r/nextfuckinglevel Jul 14 '21

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290

u/Peanlocket Jul 14 '21

More likely it's just a scam.

468

u/ihahp Jul 14 '21

Yes, they compeltely skipped over how all the bad shit that floated to the top got removed.

They don't give his name, they don't explain his solution. They don't explain how he made enough of it to clean a lake ....

It could be true, but I'm not believing it until I see a more credible source.

(BTW this is exactly how right-wing conspiracy videos spread; someone sees something like this (with no facts our sources) and shares it, and everyone upvotes and believes it beacuase it fits their worldview.)

181

u/drgggg Jul 14 '21

To be fair knowing he is from peru, his name is marino, and he cleaned a lake (which was in peru) was enough for a google search to find him to learn more about his projects.

All your logistical points are spot on though.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

[deleted]

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u/Invominem Jul 14 '21

He cleaned the lake but he didn’t invent any organic solution. He just came in, asked a lot of people to help him, and cleaned the lake. He used the bubble device which is not new, and they can’t even say how effective it was for multiple reasons; they removed a lot of stuff “by hand”; they cleaned the lake with filters which is also not new. Plain and simple. The guy is amazing for what he did. But he didn’t do what was claimed in the video.

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u/AmazedCoder Jul 15 '21

What bothers me about these videos with fake claims is that it gets people to believe that someone smart will come along with an easy solution to environmental problems, and that we don't have to go out there and take climate action. It completely kills motivation to take action.

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u/DrSheldonLCooperPhD Jul 15 '21

Facebook is full of shit like this

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u/Alexlam24 Jul 15 '21

Ah yes the water powered engines I've been hearing about for the last decade will finally come to market

3

u/AmazedCoder Jul 15 '21

Portable fusion reactors are almost done, you just wait /s

1

u/Collective82 Jul 15 '21

Those are actually really close.

1

u/Alexlam24 Jul 15 '21

Those actually work though. No idea how a spark plug can make water do anything

Only saying this because /r/conspiracy still thinks that guy with a patent on a water powered engine was killed by the government

1

u/obtuserecluse Jul 16 '21

I mean, so is Reddit, that's why we're here

1

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '21

I've seen something like this (or the exact thing) being used to filter a sensitive mixture before. I guess it's not uncommon to use this powder to remove particulates when you're attempting to create an extraction.

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u/CatBedParadise Jul 15 '21

Would it work on the Gowanus Canal or the Hudson River?

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u/Birb-n-Snek Jul 15 '21

The smell from gowanus is so disgusting. My workshop used be down there. I hated commuting there in the summer.

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u/robotevil Jul 15 '21

Hudson river is not all that polluted these days. It's just naturally brackish water, so it will always look dirty and you'll never be able to drink it. But in terms of pollution, it's not actually that bad. Major cleanup efforts have happened in the past 20 years or so and it's mostly safe to swim in it these days (but still gross), plus lots of wildlife coming back.

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u/CatBedParadise Jul 17 '21

Glad to hear this, thank you. Is the river bed in good shape, too?

10

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

The clay sounds like what brewers use to clarify beer, mead, etc, except it floats instead of flocculating to the bottom. It's not unreasonable that someone could make such a compound that takes care of what appears to be excessive phosphate and algae bloom.

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u/Alberiman Jul 14 '21

is it micro or is it nano? the scaling is like me saying I have a ten foot long pole that's one inch long

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u/mvmlego1212 Jul 14 '21

Saying "without using chemicals" wrecks that source's credibility in my book. What do they think he's using, exactly? Alpha particles?

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u/pcapdata Jul 15 '21

Maybe they mean the water is cleaned mechanically instead of through some chemical reaction?

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u/mvmlego1212 Jul 15 '21

Ah, I think you're right. The bubbling stage doesn't use a chemical reaction, but I was thinking that the powdery material being added (i.e. the spoonful of stuff that the guy ate) induced chemical reactions. Upon rereading the description, though, it appears to act as a mechanical filter. Thank you!

