Knowing how to use nitrox is critical to ensure your safety and comfort while scuba diving with a richer mix of oxygen. The air we breathe is roughly 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen. However, when diving underwater and breathing compressed air, high concentrations of oxygen become toxic at depths greater than 120 feet. Using a higher oxygen concentration, known as nitrox, in a scuba tank enables a diver to spend more time under water but also limits the depths to which the diver can descend. Diving below those depths while using nitrox can be deadly.
Choose a dive school to earn basic scuba certification. The most recognizable scuba certifying agencies as of 2010 are PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) and NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors). Others include SSI and even the YMCA. Incidentally, YMCA certification is perhaps the most recognized American certification for scuba diving in Europe.
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Earn your nitrox certification. Most divers will earn an advanced diving certification before earning a nitrox certification, but this is not a requirement. Nitrox certification students learn the benefits and the dangers of diving with nitrox. By incrementally increasing the oxygen concentrations, divers increase their bottom time but decrease the depths to which they can safely dive.
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Learn your nitrox dive tables. Manual dive tables are an essential element of safe and enjoyable scuba diving. Even in the day and age of digital dive computers that can calculate almost everything for a diver, it is critical for a diver to know how to use dive tables as a safety precaution in case of computer failure. Nitrox dive tables are different from standard dive tables because of the increased bottom time and decreased depths. Not all nitrox tables are the same. Different tables apply to different concentrations of oxygen in the diver's tank. For example, the nitrox table for diving with 32 percent oxygen is different from the table for diving with 36 percent oxygen.
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Get your nitrox tanks filled by a certified dive shop. For safety's sake, fill and test your nitrox tanks before leaving for your dive. Tank contamination can lead to death. Unfortunately, many divers have died over the years because carbon monoxide from a dive boat's exhaust made it into the scuba tanks. Have your certified dive shop fill your tanks before you go.
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Dive safely to enjoy your dive. The whole purpose of diving with nitrox is to extend your bottom time for a more enjoyable dive. With nitrox, you will deplete your tank more slowly and you'll be more relaxed.
Tips & Warnings
Do not exceed the depths on the nitrox dive tables.
The PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) enriched air or "nitrox" certification is a specialty scuba diving certification offered by the association...
