Which Size Steel Scuba Cylinder Is Right For You?

Divers in cooler temperate waters most commonly use the following three Faber steel tank sizes:

Faber 10.5 Litre (85 cubic foot), 232 bar — This smaller cylinder size is preferred by many women because it's lighter and easier to handle. If you are a diver with a very good surface air consumption rate, as many women are, then this cylinder has enough air capacity for most dives. A pair of these steel tanks is also popular with sidemount divers, and women technical divers.

Faber Standard 12.2 Litre (100 cubic foot), 232 bar — This standard size, 178 mm (7 inch) diameter, cylinder size is used by the vast majority of divers. A pair of these cylinders is also the most common choice for technical divers.

Faber Standard 15.0 Litre (125 cubic foot), 232 bar — This larger size, 204 mm (8 inch), cylinder size is the choice of divers with a poor surface air consumption rate. However, it's larger size and weight makes it awkward for many divers to use.

Faber 3 Litre (25 cubic foot), 232 bar, 100 mm (3.9 inch) diameter, are the popular choice of rebreather divers.

Low and High Pressure Steel Scuba Diving Cylinders

Faber Low-Pressure Steel — 232 bar — Lighter on land than standard aluminium scuba cylinders, these Faber 232 bar steel cylinders feature a higher working pressure than most aluminium cylinders, thus delivery a larger gas capacity for the same internal volume. The 232 bar Faber cylinders come equipped with a DIN/K type valve that easily converts back and forth depending on the type of First-Stage Regulator to be used in conjunction with the cylinder increasing the versatility of the tank. When diving with these cylinders less weight is needed, making them perfect for divers that use drysuits, or wetsuit divers in cold/temperate waters. The Faber steel cylinders are popular for cave diving and have a strong following among technical divers everywhere. The average working pressure is 232 bar.

Faber High-Pressure Steel — 300 bar — Much heavier than standard aluminium and steel scuba cylinders, these Faber 300 bar steel cylinders use much higher working pressure to provide a huge gas capacity in a small size. Like their low-pressure steel cousins, less weight is needed with these cylinders. A favourite with wreck divers, the average working pressure is 300 bar.

Faber is the leading manufacturer of steel scuba cylinders in the world and is the market leader in Europe and Australia where diving with steel cylinders is the norm. Faber's cylinders are manufactured from deep drawn 34CRMO4 Chromium Molybdenum steel plates to ANSI specifications. This process results in a light cylinder with the right buoyancy characteristics allowing the diver to reduce the amount of weight from their weight-belt. The interior of the cylinders are shot-blasted followed by their exclusive phosphatised coating which creates a perfectly cleaned internal surface, highly resistant to rust. The exterior of the cylinder is triple protected with zinc spraying, epoxy primer coat and polyurethane finish coat for durability.

The service life of a properly cared for modern steel scuba cylinder is widely considered to be 50 years or more. The service life of a properly cared for aluminium cylinder is more controversial. Most dive shops, including The Scuba Doctor, won't fill an aluminium tank manufactured before 1990.

The Scuba Doctor carries an extensive selection of Faber steel cylinder sizes starting with the 2 litre (16 cubic foot) all the way up to the 18 litre (150 cubic foot) cylinder. Faber cylinders are available in 8-inch, 7.25 and 7-inch diameters with working pressures of 232 bar and 300 bar.

All dive cylinders from The Scuba Doctor dive shop are visually inspected and shipped with a current hydrostatic date (except where indicated).

Mervs Reef

Reef Dive | Shore access

Merv's Reef Construction
Source: VRFish

Depth: 10 m (33 ft)

Merv's Reef (aka St Helens Shellfish Reef) is an artificial, man-made rocky fishing reef located at St Helens in Corio Bay. It's named after the late Merv McGuire, former head of Future Fish and VRFish.

Merv's Reef consists of five rocky reefs running roughly north-south with the published GPS mark being the centre one. We suggest making your way from shore out to the centre reef, then head north and check out the two reefs up that way, then come south past all five, now head north again to the centre reef, and back to the shore.

When diving Merv's Reef it's important to use a dive float with dive flag to let boat traffic and shore fishers know where you are. You should also carry a dive knife and/or line cutter.

See WillyWeather (Corio Bay) as a guide for the tide times and the height of the tide.

Do Not Anchor: Please do not anchor on the shellfish reefs, as this destroys the growing reef structure.
All recreational fishers and dive boat owners are asked to please do not anchor on or nearby the shellfish reefs, rather drift fish over the reefs.

Do Not Take Shellfish: Please do not take shellfish from the shellfish reefs, as this destroys the growing reef structure. All recreational fishers and divers are asked to please do not take shellfish on or nearby the shellfish reefs. Look, but don't touch.

Merv's Reef Dive Site Map | © The Scuba Doctor

Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) Recreational Fishing Reefs in Corio Bay

Corio Bay Rocky Reef
Source: Victorian Fisheries Authority

In and around Corio Bay, three artificial man-made rocky reefs at St Helens, Outer Harbour and Kirk Point have been fully seeded with 10 tonnes of blue mussels and 400,000 native flat oysters. The reefs are:

Moolap Reef (aka Outer Harbour Shellfish Reef) — The Outer Harbour reef is Moolap Reef, the Indigenous name of Point Henry. Moolap recognises the cultural significance of the sea country to the Wadawurrung people and means a place of men fishing with spears.
Merv's Reef (aka St Helens Shellfish Reef) — The reef at St Helens is Merv's Reef, named after the late Merv McGuire, former head of Future Fish and VRFish. It's 62 metres from the break wall.
Wilson's Reef (aka Kirk Point Shellfish Reef) — At Kirk Point is Wilson's Reef, honouring Geelong fishing writer and identity Geoff Wilson.

VFA Recreational Fishing Reefs - Corio Bay | Source: Victorian Fisheries Authority

Corio Bay Map | Source: Parks Victoria

Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) country

Traditional Owners — This dive site is in the traditional Country of the Wathaurong (Wadda-Warrung) people of the Kulin Nation. This truly ancient Country includes the coastline of Port Phillip, from the Werribee River in the north-east, the Bellarine Peninsula, and down to Cape Otway in the south-west. We wish to acknowledge the Wathaurong as Traditional Owners. We pay respect to their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Bunjil the Creator Spirit of this beautiful land, who travels as an eagle, and Waarn, who protects the waterways and travels as a crow, and thank them for continuing to watch over this Country today and beyond.

Mervs Reef Location Map

Latitude: 38° 7.228′ S (38.120467° S / 38° 7′ 13.68″ S)
Longitude: 144° 21.658′ E (144.360967° E / 144° 21′ 39.48″ E)
Datum: WGS84 | Google Map | Get directions
Added: 2021-02-10 18:36:50 GMT, Last updated: 2022-03-22 14:25:12 GMT
Source: Victorian Fisheries Authority
Nearest Neighbour: St Helens Shellfish Reef, 98 m, bearing 14°, NNE
Artificial shellfish reef installed to improve recreational fishing.
Geelong, Corio Bay.
Depth: 10 m.

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DISCLAIMER: No claim is made by The Scuba Doctor as to the accuracy of the dive site coordinates listed here. Should anyone decide to use these GPS marks to locate and dive on a site, they do so entirely at their own risk. Always verify against other sources.

The marks come from numerous sources including commercial operators, independent dive clubs, reference works, and active divers. Some are known to be accurate, while others may not be. Some GPS marks may even have come from maps using the AGD66 datum, and thus may need be converted to the WGS84 datum. To distinguish between the possible accuracy of the dive site marks, we've tried to give each mark a source of GPS, Google Earth, or unknown.