My pondmaster is not sucking up any debris in my tank. My tank is 8′ x 5′ x 16″ and has 300 gallons of water with 1000 pounds of epsom salt (specific gravity 1.25 or so — much higher than an aquarium):
Pratyahara Tanks is the worlds first completely open source tank manufacturer. Our tank (known as the Black Beauty) is constructed from 100% off-the-shelf parts. Building this tank requires very little carpentry skills – to build a Black Beauty tank is simple.
2 Norwesco 360 gallon containment tanks – one will hold the water, one will serve as the top of your tank. Dimensions of containment tank are 93″ Length x 69″ Width x 16″ Height
A hydrometer to measure salinity of the water which reads specific gravity from 1.0 to 2.0. They tend to be calibrated for 60 deg F, but that’s close enough for our work. You also will need to get the cylinder to hold the hydrometer, which they should have also. Dont get standard aquarium hydrometers because those saltwater tanks only have a spec gravity of 1.025.
7 pieces of plywood (optional, to put some space between the tarp and the tank bottom – picture)
2-inch thick styrofoam (optional also – I dont even know why I ever listed this).
A pump/filter system.
2 inflexible rods – used to prop up the tank top while adding salt. pvc or hard wood dowels 4 1/2 feet long are good – Here is a picture. … this is during your build phase. You may be successful attaching drawer guides (glides) between the bottom and top tank so you can slide it as shown here but that approach did not ultimately work for me. So I drilled holes and used plastic cinches to connect the bottom and top parts.
STEP-BY-STEP-INSTRUCTIONS
The base of your tank is a tarp, some 2x4s and 2 inch thick styrofoam.
Then you put down one containment tank
Put the 2nd containment tank on top of the first – picture
Drill holes in both tanks and slide a cinch through the holes to make your hinged door – here is a picture and here is another.
Fill the tank: start with just a few inches of water, enough to cover the heaters. Let that get up to 94 deg F, making use of an external thermometer as reference point. Then add more and more water. But never more than 250 gallons total. See the calculations for how to convert inches of water into total gallons as a function of the tank dimensions. UPDATE: a baptismal heater doesnt need all of this coddling: it can heat very large bodies of water easily. Also, I tend to simply get hot water from the shower and then dump salt into that.
Salt the water. Slowly. 1 bag at a time.
Unplug all electricity and float
CONCEPTUAL TANK DISCUSSION
The Tank Room
A nice tank room that can be comfortably heated is wonderful. Here are other things to consider about the room itself.
electricity
Here is a formula:
watts / volts = amps
since most houses are 120 volts and 15 amps, this implies that you can pull at most 1800 watts of power. So buying 2 1000 watt aquarium heaters is not going to work with standard setups: I know, I threw my fuse breaker when I tried. I have 1 1k watt and another at 300 watts and so far that is fine.
You could re-wire the power from the breaker to the power supply with a different guage wire, or get dedicated wiring, but the purpose of this project is to make everything work with off-the-shelf standard parts and settings.
dimensions
3 feet longer and wider than the tank seems to be an absolute minimum
restroom
A restroom near/attached to the tank room is very convenient.
You need to get the tank off the floor with some 2x4s. And then put 2-inch styrofoam over that.
Next, simply put the two containment tanks on top of each other like this:
Then drill holes in one side and cinch the top to the bottom on one side to create a hinge like this:
I actually think padlocks are better than plastic cinches because you will find yourself taking them off and on to situate the heaters and also when you drain the tank for cleaning you will need to take off the top. Finally, some people are claustrophobic and would prefer to float without a top.
Spa Pack (pump/filter)
In order to filter the water and warm it, we have to go with a sealless mag drive pump and filter modules.
I’ve found 2 good choices (LifeGard Aquatics and Pondmaster) and I went with pondmaster.
UPDATE – a very good set of articles was published to the Reddit FloatTank group showing a new spa pack setup. See the “Scope for Future Tank” section for details.
