Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
In this episode, Graham and Ashkahn share their expert opinion on… bubbles.
Not just any bubbles, but the ones that you sometimes find in a tank while you’re floating. What causes that?
Show Resources
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Our question for today is: “lately, I’ve noticed small bubbles tickling me during my floats. They also seem to be forming on the floor of the tank. What is going on?”
Ashkahn: What is going on, huh?
Graham: Alright, well, “Bubbly in the U.S.” We’ve got a solution for you.
Ashkahn: We sure do. It sounds, to me, like you’re using hydrogen peroxide.
Graham: If I were to guess, I would say the same thing. Or, you’ve got an aerator hooked in to the bottom of your tank.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Which I suspect, it’s not the second one.
Graham: I’ve never seen that ever in my life before.
Ashkahn: Are you in a jacuzzi and not a float tank? Is that what’s going on here? Basically, hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water when it’s reacting with stuff. If you have a lot of hydrogen peroxide in your float tank, you might start being able to actually notice those … the air being created from that breakdown process of the peroxide. That’s, basically, what you’re feeling. You’re feeling tiny, air bubbles from the hydrogen peroxide.
Graham: And, for us, we end up getting that effect in our float tanks when we get above or around 100 parts per million.
Ashkahn: Yeah, somewhere in that … like 100, 110. That’s the range where we start to notice the bubble issue.
Graham: That’s as measure by the old Taylor Drop Test Kit, K-1826.
Ashkahn: Which, has been verified to be accurate in float tank water.
Graham: Which, you can look up. Taylor Labs actually tested our float water after we harassed them for a long time. You might find that those parts per million are different if you’re using test strips, or something else. Also, if you are, I highly recommend switching over to the old K-1826.
Ashkahn: Basically, that. Just don’t put your peroxide to those levels. Drop lower than that, and you won’t see those bubbles.
Graham: And that said, I still, occasionally, get bubbles, even when we’re within regular hydrogen peroxide levels. But, it’s not bubbles tickling your back, I’ll just, occasionally, feel them forming on my back, or something came up and I just have one bubble that’s caught and tickling me. I don’t think that’s even that out of the ordinary.
Ashkahn: It’s way more subtle. This is almost continuous while you’re floating. You’re feeling these things, if your levels are too high.
Graham: If you bring it up to 400, 500 parts per million, accidentally, one of your staff drops way too much in there … sometimes, you can actually even see the bubbling in the water itself, visually, which is kind of interesting. Looks like little cauldron brew, or something, in there.
Ashkahn: So, don’t do that.
Graham: Another question, “Is that unsafe?” Are the bubbles a sign that your skin is being eaten by the hydrogen peroxide, or anything crazy like that?
Ashkahn: Not really, that I know of. The other thing that can happen with these levels of peroxide is, you can, very slightly, start to bleach people’s hair, which is another issue. Those are the main reasons people don’t want to go above these 100 limits. I don’t really know, I can’t really speak authoritatively on this, but, people are buying three percent hydrogen peroxide in those brown bottles from the grocery store and gargling with them, and putting them on wounds. Three percent is 30 thousand parts per million, is what that is. I think, even the highest thing I’ve heard tested was 1000 parts per million, and that didn’t seem to do damage to people. But again, don’t take my word for it. It, at least, seems anecdotally out there. It’s not like 100 is a danger zone when these bubbles are forming. I have not heard anything about that actually being a point where this would be harmful to your skin or even if you got it in your eyes, necessarily.
Graham: No real damage that we’ve been able to assess anywhere. As far as we can tell, this is actually the most negative byproduct you get, is, little bubbles and bleaching of the hair.
Ashkahn: Yeah, around that range. That’s why most people stop there. There’s not really … also, as far as I can tell, doesn’t seem like you get a huge benefit from having hydrogen peroxide levels much higher than that. Seems like their ability to oxidize and do the things that they’re doing peter off around 40, 50, 60 parts per million, something like that. You’re not getting a huge bang for your buck by dumping a ton of peroxide into the water.
Graham: Is there anything else that we think is likely to be causing bubbles in someone’s tank? I was trying to think of that while we were talking, and thinking and talking is hard. I decided to do one at a time.
