Which tank to use?

[scubaboyff]

I'm looking at getting tanks this spring. Steel or AL?
Pros & cons of both.

[nomads]

Depends on the type of diving and amount of money you want to spend.  Try .  You'll get more information faster.

[MNLakeDiver]

for inital cost AL tanks are cheep and easy to come by.
I am a larger diver and have enjoyed the bouancy of the steel tanks as it takes 5# off my lead.
becaus I dive wet I will probobly set up a set of AL dubbles or between the tanks and the backplate I would not have the ditchable weight I want.

I have both Al and Steel tanks and use both often I would think about what kind of diving you are doing, what kind of diving you want to do. and what other gear you are using.
you could also rent AL and Steel  tanks to see the differance in trim with your kit.
you may also want to concider the valves you want as now that I am thinking more Tec. I will be changing my tanks from yoke to din to accomadate other gear changes.

[dbarlow]

I like the steel but I have a few pounds around the middle that I need to offset, the down side is lugging them around, but I like them for the weight.  my wife is little and we rent AL tanks for her,

Doug

[scubafreak]

Aluminum is cheaper and you can on occasions find used ones for sale. Steel is heavier, but cost a lot more, probably almost twice that of aluminum.

[p-valve]

If you can afford it, steel makes for a nice tank.

[eric myers 2]

If you plan on deep diving you may wish to consider:
1) Bigger can be better:

You could get a 100 cuft AL above that you are looking at steel.

You could get a 120 cuft ST in either High Pressure (3500PSI) or Low Pressure (2640 psi), theoretically these tanks will last same amount of time at a given depth all else being equal. However, from personal experience I can tell you a 120 HP seems to last just a bit longer. I am not biased because I have and use both. Although, the industry seems to have gone away from HP, for the most part. One big disadvantage of HP in MN is that some of the "out-there" shops can't completly fill HP tanks.There are some advantages to LP though. Lower working pressure usually means less stress on the whole system and that might tranlate into a longer equipment life.

2) Redundancy is important:

Consider a fully redundant pony bottle with its own regulator for deep diving or other challenging environments.

If you plan to attend a few fun dives and you don't plan on diving "deep." You might consider buying one or two AL's

1.) They are cheaper
2.) They are lighter
3.) They are an industry standard
4.) The first tank most people buy is an 80AL cuft
5.) In MN, freshwater, they seem to last forever if you take care of them (5yr Hydro, 1 year VIP). 
6.) You can almost always find a buyer for used ALs so resale may help you by that next new tank.

[Drifter1430]

My recommendation would be to buy a couple of Aluminum 80 cf tanks. As previously stated they are cheaper, they are standard, and if you are diving recreationally, they will usually give you plenty of air. Down the road if you decide to get into tech deep diving, you can always convert them into nice stage bottles for deco gas.

[MNLakeDiver]

depending on when you want to purchase the tanks, I would be willilg to let you tryone of either my AL 80 or Steel 95 to see what you think of the weight differance. where do you dive?

[LKunze]

If diving a wetsuit aluminum is preferable because of loss of buoyancy at depth with suit compression.  The extra weight of the steel tank isn't ditchable without ditching the tank itself.  This is more of an issue for deeper dives in wetsuits.  If diving a drysuit then steel tanks are the better choice.  Less lead to carry and suit compression isn't an issue since your redundant lift is your drysuit.