LifeGard Aquatics
we want a sealless magdrive pump that can deal with 350 gallons of saltwater (though we will only have 250)
we a triple capacity mechanical filter for particle filtering
we want a triple capacity chemical filter that has carbon in it
ultraviolet filtering is loved by some professionals. others think it is a waste of time
ozone in a closed space will kill a lot, but might also kill you. So let’s drop that also.
hydrogen peroxide will become a good friend of yours
weekly and monthly sanitization tips are forthcoming
Temperature Control & Monitoring
Water Thermometer
Submersible Aquarium Heater
In between floats, you need to keep the water warm or the epsom salt will precipitate. So you need a good aquarium heater for that. While 300W is just fine for 300 gallons when you speak of waterbed heaters, my experience is that it is not enough when dealing with aquarium heaters. You need 3-6 watts for every gallon of water you want to heat above 80 deg F. Let’s use 6 watts since we have salt water, whose specific heat capacity is lower than plain water. But on the other hand, you can only have about 1800 watts of total heating at the max. I suggest 1300 to 1600 watts of total heating power. So you’re going to need two 800 watt heaters, one 800 and one 500 or one 1000 and and 300/500 or some combination like that.
Now, there are 7.5 gallons of water in a cubic foot. And so we have the various gallons of water that we can deal with based on total wattage:
Crop Production Services (sometimes aka Agricultural Garden Supply) was a good place for salt. Look for a place that sells lawn fertilizers.
Then setup your spa pack for intake and discharge by adding some piping.
Then heat the water to 104F (the maximum the spa pack is legally allowed to do) and gradually add salt.
Testing for Salinity
You can get fancy and buy a salinity pen, but you can also get the job done for just 10 bucks with these two products:
Filling the tank
First, start with about 3 inches of water. NO SALT. Then submerge your two heaters. Make sure you can get that up to 95 degrees.
Your maximum height is based on how many gallons of water you can heat. Let’s say you can heat 1500 gallons of water. Since there are 7.5 gallons of water in a cubic foot, we can use unit cancellation mathematics to see who many cubic feet of water we can heat:
(1 ft^3 / 7.5 gal) x 250 gal = 33 ft^3
Now the tank we have it quite wide, so the water will not be very high. Let’s convert cubic feet to inches and see how many cubic inches we can afford to heat. 33 cubic feet is 57,024 cubic inches. Now the tank slopes, but the given width and length are 93″ and 69″. So let’s multiply those together and divide that product by 57,024 to get the height available to us. The result is 8.8 inches. Most people recommend 10 inches, but I think we can get by.
Let’s do the 1300 watt calcs
216 gallons is covered by 28.8 ft^3
1 ft^3 = (12 inches)^3 = 1728 inches cubed
therefore 28.8 ft^3 is 49766 inches
So we have 7.75 inches of water available at 1300 watts. That’s not very high. I’ve done it, but dont recommend it.
General Comments
Total cost
two containment tanks: 655 + 190 S&H = 850
spa pack with mechanical filter, no ozone: 400 + 50 S&H = 450
submersible aquarium heaters – 360 + 9 S&H = 370
water thermometer – 8.00 + 7 S&H = 15
The total cost is 1700.00. Most tanks will run you 2000-3500 used. Then we can add in epsom salt for 300 bucks for a clean 2 grand for the whole deal!
Optional Products
You might want a shockbuster, although you will probably opt to float with all heater power off. I was influenced by Tim Strudwick in this case: he built a tank that costs 5 figures and it has NO heat on during the float. So: the heat and pump/filter for my tank are manually added and removed to the tank when used. No fear of electric shock with this approach.
Scope for Future Tank
An excellent pump filter setup was revealed in these 2 posts
since it is mag-drive, can we presume it does not have a rubber seal that can rot due to salt?
I read in the description Includes 1 meter power cord, but you will need to purchase a grounded plug to wire onto it. -> does this mean you needed to do something other than just plug it into a socket?
Inland Seas Nu-Clear Model 533 Mechanical Canister Filter
it says it is for salt water up to 90 gallons. How many gallons of water are in a Zen Float Tank? My guess is 200… but typically products can do more than they advertise.
I guess there is a way to know when to replace the carbon filter?