Ashkahn: The bubbles, tiny bubbles, as you’re floating, or something like that, is almost always hydrogen peroxide. The other thing that can cause bubbles is a small leak in your filtration system, right? If you have a pinhole leak in your union. Then when you run your filtration system. Or if your water levels are too low, and your filtration system is sucking air in as you run it … But, that’s real obvious. You run your filtration system, all of a sudden, your whole float tank’s cloudy. It’s been chopped up like a blender, and it gets sent back in. That dissipates pretty quickly, too.
Graham: That’s a problem at the beginning of the float, but not something that would be ongoing. They even say, “small bubbles.”
Ashkahn: Visually, those are so different. Tiny bubbles that are persistent in the water during your float, versus, your whole float tank turns cloudy white for 10 minutes.
Graham: Alright. So, answered?
Ashkahn: I guess so.
Graham: Alright. And that’s our solution for today.
Ashkahn: We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
Graham: Thanks, everyone.
Recent Podcast Episodes
How Many Managers Does it Take to Run a Float Center? – DSP 200
Not every float center owner wants to be tethered to working their shop for the rest of their lives. In fact, even some that enjoy that work immensely can be doing their business a disservice by focusing on day-to-day operations as opposed to dedicating their time to marketing or expansion.
So how do float center owners get out of the shop? How many managers (Or Taco Supremes as they’re called at Float On) does it take to effectively replace the shop owner at a business. Ashkahn and Graham have successfully implemented a system at Float On that allows them to be much more hands off on the business than when they first opened and they share how got to that point and how their business structure has evolved.
Float Centers in Hip Neighborhoods – DSP 199
Do float centers in the hip part of town do better than ones on the outskirts? Graham and Ashkahn are well versed on this in that Float On is in a fairly hip part of Portland.
The guys break down some of the benefits of being one of the “cool” businesses in town as well as some of the serious drawbacks. Naturally, things like foot traffic aren’t as important. Almost no one walks into a float center and hops in a tank off the street. So there are fringe benefits to it, like awareness, but if you decide on going to a different part of town, then you’re not automatically doing a disservice to your brand.
Can You Clean a Float Tank with Vinegar? – DSP 198
You have to change out your float tank water eventually. Is it a good idea to give your float tank a vinegar cleanse when you do? is that effective? Is it too much work for the results? Are there better solutions to keep your tank clean and fresh?
Graham and Ashkahn discuss while providing assurances like “either you’re not crazy or we’re all crazy”, so that’s nice.
Have you Experienced Challenging Floats? – DSP 197
Graham and Ashkahn share stories about their most challenging floats. Everything from extreme physical discomfort to literally staying in too long.
They also share stories of floats from friends and customers that they’ve accumulated over the years and discuss the value of experiencing these difficult moments in the tank and how you might approach them when one occurs at your center.
What’s the Best Representation of Float Tanks in TV or Movies? – DSP 196
It happens every once in a while, a tv show or a movie will feature a float tank and the entire industry gets a jolt as if to say “we made it to the big time!”
But not all float tank cameos are created equal, so which one does it the best? What is the best representation of floating in media? Graham and Ashkahn go through the list of everything from Altered States to Stranger Things to find out what it is.
Latest Blog Posts
Lessons for Float Centers from a Mainstream Marketing Conference
A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend Copyblogger’s Authority Rainmaker Conference in Denver, Colorado. As a self proclaimed marketing nerd, this was an opportunity to mingle with my people. I believe no matter how much experience you have in...
A Quick Note on Insulation…
Insulating the roof/joists of your float center... Basically, what you're trying to do here to create an envelope around your space. You're trying to create a barrier between a conditioned environment (your float room) and an unconditioned environment (open air). This...
Encouraging Creativity After Floating
Most float tanks centers have customers. So as to have a place to put these customers where they will be able to sit, or stand, as they please and not be in the way, most float tank centers also have lobbies. So as to have something - some surface upon which these...
Float Center Education Through Internships
Why Have an Intern Program? I (Marshall) started my career in floating as an intern, coming in to the shop each Monday to learn about floating, sanitation, and better understand the intricacies of construction projects. For every four hours I worked, I was expected to...
