Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Graham and Ashkahn finish up their penultimate episode by answering the most important question of all, “how to start a salt tank business?”
They answer this question with the thoroughness and severity it deserves.
Show Resources
An Important Announcement from the Daily Solutions Podcast
If you’d like to sign up to ask a question on our two-hour call-in show, November 29th that’s in two days!) at 3 pm PST, go to floattanksolutions.com/dsplive.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Ashkahn: Okay.
Graham: Wow. We made it.
Ashkahn: This is it.
Graham: We all made it.
Ashkahn: Just barely, some of us.
Graham: Just barely, yeah. What a year, huh?
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: For those of you who’ve just been listening to us every day and started to think in our voices, thanks. We’re here for you.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: Our voices will stick around in your thoughts for years to come.
Ashkahn: If this is the first episode you’re listening to-
Graham: Then you can listen to the entire thing in reverse, which might be kinda fun. The intros will get progressively worse over time.
Ashkahn: I don’t know why that’s what your plan would be, but I guess my name’s Ashkahn if you’re just tuning in.
Graham: I’m Graham and this is the 365th day in a row that we’ve been doing this.
Ashkahn: Yeah. We’ve been in this little room for a year now and sliding food under the door.
Graham: I wonder how things have changed in the outside world.
Ashkahn: You guys have flying cars yet?
Graham: You probably have flying cars.
Ashkahn: At this point, they must.
Graham: Yeah. The only other thing we’re doing past this one is a big two-hour live call-in extravaganza.
Ashkahn: Yeah, got a finale coming up.
Graham: Honestly, come join us for it. If you’ve been enjoying this podcast, fulfill our wish and join us to ask us live questions and treat us like a radio call-in show.
Ashkahn: It’s secretly what we’ve wanted this whole time.
Graham: Not so secretly. I think we’ve said it on the air many times.
Ashkahn: It was just really complicated, so we’re going to do it. We’re going to do it for a big finale.
Graham: It’s true. It is taking a lot of tech work to actually figure out how to do a live call-in show that makes sense.
Ashkahn: If you tune in and no one’s able to call in, we’ve failed.
Graham: Yeah, sorry.
Ashkahn: Sorry about that.
Graham: Tune in for the disaster. It’ll be in two days, so … well, not two days from when you’re listening maybe, but-
Ashkahn: Hopefully, yeah. Possibly.
Graham: It’s coming up.
Ashkahn: There’s at least a chance.
Graham: If today’s the 27th, it’s in freaking two days.
Ashkahn: Yeah, two days from now.
Graham: 29th, three to five PM.
Ashkahn: Pacific Time. It’s going to live. There’s going to be video footage of it.
Graham: We’ll be streaming it on Facebook Live. We might be streaming it on YouTube Live, but yeah. We’ll have links on our website, you can go catch it. Pretty much anywhere you follow us, tune in and we’ll have an easy way to join the live call-in show.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: That’s it.
Ashkahn: Got one final question.
Graham: One final question. We’ve saved the best for last, I think. This just came in I think two days ago, it’s kind of a doozy. It is “how to open a salt tank business?” Question mark. Yeah, good question. You’re asking on the right show, that’s for sure. We usually call them float tanks.
Ashkahn: That’s probably the first, number one, I’d say.
Graham: Salt tanks is more something that we used to call them back in the ’80s. Salt tank therapy. Yeah, man, it’s crazy.
Ashkahn: There’s a lot to know, almost 364, 365 individual nuggets of information to know out there about how to open a salt tank business.
Graham: If only there was some podcast that had just finished up a year’s worth of daily recordings that you could tune into.
Ashkahn: That would be cool. That’d probably be a great answer to your question.
Graham: If you know anyone out there who’s doing that, maybe subscribe on iTunes or go watch YouTube videos. Mainly, just get some float tanks and slap them in your room. You’ll be fine.
Ashkahn: There’s not really a lot to know.
Graham: Yeah, when you get down to it, it’s pretty basic.
Ashkahn: You can go in any space, really. There are very few requirements. They pretty much take care of themselves.
Graham: You can run the entire thing by yourself. I’d say max nine tanks should be fine. Plenty of family time on top of it.
Ashkahn: Customers, they just come. If you build it, they will come. It’s easy.
Graham: It’s one of those Field of Dreams kind of industries out there.
Ashkahn: It’s just easy money. You should really be interested in opening a business if you’re looking for easy money and you don’t really care that much about floating or whatever these salt boxes are.
Graham: If you like money, probably above most other things in life, boy you’ve found the right industry. The salt tank industry is really lucrative.
Ashkahn: You’re going to deal with some annoying customers and put up with that, but …
Graham: Yeah, kind of annoying industry podcast hosts to listen to. Yeah, good luck. That was a good question. Yeah, so I think that pretty much closes out that one. I did want to spend some extra time on the episode, though, just saying how grateful we are for the chance to be able to do and grateful to work in an industry that supports us and gives us the time to share the information that we’ve learned with everyone. Thanks for tuning in. It honestly means a lot and we would’ve stopped a lot sooner if we didn’t have an audience out there.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s been super cool. It’s been nice to hear from you guys and hear the people are listening and enjoying it. Thanks for sending in questions. It’s been fun to get all these questions coming in.
