OX1000 mini scuba tank: one litre on your back for the longer boat jobs

The half-litre tanks are perfect for a look. The OX1000 is for finishing the job. It holds 1 litre of air at 200 bar, twice as much, which gives around 15 minutes near the surface. You wear it on your back with its harness, and the external regulator leaves both hands free.

Jobs that need the extra minutes

• A full clean of the running gear. Every blade, the hub, the shaft and the bracket in one go, without surfacing halfway to refill.
• Several anodes. On the leg, the trim tabs, the shaft and the hull, checked and replaced in one session.
• Your swing mooring. Following the chain down from the buoy, looking at each shackle and swivel, takes longer than most people expect. Our swing mooring guide explains what you can check yourself and what the yearly service in NSW or Queensland still has to cover.
• Slow snorkelling. With the OXAIR mask, you can stay down along a reef edge or a jetty and watch.

The 15 minutes are measured breathing calmly near the surface. Scraping, cutting or swimming against the tide all burn through the air faster. Head up well before the maximum and keep an eye on the gauge.

How much air that is

One litre at 200 bar expands to roughly 200 litres of air. A standard 12 litre dive cylinder at the same pressure holds about 2,400. The OX1000 is still a small tank for short stays in shallow water, just a longer one than the OX500.

Refilling with the compressor

The OX1000 refills with the 12 V / 220 V compressor in about 20 minutes, from the boat's house battery, a car battery or mains power. That is why the OX1000 pack on oxsea.shop comes with it.

The hand pump does not work with this tank: it is made for the 0.5 litre tanks only.

The tank ships empty: fill it before your first dive.

OX1000 or another tank?

• Jobs of five minutes or less: the OX500Plus is lighter, refills faster and also works with the hand pump.
• Larger boats, or 20 minutes and more: the OX2000 carries 2.3 litres.
• The comparison page puts the four tanks side by side.

More air, same care

More air is no reason to go deeper. Stay shallow, breathe continuously, never hold your breath on the way up and ascend slowly. Code Flag A up before you go in (dive flag guide), a stinger suit from K'gari north, in the Top End and down the WA coast to Exmouth (stinger season guide), and in crocodile country, read our guide before anyone goes under the boat. The safety guide on oxsea.shop covers the rest.