Scuba tanks, which usually contain regular filtered air, trimix or nitrox, help us breathe underwater during our dives. Nitrox is basically nitrogen and oxygen combined which helps divers spend more time underwater. It’s also known as Enriched Air, due to the extra oxygen, and is used by both recreational and technical divers, as this breathing gas helps to absorb more oxygen than nitrogen.
Here are some of the other benefits of Nitrox Diving.
Longer Times Underwater
Using nitrox can help you stay underwater longer, for up to twice as long, as it absorbs less nitrogen. For elderly divers and anyone who has experienced decompression sickness, it also helps in decreasing the sickness or physical injuries that reduce no-decompression limits.
Note that if you’re using a nitrox tank, you still should not go deeper than your maximum depth. Keep an eye on your depth gauge during your dives and set a depth alarm on your dive computer. This is crucial for nitrox diving as it will let you know once you’ve gone over your maximum depth.
Less Fatigue
This hasn’t been proven by researchers yet, though numerous divers have reported less fatigue after diving with nitrox. Divers believe that nitrox helps with fewer micro-bubbles in your bloodstream, and reduces decompression stress.
Shorter Intervals
Another advantage of nitrox is that it gives you shorter surface intervals. Especially if you’re doing more dives. You won’t get much nitrogen to waste, which creates a much shorter time to de-gas on the surface. Just make sure you check the correct times for surface intervals on your dive tables, so you don’t put you or your buddy at risk.
Here are some of the benefits of diving with Nitrox. Before you try it out for yourself, there are also some drawbacks to using Nitrox that you should know about and understand. We suggest you take the proper and necessary Nitrox certification training at Aqura Dive, to enhance your diving experience.