Graham: Thanks for letting us mock them and not getting angry at us, or if you’re angry, keeping it secret and not telling us.
Ashkahn: Sorry if we’ve made any enemies in this process.
Graham: Hopefully we’ve made more friends. Yeah, and you’re amongst them so next birthday party, you’re all invited.
Ashkahn: Just everyone, right? Just wrap your arms around yourself right now. Everybody out there. We’re going to have a collective group hug.
Graham: I’m doing it right now in the studio.
Ashkahn: We’re doing it together. Just picture all of us hugging each other.
Graham: Giant float hug.
Ashkahn: Yeah, nice.
Graham: This is a phenomenal industry and I’m really happy to be here and yeah, again from the depths of whatever sort of heart that I have, thank you all.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s been cool. It’s been fun to go on this float tank journey and for this guy wondering about these salt boxes, I mean, good luck. I don’t know what you’re going to do, to be honest.
Graham: Just a little more research. Just a little more research.
Ashkahn: Probably, yeah. You might need to look into it a tiny bit more.
Graham: All of you aspiring float tank center owners out there too. Good luck. We’re still around. Float tank solutions isn’t going anywhere. Send us your questions when you get lost and need a guiding light out there in the deep seas of flotation. We’re there.
Ashkahn: Alright. I’ll be your wingman. We love you guys.
Graham: We do. Yeah, we love you. Yeah, hopefully, see you in just a couple days. November 29th.
Ashkahn: That’s right. That’s right. Three to five.
Graham: That nailed it is. It is the 29th. Pacific Time. November 29th, three to five PM. See you all there.
Ashkahn: This is Ashkahn signing off.
Graham: This is Graham, also signing off.
Ashkahn: Both of us signing off.
Graham: Talk to you, not tomorrow, I guess.
Ashkahn: No, no. Maybe never again. Oh, two days from now.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: This is us signing off.
Graham: Thanks again, everyone.
Ashkahn: Thanks. Just sign off here. Signing off.
Recent Podcast Episodes
pH testing devices for float tank solution – DSP 89
There are lots of things you can measure when testing the quality of your water, for sanitation and comfort. Many of which aren’t specifically designed for float tanks. This is kind of an open secret in the industry, but most things simply aren’t accurate because of the incredibly high salinity of float tank solution. And pH seems to be one of them. This can cause float center owners major headaches as it’s often one of the first things that health departments/regulators will want to measure when they come and inspect your place (if they do at all).
Graham and Ashkahn try to break down this mystery of float water and try to break down some theories as to why it might be that float tank water might not have accurate pH readings, regardless of how you measure it.
Handling humidity to reduce water drops on tank ceilings – DSP 88
One of the biggest Float Mysteries in the industry is how to properly deal with condensation in a float tank. Your float tank is basically a giant humidity generating machine so clearly there’s going to be some condensation, but how much and why it forms can vary for seemingly no reason, making managing it difficult. The last thing any float center owner wants is for it to affect the floats they’re running (little water droplets falling on floaters is no fun).
Graham and Ashkahn commiserate with the industry about the difficulties in dealing with this particular hot topic, while also delving into the science of it and common solutions that should help any float center owner that’s facing this problem.
The purpose of a flow meters and the flow rate for a float tank – DSP 87
When navigating demands from health departments, it can be an absolute minefield of regulation, oftentimes with holdovers from the pool and spa industries. Many of these can be superfluous to float centers, but if you’re just starting a center, it’s difficult to know which ones to ignore, and which ones to incorporate.
Flow meters fall into this weird gray area where they’re not as important for float centers as for pools (and in some cases aren’t really needed at all), but can still be required by health departments or regulators. And to not throw the baby out with the salty bathwater, there are definitely some very practical uses for flow meters on float tanks.
Graham and Ashkahn tackle all these confusing elements and even provide specific product recommendations for flow meters for float tanks. Give it a listen!
When to contact health department – DSP 86
Contacting your health department/inspector/regulator/enforcer/supreme overlord can be stressful, to say the least. And given their general lack of understanding of floating as an industry, it makes sense why float centers may put this off. However, they have the authority to shut down your business if they feel that it’s a public safety issue, and that’s a situation no one should put themselves in.
Talking to your health department early and often can save yourself some headaches, but you don’t want to go to them unprepared. There’s a lot of nuance to regulation and existing codes that you should probably be familiar with beforehand. Fortunately, it may be something other float centers in your area have had to deal with, if there are any.
Ashkahn and Graham have a few tips for what to do to prepare and how to address common concerns they may have in this episode.
Thoughts on facilitating couples floats – DSP 85
First off, we’ll just say that Float On does not offer couples floats and never has. Graham and Ashkahn dive into their reasoning for that decision while simultaneously addressing some of the common concerns and benefits that go along with the practice. Some people say it helps get people into the tanks that wouldn’t try it otherwise. Some smaller centers rely on the added revenue per tank and increased exposure to the practice. It’s a complicated question and one that each center will likely have to consider on their own.
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