October 12, 2015

How to properly store your big bubble solution

beeboo Big Bubble Bubble Toy Bubble Mix

Customers often ask how to best store their big bubble solution, once it’s mixed. These simple to follow steps will help insure you to successfully store your bubble solution for long periods of time, whether the product is beeboo® Big Bubble Mix, Do It Yourself (DIY) homemade bubble solution, or any other bubble mix that requires dilution.

Occasionally, you may find that the bubble mix you made just a few weeks ago, doesn’t seem to perform as well as when it was first mixed. The answer to this problem is simple and easy to fix. Just follow these steps to maximize the amount of time your bubble solution stays viable and at peak bubble performance, during storage.

As a water treatment chemist and inventor of beeboo® Big Bubble Mix, I can tell you exactly why your bubble solution doesn’t perform like it did just a few weeks ago. Nature wants to reduce things to their most basic components. That's what non-harmful bacteria do in nature. They take complicated chemicals and compounds and reduce them back to their original carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. In short, that's what happened to your left over bubble mix.

Bacteria love bubble mix because they have lots of carbons to eat. As this process continues, the mix can become cloudy or watery and performance goes downhill in a hurry. To combat this totally natural phenomenon, follow these easy steps.

1) Make sure the container you are using for mixing is as clean as possible. Rinsing containers, especially buckets that may have stored out of date solution may require scrubbing. This is because many bacteria form a protein layer or slimy cover to insure their long term existence. The protein they use is almost like a very thin layer of slime. The best answer is to scrub the mixing containers with a brush, soap and clean water. Simply rinsing the container three times with cold, fresh water is not enough to clean the slime forming bacteria off the walls of a container. You need to scrub them off.

2) Now that you have a clean mixing container, be sure to use a good clean source of tap water. Most municipal tap water supplies for drinking water have trace amount of free available chlorine to insure the drinking water is safe from any pathogens. This is the best water to use when diluting beeboo. It should be free from most kinds of bacteria. If your source of water is from a well, it is much more likely to contain non-harmful bacteria. If you suspect your well water may be contaminated with an unusually high amount of bacteria, you can always get your well chlorinated by a trusted water treatment company or well water company. Other than that, you could boil the water, just to be sure. Let it cool to room temperature and then use to mix bubble solution.

3) Keep the solution as clean as possible. I’ve seen little children drag the flexible loops of their big bubble wands in the grass, leaves and dirt, only to place the jumbled up mix of organics right back into the bucket, contaminating the solution with even more bacteria. Simple answer here, is to keep the wand you are using, whether is a hoop, loop or any other bubble apparatus, as clean as possible. If your wand does get dirty, simply rinse with clean water before re-introducing back into the container of solution.

4) Filtering. Many customers have written and mentioned that when they need to store their solution for long periods of time, they filter the solution with cheesecloth, or cotton T-shirt material, while they pour it back into their clean storage container. Filtering your solution will also help minimize organic contamination.

5) Use clean storage containers. Glass storage containers work better than plastic storage containers, only because glass is much easier to keep clean. Both materials of construction work equally well if they are clean.

6) Cover. Use a cover, cap or lid on your storage container.

7) Store in a cool dark place. Customers have reported storing used solution in their refrigerator for up to six months and more, without any decrease in performance.

All of these actions help minimize bacteria from consuming the carbons in the soap solution, and therefore help in maintaining peak performance of your bubble solution for days, weeks and even months. We have had customers help us with this subject from their direct personal experiences, offering their personal hints, tips and clues. Many customers successfully store their solution for six months or more, using these easy to follow and simple steps. Enjoy the day!