The description says Includes pressure gauge -> what do you use this guage for?
I’m experimenting with room and tank temperatures to find the optimal mix. Room temperature was 90 deg F and tank temperature may have been 95.3… my thermometer needs calibration but it did feel rather warm, instead of that usual tepid slightly chilled temp I’m used to.So I get into my tank (which only has 16 inches of clearance to the top) and it’s a pressure cooker. It’s hot and uncomfortable. I make notes to drop the room temperature to 80 deg F next time.
But now for some fun. Is there some way to enjoy myself while my body is sending distress signals about being in sub-optimal conditions? I tried a number of techniques:
radiate loving-kindness to the sensations of heat – hmm, I still felt agony
expect the unexpected – I cant send my attention elsewhere, I’m suffering!
observe the sensations with bare attention/equanimity – hmm, man, look. it’s hot in here. and that’s a fact
radiating loving-kindness to the feeling I AM – Eureka! This is truly an amazing technique. Sri Siddharameshar gifted Nisargadatta Maharaj with an excellent tool. It really goes to the root of all problems – the idea that I am a separate entity.
Nothing like trial by fire to see which meditation technique owns!
The longer story is a Lowe’s employee was very nasty to me as I tried to pick his brain about how to solve my problem. I began to review my Advaita Vedanta teachings that I am just a character in a dream and what happens to this body doesnt matter. I began to contemplate reporting him to his boss. I decided to talk to him heart to heart but he was busy. So I began to look at sliding doors and windows trying to figure out how to do this. Then Carlos comes sauntering by: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_Pu5idg9RIVo/TWwEm0ywQbI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/ABb_-4…
and he says “hmm, maybe try drawer guides” … and that was just the ticket.
I suppose by remaining neutral instead of going on the offensive when attacked, I managed to find the neutral space where all creation begins and manage to make lemonade out of lemons 🙂
A friend of mine (minorwork) on Facebook provided some text books which offer techniques and discussion of subtle body separation/analysis:
Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth by Robert Johnson. Or my fav. Experiment in Depth by P.W. Martin which is a look at the “separation” from three perspectives. Jung for technique. Historian Arnold Toy…
nbees assessment of its influence in history, and T.S. Eliots view from one who has accomplished the “withdrawal and return.”
On 2/25/2011 2:18 AM, Terrence Brannon wrote:
I continue to use the term ‘sensory deprivation’ even though Lilly made it clear that only certain people who had not done tank work themselves used this term.Technically, we are liberating ourselves from the distraction of physical senses. From ch.11 in “The Spiritual Notebook” (The Higher and Lower Powers) we read further confirmation of the power of Sensory “Deprivation”
“””
Consciousness is beyond the worlds of thought. It is the foundation of ECK, and the whole of ECK teachings. It is the explanation for the difference between the mental and Soul plane. It is the hardest dividing line to cross. … The secret of entering into the consciousness state is detaching one’s self from the outer, or sense world, and withdrawing one’s attention from all sensory objects. Then the chela begins to concentrate his attention on something inside. So far this is the general method of all systems. But the secret is that the mental world — which consists of the tools of thought — and every plane below it, comprise the negative worlds.
“””
Hmm, so after separating physical from emotional and emotional from thought, we must also separate thought from consciousness. Arunachala Ramana of AHAM.com said the same thing: “the only spiritual practice is separating thought from awareness. Anything else is not worthy of the title of spiritual practice.”
I continue to use the term ‘sensory deprivation’ even though Lilly made it clear that only certain people who had not done tank work themselves used this term.Technically, we are liberating ourselves from the distraction of physical senses. From ch.11 in “The Spiritual Notebook” (The Higher and Lower Powers) we read further confirmation of the power of Sensory “Deprivation”
“””
Consciousness is beyond the worlds of thought. It is the foundation of ECK, and the whole of ECK teachings. It is the explanation for the difference between the mental and Soul plane. It is the hardest dividing line to cross. … The secret of entering into the consciousness state is detaching one’s self from the outer, or sense world, and withdrawing one’s attention from all sensory objects. Then the chela begins to concentrate his attention on something inside. So far this is the general method of all systems. But the secret is that the mental world — which consists of the tools of thought — and every plane below it, comprise the negative worlds.
