
From a fellow diver and instructor, thank you for reinforcing the “art of buoyancy.” Your content and presentation is great. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for this, I appreciate it! Trying to do what I can!
AS an Instructor for 38+ years. I want to say Good Video.... A lot of good and well thought out information. And presented information. Buoyancy training in this industry poor. It is a sad state what we have to do is develop a class for Perfect Buoyancy (SSI). Many instructors don't have time to properly teach this in their Pool & Lecture classes. (Partly they don't have good buoyancy to begin with). But the industry is trying to address this. YAY!!!
I recommend that everyone get in the water before a trip and practice buoyancy and skills
Also, on your website your Free Scuba Weight Calculator is a good tool.
Thanks so much for this! It’s nice to see other instructors give input and feedback too.
I’m really hoping to write my own “advanced buoyancy class” or something for PADI’s distinctives where I can set my own learning objectives because you’re right, there’s just not enough time and people don’t really focus on the right areas sometimes.
The workshop I’m going to start online will be my first attempts haha. Thank you again!
👍😎🤿🇵🇭! Oh you hit the nail on the head! Seems like I am always doing a weight and bouncing check especially as I upgrade with new gear! Just as I think I have it spot on and get a new backplate it’s back to adjusting all over again! Writing everything down with all the equipment per dive very detailed is great but oops I forgot the log book 😠! Just have to have fun and make the best of it! Everything added or removed makes a difference! Enjoyed your video and great advice!
Thanks Joseph!! I know what you mean by the log haha. I may have a solution in the future for that too 😜
Great subject, especially for new divers. 👍😊
Thanks Jeff!
Good information. I always record used weight on each dive, now I will begin log the weight location. I just bought a set of those nylon blocks with bungee to fix the weights to the sling, that will help me have more control over the placement
I’ve seen those and they also seem pretty great! A buddy of mine has some from highland scuba
I'm going back diving after nearly two years and this information will be really helpful for me. Always have had the problem of my legs dipping. Hopefully I can find a placement to keep the weights higher up on my body.
It’s a very common problem, usually because people have the weight on a weight belt around their waist or in weight pockets on a jacket style BCD and that’s also fairly low on your body.
Try trim pockets, or if you have hard weights you can thread them on your tank band.
A future video within a few weeks is going to go over in detail the idea of weight placement. This video got pretty long (I actually cut it down from 30 minutes already haha) so I needed to look for a second follow up that covers some of these topics much more in depth.
Will wait for that video @@CircleHScuba. This though, will help me regardless. Very useful.
Great information Thomas! Thank you
Thanks Eric, glad it was helpful!
These are all great points, I haven't been diving for long and buoyancy has been a nightmare partially cause i'm used to holding a deep breath (freediver) but also because I have 'Heavy Legs' according to several guides and instructors, so to get a good buoyancy i had to strap my tank higher and put a couple of weights on either side and thats helped heaps but I'm for sure going to try some of these points! Thank you :)
It’ll get better with time! Moving the weight up like your tank shifting or putting some weight on your tank strap is totally normal to help if your legs sink a bit. That’s part of getting your trim correct. Let me know how it goes!
Great video! I'm a fresh scuba diver, but as I see I need to learn how to breath without changing my deep level. It is good, but not perfect - I think that's the hardest part here :)
Like most things in diving, it comes second nature with time. Glad you enjoyed the video and welcome to the diving world!
Totally agree. Got a backplate and wing but didn't decrease weighting (dumb@ss!). Snorkeling was huge. Used up my air! Once properly weighted and adjusted diving improved!
Thank you for this video.
You’re welcome! Hope you enjoyed it 🤙
I feel my buoyancy is getting better - a dive guide said I looked good underwater. But I’m still struggling with air use - I’m taking big gulps of air when I do notice. Last time I dove, I used an Al80 in about 30 minutes(but there were issues with other people that day). My record is 45 minutes on a Al80/HP80.
Well good news! I’ll be posting a video on air consumption tips within a few weeks!
Sent an email. Will gladly help you design a course, just wish I were closer so I could also take the course in person.
Thanks!! I got your email and will reply sooner versus later! It’s been a busy week but I’ll get to the emails as soon as I can!!! I appreciate the interest!
I would love get mentored by you Tom!!😊🤗 So that I can increase my knowledge base!! Sad thing were living 50,000 miles away from each other 😢
Hey! The good thing is I’m hoping to make this something where we’d meet on a video call maybe once a week or once a month, then you’d have tasks to do and we’d review in the next session. If you’re interested, feel free to email!
Great video! I've got this pretty much dialled now, but wish i'd had this advice when I was starting. It makes such a huge difference when weight and trim are good. In my experience (some) instructors are far too happy to simply overweight students which makes everything other than kneeling on the bottom more difficult.
Just a couple of points I thought you might appreciate feedback on. The subtitles at the beginning are awful, I was glad when that stopped. Secondly, I think your calculator needs some work, I know that for me (57kg) in a neoprene dry suit with fluffy under suit I need 11kg in fresh water, I'm perfectly weighted at the end of the dive. Your calc suggested 3kg lol. I know you said it's more of an estimator but that's a long way off.
I look forward to future videos, cheers!
I appreciate the feedback! I wrote the calculator off “PADI Weighting Guidelines” but I’m going to double check if I have a bug my code, thanks for that!
