Learn best practices for starting and running a float center:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Something in the world of floating have you stumped?

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Show Highlights

There’s enough float centers out there now to have some established naming conventions for centers. It can feel like all the good names are already taken. Fortunately, Graham and Ashkahn have taken the time come up with a list of a few floaty sounding names that are so far not taken but totally awesome.

Listen to Just the Audio

Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)

Graham: Hey there, this is Graham here.

Ashkahn: Hi there, this is Ashkahn.

Graham: And today’s question is, “brainstorming names for float center, any suggestions? So many good ones seem to have already been taken.”

Ashkahn: Well yeah, boy do we have some suggestions for you.

Graham: Yeah, I wish we could open like, a float center every day, just for the process of naming it.

Ashkahn: Yeah, we sat down in preparation for this question and came up with some things I think we would have named Float On, have we not gone with the name Float On.

Graham: And that probably other float centers are fools for not taking before this.

Ashkahn: Yeah, let’s read through some of these here.

Graham: Well first of all, you’re in good company if you decide to include the word float in your actual title. That’s a common one.

Ashkahn: There’s a lot of those.

Graham: Yeah, salt’s another one people like to put in there. Relax.

Ashkahn: Buoyant.

Graham: REST.

Ashkahn: REST. Lots of REST puns.

Graham: Yeah. Yeah. Float, did I mention float? They love putting that in there.

All right, so number one up here is Buoyant Break that we got for you.

Ashkahn: And then, Horizontal.

Graham: The Womb.

Ashkahn: Salty Serenity.

Graham: Cloud 10, just taking it one step further than all those cloud 9s out there.

Ashkahn: Get in the Box.

Graham: And then, Float America, which is kind of just taking it one step further than like, Float San Diego or Float Portland, or something like that, right?

Ashkahn: Then, Float Universe to really kind of follow that all the way to the end of the chain.

Graham: Yeah, unless you get into the Float Multiverse, in which case, that might even be a more ambitious name.

Ashkahn: We have Relax-o-Mat.

Graham: Whatever Floats Your Boat.

Ashkahn: Floatasm.

Graham: The Floatastic Flotorium.

Ashkahn: Floatilla.

Graham: Something Nothing.

Ashkahn: Get Naked and Float.

Graham: Salty Eyes.

Ashkahn: Crybaby Floats.

Graham: Wet, Warm and Salty.

Ashkahn: Tank Top.

Graham: Top Tank.

Ashkahn: Number One Floats.

Graham: And if your name happens to be Frank, you get the privilege of having Frank’s Floats, Frank’s Tanks. I almost didn’t do the pun. Frank’s Tanks, that’s the-

Ashkahn: Frank’s Floats is not that bad either.

All right, we have Get Up Get Down.

Graham: The SBSA, which stands for Shower Before, Shower After.

Ashkahn: Deprivation Vacation.

Graham: The RESTablishment.

Ashkahn: The One Man Party Box.

Graham: Lay In Space.

Ashkahn: Solo Tubes.

Graham: Pod Bless You.

Ashkahn: Float Your Heart Out.

Graham: REST for Zest.

Ashkahn: You’ve Been ArRESTed which has the tagline, you have the right to remain silent.

Graham: And one of our favorites, Tub Town.

Ashkahn: So, I think those are all pretty viable options that I would suggest you go with.

Graham: Yeah, and just as an honorable mention, three other names that sound as awesome as the ones we came up with, but actually exist out there-

Ashkahn: These are real float centers.

Graham: Rest Assured, which is amazing.

Ashkahn: Get Tank’d.

Graham: And probably my personal favorite, and has been ever since I saw it, which is Go Float Yourself.

Ashkahn: Yeah, down in Las Vegas. Definitely like win a prize for I think best float center name out there.

Graham: Yeah, so there you have it. Hopefully that spurred on some ideas of your own.

Ashkahn: Yeah, I think that answered their question, so feel free to choose any of those. Those are up for grabs, just a small gift from us to you.

Graham: Yep, and if you do, just write that $5,000 check over here, little royalty payment, you know? No big deal.

Ashkahn: Or write under the name of your center, created by Graham and Ashkahn, that’s also acceptable.

Graham: Take that as a lieu of payment, yeah.

All right.

Ashkahn: All right. Perfect. Well, if you guys have other questions, clearly we’ll answer anything at this point, so.

