This sport has a very simple premise, the principle of eliminating members of the opposing team. You depend primarily on your equipment in paintball, since markers and paintballs are required to mark someone "out."

There are a number of different variations in paintball, besides the simple goal of marking everyone else out. You can also eliminate specific players, or the other side's general. Capture the flag is another common paintball variation.

One of the most basic pieces of equipment in the game is a paintball gun or marker. These guns operate on compressed airtanks or on C02. Airtank powered paintball guns may be called Nitro, High Pressure, or Compressed guns. They're a popular alternative to the C02 variety.

Paintball Airtank Capacities

Paintball airtanks have a variety of different maximum pressures and capacities. These paintball airtanks or bottles will have capacities stated in cubic inches.

However, the maximum pressure to which the tank can be filled is measured in pounds per square inch, instead.  The greater the capacity of a given airtank, the more shots the paintball gun can fire before needing to be recharged.

What Are Paintball Airtanks Made Of?

The most basic paintball airtanks are bottles made from steel.  A weaker material would succumb to the pressure of the air inside.

Since steel tanks can be pretty heavy and affect speed and endurance, more advanced and expensive paintball airtanks are aluminum, wrapped in a material made from carbon fibers. Many players feel that these are worth the additional expense in the long run, since they are less likely to slow you down.

Paintball Airtank Valves

Most paintball airtanks use one of two types of valves. The standard variety allows the player to adjust how much pressure is in the tank.

You might need other hardware for this – a cradle for the paintball gun, as well as some hoses and elbows.  The other kind of valve – high pressure pin valves – work a lot like a C02 airtank.

This means that you won't need extra hardware to attach the tank to your paintball gun. In these cases, the pressure is generally preset for the most common paintball gun requirements.

Which type you choose will depend on your budget, how adjustable you need the pressure to be, and what kind of paintball gun you own.