Update

I have been using the float tank regularly, a couple of times a week for the past several months, now. Originally, I intended to use this blog to post my experiences, but I find it a bit difficult to say much about it other than it is a really great way to improve your meditation practice, whatever practice that may be. I will give a more general impression to date in this post: A couple of friends have tried it. One found it a bit claustrophobic, but otherwise liked his experience (although he didn't do it again). The other is someone who meditates regularly and he had the same experience as me, in fact noting, "Now I know what meditation is." He floats often in my tank and has modified his own jacuzzi so he can float in it in fresh water the help of one of those floating sticks. He says that it is a decent imitation of the tank, though not quite as good as the real thing. You can see the difference in a person when they come out of the tank. There is an obvious relaxed look on their face. If you are using a tank to meditate, I recommend spending the first 20 to 30 minutes just getting into a relaxed state, letting go of any tension, then beginning whatever meditation practice you prefer. Or you can just get into as relaxed a state as possible and leave it at that. If you are considering buying or making your own tank, I will make a few practical suggestions: First, put it in a garage or other area where salt water leakage is not going to be a problem as it will inevitably get messy. Total darkness is useful, but you will probably have your eyes closed for most of the time, so a slight bit of light is not the end of the world. Also, most sites recommend floating in the nude. I don't think this is all that necessary and creates some modesty issues with friends. A baggy suit can be distracting, but a speedo or biker shorts or something tight fitting like that is fine and maybe even better. Temperature is best around 93 to 94 degrees. I don't think that a more precise temperature than that is all that important. I have speakers in my tank, but I have not yet used them and will have more to say once I try them out. You want to avoid rubbing your eyes or face while you are floating as the saltwater stings when it gets in your eyes. Sometimes, you will float into one of the walls (wider tanks make this happen less often). If you do, very gentle pushing away with the hand or feet is all that is needed, otherwise you get a bit of a pinball effect. Sometimes people get very stiff in the neck area. The most common reason for this is the natural tendency to hold you head up to keep it from sinking. If you have enough salt in the tank, your head should float fine, so if your neck is stiff, just relax the head and let it fall back and float. When you get out of the tank, you will be covered with saltwater. I have set up a hose in my garage (hooked to hot water) and I rinse myself off in the garage, then take a regular shower in my house. You otherwise will track a lot of salt into your house on the way to your shower. My friend noted above and I have been working on a device that can be used to simulate the floating experience in a pool. This is not going to match doing it in a saltwater tank, but I think it will provide a nice experience. I will update when our project is fully off the ground. In any case, I wish you happy floating and would love to hear your experiences. Cheers, Steve

Just Floatin' Along

Well, I've been floating a few times each week and I find the experience quite helpful in terms of my meditation practice. It allows a much deeper relaxation, with a greater awareness of any tension. There are still a few bugs to work out with the tank. There is a bit of dripping, which seems to find its way direct-hitting my eyes and nasal passages, which can be a brief buzz-kill. I'm thinking that running a mop along the ceiling before floating will clear the top and prevent most dripping. I also notice that keeping the fan running around the clock keeps it less drippy. I still have some covering up where the light gets in, particularly at the seems. My initial attempt to cover it wasn't that helpful, but I've been more into floating than fixing these days and, with my eyes closed, I don't notice any light anyway.
The floats have been gradually longer, getting towards 2 hours. It helps to have a defined, sequential meditation practice rather than just laying there, where an hour can seem like an eternity.
I've had one taker on trying it out, a friend of mine who is not really of the New Age mentality. He was a bit put off by the enclosed nature of it and the potential lack of oxygen. I've since cranked up the fan, which had been on a minimal setting due to concerns that the air would be distracting. Now it feels more aerated and less swampy in there. Perhaps I'll get him to try it again. Someone at the gym has a friend who he told about it and I'm told he wants to do it, but I've not heard from him. Like most of these types of things, people are intrigued, but not too keen to really try it out for themselves.

Swimmin' Along

I am, little by little, tweaking Lakshmi (my name for the tank). I added the waterbed heater to the side. I tried to add some stripping along the doors to block out the light, but to little effect. I added a small fan with heating capabilities that tubes into the air vents and, last but not least, I got some linoleum from Home Depot to cover the mission side panel and block out some light. Duct tape was my friend in this endeavor. I had a few more floats, the longest being almost 2 hours. The waterbed heater slows the water from cooling when I unplug the filtration/heater before a float.
Floating makes it easier to get into a good, relaxed state for meditation and the meditations I've been doing feel more intense, even those I do when I'm not floating.
The shower capabilities are somewhat limited. At this point, I have hooked up a hose and sprayer to a hot and cold line in the garage and spray myself while standing in an oversized bucket. Once the salt is off my body, I usually go in and take a real shower (It would be a big problem to try to walk through the house covered with the salt). I am going to try a different type of stripping to cover the cracks and keep out more light. Due to a professional hazard, I have access to an abundance of used rubber yoga mats and I will cut strips from those.
With the current filtration system and ozonater, along with the heavily brined water, I generally put a "pinch" of chlorine into the tank each week to keep it fresh.
Hopefully, I can get some other people to try it out soon and make some suggestions.