Graham: Go to FloatTankSolutions.com/podcast and shoot them over our way.

Recent Podcast Episodes

Should we Pay for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Services? – DSP 169

When opening any small business, you want to do what’s best to gain an edge in marketing and make sure that you’re doing your best for your flowering company. The new trends and changes can be daunting if you’re unfamiliar with technology or the marketing world. 

Float centers are no exception. So when you get a call from someone claiming to be able to boost your SEO standing, it can seem like a really good deal. How do you tell if these companies are legit? And do float centers really need SEO help? Graham and Ashkahn break this down and simplify it for the uninitiated. 

Should we do Tank Maintenance Ourselves? – DSP 168

As it turns out, there’s no certification program to running a float center. You buy these big expensive machines that require constant, technical maintenance and you’re on your own for how to accomplish that. There aren’t float tank repair persons that you can call (yet) and just have them show up and do it for you, so making sure you’re knowledgeable and prepared for this maintenance is a really good idea. 

Graham and Ashkahn lay out the Float On best practices for how to plan for maintenance so that it’s the least disruptive for your center if something goes wrong. 

What to Consider With a Home Float Center – DSP 167

Getting a tank in your house and floating some people is a great first step on the path to opening a float center. It helps you figure out exactly what the maintenance is going to be like, along with just the experience of floating other people and introducing them to this neat salty practice. 

There are things to consider and there’s a right way and a wrong way to run a home based float center. First thing to consider is your local laws for small businesses and making sure you comply with those. Additionally, you need to decide if you’re just floating friends and family or if you’re going to have paying customers. This is also going to impact what type of float tank you should use and the demands you should consider on your house. Graham and Ashkahn have seen plenty of these and share the best practices as they’ve seen them laid out. 

How to Deal With Burnout – DSP 166

Running a float center is hard work. Especially if you just opened up and dealt with months of agonizing, crazy construction, and then go straight into pulling long hours keeping your center open. Even with the reward of seeing floater’s post float glow can fall short of satisfying in some moments. 

It’s important in these moments to take time for yourself so as not to get devoured by your work. Ashkahn and Graham share some of the things that helped them stay sane working long, thankless shifts at Float On in the early days and get through the hard days so that they could thrive. 

Will Hard Water Affect a Float Tank? – DSP 165

Hard water is something that comes from having too many minerals in your water source. It can cause a lot of problems with plumbing if it’s too hard, and most buildings will have resources for dealing with this to help avoid calcium buildup in pipes and along tubs or pools. As for how it interacts with a float tank, specifically, it seems like the larger issue is going to be how it impacts the rest of your building. 

Graham and Ashkahn break down what they know about how hard water affects float tanks and the differences you’re going to have to look out for if you’re using well water over municipal water sources.

Latest Blog Posts

Listening to Music in a Float Tank

Listening to Music in a Float Tank

To play or not to play music in the tank…

Some centers start the float with a few minutes of music and then fade away, some don’t play music until the end, and another float center will not let you turn off the light. In fact, they also have the noise of a automatic massage table, pounding away next to you, while other places will leave it up to the floater to decide. READ MORE…

Specific Gravity Specifics

Specific Gravity Specifics

Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density (mass of the same unit volume) of a reference substance. The reference substance is nearly always water for liquids or air for gases.” Specific gravity, then, in the case of our float tanks, is how dense the salt water is compared to regular, run of the mill water.

So, where should we keep the specific gravity of a float tank? READ MORE…

Don’t Squander Water in Your Showers

Don’t Squander Water in Your Showers

Once you start planning out the monthly costs for your float center, you’ll quickly come to appreciate a running joke in the industry: although you may think you’re providing floats, what you’re really doing is running a shower business.

Each person that floats at your center will take two showers: one before their float, and one after. These showers are definitely necessary. Before a customer enters a float tank, you’ll want them to shower in order to make sure that water contamination from skin oils and dirt is minimized, and after a float a customer is going to need a shower to remove the salty residue from their skin. READ MORE…

How Do You Properly Use Hydrogen Peroxide?

How Do You Properly Use Hydrogen Peroxide?

The Art of Floating, a great blog by the Float Shoppe here in Portland, has been answering questions that hit their inbox. Which is brilliant, and gives a second life to the extensive novellas on that minutiae of float tanks that I find myself writing daily. Here’s the first in what will hopefully be a series. READ MORE…