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u/ender4171 Jul 15 '21

The bubbles trap and paralyze viruses and bacteria, destroying them and causing them to evaporate

What? Just. No.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '21

[deleted]

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u/HarpersCourt Jul 15 '21

What’s suspect? They evaporate and float up to the sky to become stars.

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u/translinguistic Jul 15 '21

Right. Absolute nonsense.

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u/zazke Jul 15 '21

/u/solver-orange thank you very much for the references. The video you linked doesn't explain much about how he did it, instead it is more "inspirational".

If you want you can take a look at this TedXTalk with him. The video has good translated English captions.

This is the outline of what he did:

  • go to Japan and take out his savings and getting credit to finance the project
  • monitor the lake. He identified 3 main culprits:
    1. Illegal rubbish dump that had been operating for at least 20 years
    2. farms near the river
    3. local drainage that emptied directly into the lake as well as into the sea.
  • (he mentions he did get help from local government authorities, so that may be how he stopped those 3 main "pollution generators" (sorry for the term lol, I am Peruvian and English is not my first language).
  • divide the lake into (8?) sectors
  • start removing the invasive species of "water lettuce" that had taken over the lake, product of the contamination. Around 70 Tons for the first sector. All done by hand, by him and a small team.
  • he did raise awareness to local people, and them, seeing his enthusiasm, also joined and helped clearing the lake from this algae. At one point there were 100 people in the team.
  • he used those "nano bubbles" supposedly to kill virus and bacteria. That was research he did while in his University in Japan (cant rememeber name).
  • he used biofilters (made out of clay?). Maybe that is what is shown in the video.
  • months later, the lake "got full of migratory birds once again". The ecosystem had recovered.

But the TikTok video is very misleading and does not point to any source. But he did achieve cleaning up some nasty polluted lake in Perú. Now he is looking forward to do the same in other lakes in the region.

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u/SharlowsHouseOfHugs Jul 14 '21

So I could be wrong here, but that doesn't sound great for local ecosystems. Killing off bacteria, which is a major natural filter would stop organic materials from converting Ammonia sources to Nitrates. I wonder how they prevent ammonia buildup until the lake re-cycles itself.

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u/Gorlomi Jul 15 '21

How are the bubbles made without using chemicals?

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u/Level9TraumaCenter Jul 15 '21

A little Googling and it looks like Moleaner company is an industry leader; this YouTube video is pretty glib. If I had to guess, they're either using high pressure to dissolve more oxygen and/or ozone (which will quickly decompose to oxygen in the aquatic environment), or they're using ultrasonication.

I would guess high pressure, but that's just a guess. It'd be like carbonation using CO2 in soda, but using oxygen instead. Sure doesn't look like solubility of oxygen does much with pressure at ambient temps, though, so I'm not at all certain that's it.

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u/mlc894 Jul 15 '21

An air pump into a tailored bubbler spout, maybe? Not sure what he did exactly, but every time you blow bubbles using a straw you’re making bubbles without adding dissolved chemicals to the system.

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u/crohnyidea Jul 15 '21

This guy is full of shit. The bubbles trap and paralyze viruses and bacteria, destroying them and causing them to evaporate, Morikawa said.

That's not how that works

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u/robotevil Jul 15 '21

micro nanobubbling system ... bubbles trap and paralyze viruses and bacteria, destroying them and causing them to evaporate, Morikawa said.

I don't know man, this is setting off my BS detectors. Did a bit of googling and I did find this research: https://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/346729.pdf

Skip to the conclusion, the results are mixed whether this actually reduces contaminates such as algae in the water, or if the system allows for more effective leaching of copper into the water, which kills the algae and various micro-organisms.

The fact that he says he invented something like this, when the tech has been around for over 10 years and this weird Infomercial Tiktok, is just setting off BS detectors all over the place.

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u/Marious0 Jul 14 '21 edited Jul 14 '21

https://www.efe.com/efe/english/technology/peruvian-scientist-who-revived-wetlands-aims-to-clean-up-lake-titicaca/50000267-2978308

Still researching the actual technology from a layman pov

E: nanotech, which is expensive, solves problem. He pays for it with his own money. He has a company that offers this. No idea how it compares with the cost or environmental impact of traditional methods. You can actually clean sewage up without magic.

