Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Graham and Ashkahn got cornered at Rise with a question from one of the attendees, a float center owner named Gina. And even though the event is over, it’d be a shame to not share this episode. They answer all her questions and concerns about municipal water systems and the levels of filtration that should be done when using water straight from the tap (which probably almost everybody does), they also talk about what you really need to worry about in your tap water.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Perfect.
Ashkahn: I agree.
Graham: Alright so I am Graham.
Ashkahn: And I am Ashkahn.
Graham: We are here with a guest today.
Gina: Hi I’m Gina and I got a question for you guys about water quality after speaking with Jake. In our area we have very high levels of Chlorine. When you are ready to drink your water out of the tap you can smell the levels of Chlorine, and there’s a lot of Iron and it’s very hard.
So we were always thinking about using a filter before filling our tanks, but I don’t know if that’s gonna be enough so I was gonna ask you about water testing. What you would recommend in terms of testing your water to see if it’s okay to use tap water or you should use alternate methods?
Ashkahn: Maybe before we jump into that we should explain why Gina is even here with us in person right now.
Graham: So we are at the Rise Float Gathering over in St. Louis which is another float event when we don’t run which is a pleasure every single year to attend. Yeah we’re doing some live podcasting from there so if you hear any noise in the background, or if our intro seems like we only did it in one take. This is why. We also have Mr. Jake Marty here on the podcast as well with us.
Jake: Hey guys. St. Louis.
Ashkahn: Extra bonus information coming out. Jake’s really the only one that knows anything about it and its just its probably that’s why we don’t usually let him come on the podcast. We’re really embarrassed so it’s just the two of us.
Gina: And this one in plan, he didn’t know I was gonna ask this question.
Jake: It’s real like, a little exciting yeah.
Ashkahn: So what should you do to filter your water? How important is it to filter your water that you’re water that you’re putting into your full tanks?
Graham: Also know I was actually in a while. A lot of Iron levels, , Manganese, and stuff like that.
Ashkahn: Yup! So here’s an interesting thing about Chlorine, specifically as you were talking about those levels in the water, is that, even if you have high levels of Chlorine in your tap water, which evens the levels of Chlorine. The highest levels of Chlorine that could come in tap water do not approach the highest levels of Chlorine you’ll find like in a pool or a hot tub. Chlorine in pools and hot tubs, a lot of states have maximum set to eight or ten parts per millimeter. And if you have a lot of Chlorine on your drinking water, you’re probable talking like one or two parts. So you’re still decent threshold away from that.
Jake: But even if you have high levels of Chlorine in your float tank, or in your tap water that you are using to fill your float tank. It’s probably not gonna stick around that long. The whole pool has constantly be dosing in Chlorine into their system because it’s continuously getting used up by people swimming in there and stuff like that.
Ashkahn: So of all the things to be concerned about in terms of long term effects of what’s in your source water. What’s going in on your float tank? That might be not great for the very beginning. You might add some combined Chlorine and a few things like that but that’s not gonna be like a long term. You know I always have a bunch of Chlorine in your float tank `cause you filled it up with tap water that has enough Chlorine in it.
Graham: And when you fill the tank in here, you’re really only putting you know.
Ashkahn: Small.
Graham: A little bit.
Ashkahn: It’s everything else too. It kinda comes along with it and it’s being the problem. I mean really like we recommend, everyone should filter every drop of water going into-
Gina: Right!
Ashkahn: Their float tank, at the very least, every time. Really like our ideal set-up, I mean it float on if we could have it. We’d have a point of filtration, where right there, as the source going into the building. It’s just being filtered so that everything kinda of going into the whole building, is filtered.
Graham: It’s a little stressed on all the idea, like washing filtered water.
Jake: You can get a manifold.
Ashkahn: Yeah yeah. Just toilet in water and everything else on yeah yeah!
I mean the interesting thing is there’s a lot of different levels of water filtration. You can get like an RV filter that just is used for getting out heavy metals, things like that. From the water. Those are usually the biggest problems are hidden. It’s usually high metal content in the water because then when you do, when you add oxidizers, or if or whatever various treatment someone is using, that’s what could sometimes make your float tank bright, turn bright orange or start to like create stains and stuff like that. It’s typically the metal or mineral content much more than this yeah level forms.
Graham: Do you have a lot of special water or something like that. We have a lot of iron. We actually came across a float center recently.
Jake: Yeah! Just a week ago.
Graham: Yeah! Just a week ago. And there was having so much trouble with iron in their water. It actually start filling their float tanks with bottled water, distilled water.
Jake: Really? I didn’t know that.
Graham: Why do you have thousands of thousands of gallons of bottled water?
Ashkahn: Wow! Crazy! Well, that’s really extreme.
Jake: I actually getting full on distilled waters. Both expensive and pretty extreme.
Graham: A little while yeah.
Ashkahn: In terms of sanitation purposes, most of the time, when your talking, at least in the pool and spa worlds or sort of things, they usually just fill in their city’s water.
Jake: Yeah they are not doing anything, particularly crazy when you’re filling things up.
Ashkahn: And there’s various levels of filtration you can get and there’s obviously things way beyond this filterable we are talking about. Right? When you’re thinking like Silicon chips for computers or something. You’re using like extremely, extremely purified water.