“””
Hmm, so after separating physical from emotional and emotional from thought, we must also separate thought from consciousness. Arunachala Ramana of AHAM.com said the same thing: “the only spiritual practice is separating thought from awareness. Anything else is not worthy of the title of spiritual practice.”
I had a friend who took an initiation. He wasnt happy with the system because he felt that nothing was happening when he did the meditation. I have two responses to this#1 – the tank always awaits a chance to loosen you
I just finished an hour in the tank. For the most part I was certain that “nothing was happening” and guess why? Because I was locking my body into place in the tank. The second I relaxed just a bit, the tank took the opportunity to loosen all sorts of muscle groups – across the spine, up and down the sides, the neck, you name it. Then I started pointing and flexing my toes and one toe would not flex back as fast as the rest – it had a mini Charley Horse. But then it worked its way out.
I was literally creating a limited tank experience by holding my body fixed. The tank destructured me and exposed my attempt to create a limited body-tank relation.
I’m so impressed with the ability of the tank to loosen up the physical body that “floating”, the secular term for what we do, is called “loosening” in the vocabulary of my religious organization devoted to floating [0]
#2 – expect the unexpected instead of filtering your environment
The instructions to John C. Lilly from E.C.C.O. [1] were: “Expect the unexpected every moment 24/7” – when you simply sit down and expect the unexpected, then your awareness expands and all sorts of trivial things you would never notice come to your attention – the refrigerator turning on, an ant walking across the rug, the wind rustling outside, a cabinet door creaking. You realize that “you” typically are a stick in a fast flowing river of phenomena.
But the ego is so focused on filtering the environment so that only stimuli which enhance/threaten survival come to your attention, that you actually dont even notice 1% of what is usually happening!
#3 Praise to Lilly
We results-oriented Westerners would not have ever had a crack at samadhi (samadhi being that crack between events which allows us to create and control as we learn to widen the GAP) because we are so fixated, locked down and focused. The whole lot of meditative experience has been gifted to the West thanks to the bold research efforts of John C. Lilly.
Chapter 3 in “The Spiritual Notebook” by Paul Twitchell (founder of ECKANKAR)Â provides more rationale for liberating oneself from the physical senses:
“… the inner universe cannot be realized unless we are able to separate Soul from mind and physical senses, and visualize Truth directly.”
later in the same chapter, Twitchell describes the 3 common states of deep sleep, dream, and waking. The he says:
“The next ascending step is the immortal state. Once we have taken this step we have consciousness of the higher planes where all things are subtle and Truth is the Ultimate Reality. At this stage the brain and the physical organs cease to operates … only by our spiritual senses do we function within these worlds.”
still later:
“The nine doors of the outer world are (list of orifices and sense organs… he omitted the skin)… all attention must be withdrawn from these lower doors and placed upon the spiritual eye.”
finally:
“When Soul passes through the spiritual window it enters into the astral world. We cannot see this world with physical eyes, but instead we view everything on this plane with astral senses. This is true of every higher plane we pass into.”
I tried focusing on the 3rd eye during my last float but I fell asleep. Maybe I should play HU in the float room to tune myself to the God worlds? Oh yeah, in ECKANKAR you need the help of the Living ECK Master to guide you to the Soul plane. You could only get to the mental plane by yourself – you would never cross the great void – http://santmat.livingcosmos.org
I finished my Bikram Yoga. I get home and my body is pleading with me: “get into the tank NOW”
So I put up my groceries and flop right in… oops! Let’s unplug those heaters first.
So I’m in and drifting off to sleep. Then I feel a sharp electric-like jolt in the neck. I think: “oh god, i left something plugged in”
But then I get a grip and realize that electrical shock is not that selective – the whole water body would’ve been electric.
So I settle back in and it happens again and again and again… about 4 times total.
I think some long-held tension was releasing.
I leave the tank fully recharged and ready for the day.
The ability of the tank to detect tension and release it is simply amazing: THANK YOU JOHN C. LILLY!