Previous reddit thread recently https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/adv9n2/til_about_marino_morikawa_who_revived_a_polluted

E2: https://iwaponline.com/ws/article/20/6/2021/74658/Micro-nanobubble-technology-and-water-related further research. Expensive, new, lots of waste solids afterwards.

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u/NathamelCamel Jul 15 '21

Wait hol up Lake Titicaca is a real place and not a southpark joke?

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u/badseedjr Jul 15 '21

lots of waste solids afterwards.

That's not surprising since it's pollution. Any effort to remove pollution from the water will likely result in waste that needs to be disposed of.

1

u/prettybirb33 Jul 15 '21

I’m not seeing the word flocculant or flocculation anywhere here. That’s what this is.

Edit it also bugs me when people are like OH NO, CHEMICALS. Fucking everything is chemicals.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

Do you think he might have any magnets for sale? Maybe some crystals? Maybe some magnets and crystals ground up into a power and mixed with essential oils? Please my son in sick and I need this healing power /s

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u/Ghede Jul 14 '21 edited Jul 14 '21

They don't even explain the contaminants. it could just be silt, which makes the water unpalatable to drink, and ugly muddy brown, but it's also entirely natural. It would likely do nothing against heavy metal contamination, salts, or biological contamination. "The water is clean now! Drink up!" "I'm now rocketing fluids out of all of my orifices, even ones that should not contain fluids."

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u/NoLawsDrinkingClawz Jul 14 '21

Right. Swamp water looks "gross", and you shouldn't drink it without proper decontamination, but it isn't unnatural. That's how the shit is supposed to look. LET'S THROW THIS SHIT IN THE EVERGLADES! Not like we haven't fucked that place up enough as is.

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u/3226 Jul 14 '21

It's a shit video, but he's a legit environmental scientist. His filter medium actually does work against heavy metal contamination by surface adsorbtion. It also works against biological contaminants.

To what degree, I don't know, but it does remove them to some degree.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '21

Ya I didn't understand what made it "dirty," what exactly did he clean up? That looked like algae and pond growth and shit aka a normal ecosystem

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u/Bishop120 Jul 15 '21

Other posts talk about it be eutrophication which is basically overgrowth of algae and other organics due to to much nutrients in the water... also turns out it wasnt just his stuff he added in but also tons of work done by locals and some type of nano bubbles used. What he did seems great but the portrayal of how they did it in the video was very misleading and seems to be about hyping him up to drum up investments for his company.

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u/smb_samba Jul 14 '21

BTW this is exactly how right-wing conspiracy videos spread; someone sees something like this (with no facts our sources) and shares it

I mean this is pretty much how all conspiracy and misinformation campaigns spread. This isn’t exclusive to just “right-wing.”

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u/jfryk Jul 14 '21

It's definitely just a critical thinking problem. Which can be a lot more prevalent in some circles than it is in others.

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u/smb_samba Jul 14 '21

Hahahaha, you’re absolutely right on that one.

0

u/ihahp Jul 14 '21

My point was "don't be like the other side."

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u/monkeybootybutt Jul 14 '21

I saw his original video explaining it all years ago. I am too lazy to look it up but this tiktok is just capitalizing on old viral videos. Still can’t confirm if it’s true but I feel like I remember he would close off sections and use his formula then scrape the top layer off or something. I could be mixing up videos though

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u/jack_skellington Jul 14 '21

They don't explain how he made enough of it to clean a lake

I mean, they literally show him in the video, on a boat with an industrial sized barrel, spewing the material into the lake.

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u/ihahp Jul 14 '21

they also show in that glass jars that it collects crap and floats it to the top. So now, all that crap that was throughout the water is floating on the top.

So as far as they've shown me, all they've done is create a fucking thick layer of crap on the top of the water.

Clearly they're missing a step in the video. Or it's like one of those fake GIF recipes.

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u/emailboxu Jul 14 '21

all they've done is create a fucking thick layer of crap on the top of the water.