First Float!

Long way to go in setting it up, but I had a trial float today and I'm happy with it. I had filled the tank with water last week and worked out a few minor piping leaks, so the pump/heater/filtration was running fine for a week and I was comfortable adding the thousand pounds of epsom salt yesterday (Note: expect a significant rise in your water level when you add the salt and compensate for that by filling it only a little over half of where you want to be, or put your salt in first - lesson learned).
The pump heater is set for 94 and it read 95 when I got into the tank. I unplugged the filter so that it didn't switch on while I was in there. I had been worried about not having enough salt, since this tank is a bit larger than the Samadhi I had before with 800 pounds of salt. No worries. There is still about 50 pounds of undissolved salt in there and I was floating like a cork!
The first thing I noticed was that my heartbeat was quite prominent almost immediately, which is hard to get used to. There is still a lot of work to do to make it darker in there, but it was fine with my eyes closed. I don't know if there is any value to having your eyes open if I can get it dark enough for that.
The temp dropped down to 92 by the time I finished and the difference was barely noticeable, although a longer float might require my auxillary heater (waterbed heater I plan to attach to the side) to prevent too much temperature drop with the pump/heater off.
All in all, a pleasant experience. Spraying myself with a cold hose after the fact wasn't quite as pleasant, so I still need to set up a hot water spray setup and will do that soon.

A Little Progress...

I installed two thermowells and plugged up the hole for the old one. I'm using one of the thermowells for the pump/filtration system and the other as a temperature sensor for a waterbed heater that I plan to attach to the side of the unit in order to keep it heated while using the tank, so that you don't have run the loud and disturbing filtration system while in the tank as the water cools down to keep it heated at body temperature.
I started putting the PVC together, which wasn't as difficult as I anticipated, but I need one more attachment, hopefully available at the local hardware store, to complete the closed system and test it with some actual water. Once I add the water, if it doesn't leak and the pump/filtration system works, I will will put the salt in. I don't want to add the salt until everything seems right.

More delays...

The tank has a "thermowell" which is a little tube in which you place a temperature sensor. The temp sensor on my new filtration system was too big for it. I tried to widen it by drilling and, predictably, broke it open, so I have a new thermowell on order. The other challenge is getting the pvc piping just right. I have a filter and ozonator added to this unit and they require various labyrinthic machinations. I'll keep you posted.

Delays...

I took a couple of days off this week with the misguided expectation that I would have the tank ready. Robert came by last week to help with the cleaning and convinced me not to paint the inside of the tank, which looks okay now. I got a new pump/heater/filtration/ozonator system online, but I need an electrician to put in a 220 plug and hook the thing up. My guy has been delayed by the storm and power outages up in Big Sur, he reports. I've got most of the tubing I think I need and insulated the bottom of the stand that the tank will be sitting on (pictures to come). It's looking like next week is more likely, so I'll take these days off and savor the NCAA March Madness.
I think I've solved the possible problem with keeping it heated while in the tank. The problem is that these filtration systems need to run to keep the water going through the heater and keep the water heated at the proper temp (approximately 94 degrees F). You can't have the loud pump working while you are in the tank, though, as it would kill the whole sensory deprivation thing. My old tank was heated by a water bed heater under a liner. This tank has no liner, but I think I can duct tape up a water bed heater to the side of the tank and figure out the setting needed to keep the water at a stable temp while in the tank. This isn't the most energy efficient solution, but it will only be needed while you're in the tank and I can turn it off and run the filtration system when not in the tank.

The clean-up begins

Cleaning the tank is going to be a bit of a project, so I was quite happy when John brought a pressure washer when he came to take the trailer (The Homeowners Association and my wife were probably happier about him coming to take away the trailer). The tank was quite filthy as you can see in the picture. The pressure washer helped remove the major grit and grime, but it will still need a bit of beautification if I want it to be palatable to curious friends. I have ordered some boat deck paint and will give the interior a bit of a paint job. I'll talk about some of the features of the tank in the next post.

Getting the tank in the garage

After a couple of days of having this tank sitting on the trailer in the driveway, I was able to round up Charlie and Pat to help me load it into the garage. We discovered that the tank was constructed with 3 large pieces as well as some side panels. I hadn't really gotten the chance to look at it at the ranch. It is quite big on the inside, and might even be able to accomodate two people. It has collected a lot of mud and dirt over the past several years while sitting under a large pine tree. After some logistical discussions, we were able to take the three large pieces separately into my garage.