Gina: Right
Jake: So where we fall on that structure, and what should we be really looking is purification and filtration of water.
Ashkahn: In my opinion is a little bit, closer to you, just regular tap water than what is extreme filtration. Like it’s nice to have one layer of something you can filter out heavy metals and things like that. It’s pretty easy to add on that level of filtration and then pretty extreme beyond that. I think it’s probably not usually necessary.
Jake: And a lot of the things personally you wanna filter out for full tanks are just what filters are tackling as like their RV filters, like regular point of entry filters, whatever you are attaching to your house. It’s also gonna wanna take out the heavy metals and it also strip out a lot of the Chlorine and Bromine that has been added to. But, there’s a lot of them, they’re really like, good at giving out even the smaller molecules that are in there, which is nice. So, like nothing we want to do I guess. Our business. You really need to wanting water that is in the public area or anything.
Ashkahn: Cities can be really different, for sure. The cities across the United States or on the world are also offer different materials. They use with their piping to get the water to you. Obviously, there are things like Flint, Michigan. You know there are these cases out there where you can’t just like exactly be totally happy with the tap water you’re getting. How old the infrastructure is for getting water around places. Even places, like where one might have scares with Cryptosporidium from their drinking water in the past. Then, like the city or the state is making them redo their water in usable drinking water systems. Update their water standards, things like that.
Jake: So, it’s worthwhile looking into. It’s probably slight less of a concern. You may think. And there are like case totally like city reports where they tell you like, where do you get your water from? What are threshold for levels are? What are they testing? They were testing for like parts for. It’s usually when you’re looking at levels of things like cryptosporidium or stuff like that. Way smaller than that. Testing for them and we are looking for full tanks. And it’s good to know the very least. That was kind of interesting.
Graham: I mean often, float tank water is cleaner than tap water.
Ashkahn: Yeah I wouldn’t drink it.
Gina: Now I’ve forgotten about the reports, so that’s the first place I’m gonna go. And then, do a little test, sample now that I know that what kind of salts I am using and I am going to start playing around with it.
Ashkahn: Great
Gina: Very cool. Thank you.
Ashkahn: Alright! Does that answer your question or ?
Gina: It does! I’m sure I have follow-ups but I’ll do it all later. Thank you so much! That was awesome!
Ashkahn: You sort of say things. We would assume someone would answer someone’s questions so yeah it was great. Thank you Gina.
Gina: So a lot of information. Thank you!
Ashkahn: Thank you!
Gina: Thanks guys!
Ashkahn: For those out there listening, thanks for listening. If you have more questions for us, you can just fly over to St. Louis and come to Rise-float gathering
Jake: If you’re already here, just tackle one of use. We are the guys in robes
Ashkahn: Yeah
Jake: And yeah, we’ll talk to you soon.
Ashkahn: Yeah! Have a good one.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Does it matter how you order your filtration equipment on a float tank? – DSP 155
When setting up your float tank, it can be tempting to look at the spa pack and imagine how much more convenient it would be if the pieces were rearranged a little bit. So… is there a particular order to the filtration equipment? Why or why not?
Fortunately, Graham and Ashkahn have painfully researched this issue and know all the ins and outs of water treatment systems for float tanks and why they are the way they are.
Pairing Psychotherapy and Floats – DSP 154
It’s easy to look at some of the research that comes from floating or look at special programs for veterans with PTSD and think about how float tanks should be paired with psychotherapy.
Graham and Ashkahn have met several therapists who use float tanks in conjunction with their sessions, sometimes exclusively. They also know that it’s important to recognize that they are trained professionals who are providing a treatment for difficult to treat psychological issues in some cases. Knowing when to leave the work to the experts is a valuable part of providing a service like this one with so many broad uses.
What is too small for a 4-tank float center? – DSP 153
Real estate costs from building out a float center, especially in an urban area, can get costly really quick. Sometimes compromises need to be made. But how much of a compromise is too compromised?
As with the best float center mistakes, Graham and Ashkahn can speak to their personal experience on this issue. They talk about opening a four tank center with less than 1,000 square feet and how much of a mistake it is. They also provide helpful planning tips so you can find out how much space you need at an absolute minimum for your float center.
How Do You Find Time for Hobbies? (Rise) – DSP 152
This is the last episode we recorded at Rise and it seemed fitting to close out the recordings with the organizers again, Jake and Kevin. In this episode they talk with Graham and Ashkahn to answer a question from Greg Griffin about how to manage your time after opening a float center to dedicate to hobbies.
While the episode starts a little heavy, the conversation turns and begins discussing the value of work and how rewarding it is to be in this industry.
Thank you to everyone who came and talked to us at Rise and shared your experiences. If we don’t see you at the Float Conference, hopefully we’ll see you next year. As always, float on.
What’s the Weirdest Post Float Experience You’ve Seen (Rise) – DSP 151
Another conversation that was captured at Rise was this little sit down between Graham and Ashkahn and a float center owner by the name of Jeremy out in San Antonio. They talk about a subject that I think comes up whenever float people get together. “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen after someone got out of a float?”
Sometimes people have a hard time coming back to Earth after a really good session in the tank and seeing how they interact with the rest of the world afterwards can be heartwarming and enlightening. It’s part of the reason we do what we do.
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