Also super appreciate the subtitle feedback. Was it the animations? That’s a newer thing we’re trying and I’m not sold on them either.
@@CircleHScuba Oh right, it might be that PADI's guidelines are a bit off, I suspect using a percentage of body weight as the basis of the calculation might be the problem. Skinny but tall people still need an XL suit which maybe throws off the calculation.
With the subtitles it was the size and the animation that I didn't like. Maybe others don't have a problem but I found it very attention grabbing when I was trying to listen to you and look at the nice clips you had playing in the background. Maybe see how others feel about it, might just be a me issue lol.
Keep up the great work, I'm glad I found your channel!
I totally agree, I think the percentage based is the issue but I’ll double check the formulas just in case!
I appreciate the feedback on the subtitles, truly. I’ll chat with my editor about it too 🤙
Oh and of course, happy to have you here!
@@CircleHScuba Thank you, stay awesome! 🤙
You as well! If you have other suggestions, video ideas, etc I’m always open to it 🤙
Thanks for this. While I'm familiar with 99% of the information in this video, they come at a cost of experience. Your video succinctly captures the essential aspects of buoyancy management.
Regarding Al tanks, my experience is limited. According to your video, using an Al tank requires approximately an additional 2kg of weight. If I use two Al tanks, should I double that?
When it comes to steel tanks and wreck diving, maintaining buoyancy with my sidemount setup is usually straightforward-I stay trim. How does this change with Al tanks, especially as I approach the end of my gas supply? I apologize for these basic questions, but I'll be diving in a few months in a tropical location with Al tanks, and my background is mainly in Steel tanks and cold, saltwater environments.
Thanks once again, and I'm eagerly anticipating more of your new videos. I enjoy watching them as they always offer fresh insights.
Thanks for this comment, I’ll try to address each point.
If you are diving doubles, weather sidemount or backmount, are you still going to breathe down to 20-30 bar in each tank? If so, then yes I’d double the weight added to 4kg roughly as a starting point. However when I’m tech diving I don’t normally breathe my tanks down that far on my plans, therefore I still have the weight of that gas in my tanks and don’t need to add as much weight to compensate. On a normal 12L aluminum tank, if you breathe down to 20-30 bar, you’ve breathed about 2kg of gas that has been exhaled on open circuit and that’s what you compensate for. There are equations to determine actual gas weight and loss of gas on a dive plan but it’s a bit advanced for the more beginner friendly video I made. Feel free to google for those though! I hope that makes sense that we are compensating for how much gas we breathe, because that gas has weight.
For sidemount in aluminum, you’ll likely need to move the tanks more forward on your hips as your dive goes on. The tanks will start to float along your sides so taking your bottom clip on each tank and moving them toward front D Rings or on a sliding d ring that you slide forward will help you keep them in trim. Otherwise your buoyancy and trim shouldn’t be that different except that you will have to change where you distribute weight on your BPW and/or weight belt since you won’t have the weight of the steel tanks along your sides.
Hope that helps!
Thank you for the information. My dive is always dependent on my dive buddy, who is usually a tourist with varying skills and experience. In a single tank configuration, I typically ascend when my pressure gauge reaches 70 bar.
I came across ruclips.net/video/aBuzXCi2eBY/видео.html and wonder if you’ve tested this for Al tanks to address the floaty Al problem. Otherwise, a sliding D-ring is a popular choice among divers, sparking debates on the best option.
You shared a video on O-rings but didn’t mention the use of Silicone/non-silicone lube (e.g., Christolube). Can you clarify when this is necessary? My regulator service person dismissed the need for Christolube, suggesting sticking with silicone lube.
Thanks, and I look forward to more amazing videos from you. If you ever come to the USA, I plan to visit. Also, if you’re heading to NZ, let’s dive together at Pearce Resurgence. Or, if you’re in Indonesia in July/August, let’s connect. Take care and happy diving.
Hey! Thanks for the extra info and dive invites!
For the lube, christolube is needed for higher percentage oxygen.
Thank you again. I will probably send you an Email with questions :-)
Please feel free!
I control my buoyancy with breath control and with my lung, it allows me to sit perfectly still, it's that simple really. But that's just me.
That’s how you should do it. One you are neutral.
silly question can you use weights when you're wearing a life vest. because I snorkel, and I wear a wet suit but sometimes ill dive because I look for Tresure or lost items. I feel safer with a vest on. I get nerves if I can touch bottom, I'm trying to get used to it. I way 185 and my wet suit is 3mm how much weight would I need I want to stay at least 2 feet of the bottom. if it's possible with a vest on. I don't use dive tanks or nothing. just a snorkel kit
So if you added enough weight to sink a life jacket, it would be too much weight for the life jacket to lift so the jacket wouldn’t really work out.
Divers use a vest that can inflate and deflate as needed which changes how buoyant the vest is (we call it a BCD).
I’m not sure if any free divers that are actually diving under without scuba kits are wearing vests 😬
@@CircleHScuba ok thank you ill look into that vest
By the way, is it better to put the weights individually or two by two? I mean, I use 5 pounds. Is it possible to put them every single pound?
Well if you need to spread the weight out then yes, smaller denominations will be better. Also you may find 5 total pounds means 1 side is heavier than the other, so doing 2 lbs left, 2 lbs right, and 1 lb in a centered trim pocket or on the tank band may give better trim.
@@CircleHScuba Thank you very much, you are wonderful