The Journey

So, I went to pick up the float tank from John's ranch in Santa Barbara last week and I am just now able to process the whole adventure and post it here (I back-dated this entry). My friend Charlie has a pick-up with a trailer hitch and came along to help me out. I really had no idea what to expect. We only knew that the tank was "sitting on a trailer" on the property. Charlie and I are not exactly well-versed in the ways of farm trailers and transporting large objects, so it was a bit of a shock when we arrived.
The ranch itself was filled with various cars, vans, buses, and other items. There had been a lot of rain, so it was quite muddy. When I saw the tank sitting on the trailer, I was a bit concerned. It was a much bigger tank than I expected. In fact, it was the biggest one I had ever seen. It looked like some kind of soviet era missile. Even more concerning was the larger and more rustic than expected trailer it was sitting on. Our original plan was to load the tank onto Charlie's truck and drive off with it. The tank proved too big and heavy for such an endeavor (not to mention that the recent rains had filled it with muddy water. Right around this time, John called to see how things were going. He quickly vibed my lack of enthusiasm about transporting the tank on this trailer all the way to San Luis Obispo. "I've towed tractors on it," he said - or something to that effect. John was nice enough to offer a refund if I decided against this adventure. In truth, I was 50-50, but finally got the "you've come this far" mentality back on board and decided to go for it.

Charlie began to strap the tank down to the trailer. If there is a procedure for strapping a float tank sitting on two pallets on a trailer, neither one of us was familiar with it and I have no advice to share on this matter for anyone in the same predicament. Just before leaving, John directed me to the pump/heater unit, which was stored in an old 1964 Corvair van (the property appeared to be a bit of a Corvair museum and I am thankful that I have gotten over my "wouldn't it be great to fix up an old car" phase of life). We loaded the heater/pump unit into the pickup bed and set off for the long ride home just as darkness fell. No doubt anticipating disaster, Charlie handed me the keys to the truck for the ride home, which turned out well, since he seemed to have a better grasp of straps. I couldn't do the ride home justice. Suffice it to say that watching a large float tank bouncing up and down on a trailer and snapping some heavy-duty tie down straps is enough to put more than a few gray hairs on your head.
The tank sits on my driveway, garnering perplexed looks from my neighbors as I try to figure out how to get it into my garage...

Logistics...

One of the biggest issues with having a float tank is where to put it. When getting out of a tank after a float, you are covered with a very highly concentrated salt water, which has a way of spreading onto the floor and just about anything you touch, drying into a white, crunchy, salt film. This washes off quite easily in a shower, but getting there can be an issue. My last tank was in a room right next to the bathroom, but it was still a messy affair and even when I wasn't using the tank (the salt seemed to crystallize and find its way onto the hardwood floor. There are only two places that I would recommend keeping a float tank in your home. The ideal place would be an out of the way basement with cement floor, that has a bathroom with a shower. If it is an oversized bathroom and had enough room for a tank, that would be the ultimate. Most of us, however, aren't that lucky.
This time around, I am going to put it in the garage. Like a pool table, I think that this is the best place to keep a tank if you live in an area that is not too cold (or you have a heated garage). The big disadvantage of the garage is a lack of a shower. However, leading from my hot water tank into the house are lines for hot water. Coneniently, there is an attachment (generally used for outdoor sinks) for both hot and cold water. I plan to attach these with an adapter to a couple of common garden hoses and attach the hoses to a portable shower head. This will be kept over a small basin, so that a person can get out of the tank, step into the basin and wash themselves off with warm water. The basin can then be dumped and ready for another use. I admit that this is a bit cumbersome and "rustic," but it's really the only way for me to keep a tank and use it regularly.
I'll work out the details of where to set up the tank and "shower", when I've had a chance to look at the tank. I traded e-mails with John today and he informs me that the tank is "round or elliptical", which is a little surprising, since both major manufacturers, Samadhi and Oasis, are rectangular. It sounds like this might be more of a "clamshell" type of unit that is no longer made. Looking at old pictures on the internet, these appear to be high quality, fiberglass units, so I really can't wait to get a look at this tank!

Getting a Floatation Tank

I had a floatation tank in Seattle and didn't make good use of it (probably due to the gloomy weather, which didn't make me want to get into a very dark tank, so I sold it off. I had been thinking of getting another now that I'm in sunny California, but a new one seemed like a bit of a commitment. By some stroke of luck, it turns out that John, from my meditation class, bought one from a local spa that was getting rid of their's a few years ago and had it sitting in storage ever since. He doesn't know much about it, other than "it looks like a white spaceship," so I don't know what the model is. It sounds like it will be a bit of a project. Some of the fiberglass needs repair and I will probably need a new pump/filtration/heating system. Nevertheless, I am quite excited about this project!