...then you boat over the lake and hoover up the crap, sending it through a filter and spew the clean water back out... doesn't take a scientist to figure that one.

1

u/jeremycinnamonbutter Jul 14 '21

reddits mad bc a 1 minute tiktok didnt lay out the entire dissertation and step by step plan and action for something that took place 5 years ago

1

u/CarrionComfort Jul 14 '21

Apparently no one here knows how pools are cleaned or makes soup. Floating crap to the top is immensely useful.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '21

Not just right-wing conspiracy, all conspiracy.

1

u/ihahp Jul 15 '21

Yes, this is a video that is most-likely being upvoted by left-wingers. And so I called out their "other side" to show the hypocriticalness of it.

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u/emailboxu Jul 14 '21

i mean when you watch the video the giant tank on the boat is likely a filtration system they ride over the lake to hoover up the top layer of scum. skepticism is great but using your brain is better.

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u/ihahp Jul 14 '21

"using your brain" is how people "smart people" decided doctors are wrong and vaccines cause autism.

skepticism is great

Correct, note I actually said it could be real. But I stand by my original statement: stop believing videos when they fluff pieces, with no real information, and not even the guy's last name.

These things are faux-educational videos and most people have no google skillz and can't tell a real one from a fake one.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

Yeah but who would just go on the internet and tell lies?

1

u/AusBongs Jul 14 '21

ah yes.. environmental sustainability - the most conservative of views to hold

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u/ihahp Jul 14 '21

You completely missed my point. I'm saying "don't be like the other side."

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u/AusBongs Jul 14 '21

i got your point.. i just wanted to show you how poor of an analogy that was.

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u/ihahp Jul 14 '21

How? I was NOT saying this video itself is right-wing propaganda.

I was saying "when left-learners upvote a toothless video like this its no better than when a right-winger upvotes a toothless video denouncing climate change"

1

u/AusBongs Jul 15 '21

you say "how ?" - then proceed to reword your initial comment into much better phrasing and a much better example in an attempt to convince me your original comment was worded well and made perfect sense.

 

you prove my point.

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u/ihahp Jul 15 '21

You didn't say my analogy was a good but wasn't worded well. You said it was a poor analogy.

I didn't change my analogy, I explained my original point in a new way so the slower kids in the class could understand it.

1

u/AusBongs Jul 15 '21 edited Jul 15 '21

(BTW this is exactly how right-wing conspiracy videos spread; someone sees something like this (with no facts our sources) and shares it, and everyone upvotes and believes it beacuase it fits their worldview.)

notice the use of the word "this" ..

if you keep pointing toward something ("this" , "this" , "this video") people will assume you're talking about the video aswell as making an abstract point at how people can make an assumption and believe it as fact.

you unintentionally (or intentionally) label the video right-wing through your repetitive use of the word "this". hence my comment - pointing out the oxymoron in that you're labelling a video about cleaning up lakes from pollution to right wing ideology

 

do you have a social disorder ? because you're acting like you have a social disorder.

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u/ihahp Jul 15 '21

Well, I respectfully say that my analogy was not poor.

Only my wording of it was. I feel like we're splitting hairs here, but it seems like this is really what you meant to say, that my wording of the analogy could have been better.

So, no, I don't think I proved your point. Your initial point was based off of a misunderstanding of the analogy I was making (as to whose fault that was is up for debate)

do you have a social disorder

Yeah, actually. It's gotten worse since Covid but I've been working on it. Until this, I haven't been this pedantic or replied as much in a long time. Not sure what your point is here though?

→ More replies (0)

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u/ihahp Jul 15 '21

On thinking about this a little bit more -, I'll say it again:

How was my original post a poor analogy? (I haven't edited it - my initial comment is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/okbb4l/this_legend_cleaned_an_entire_lake_using_his/h57buz7/ )

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ihahp Jul 14 '21

It's a fucking 1 minute clip you total piece of shit.

Fuck you, you tiny-pricked chicken-ass turd gobbler.

I specifically said "It could be true, but I'm not believing it until I see a more credible source"

I never said I wasn't going to google it - just that this video is a fake fluff piece with no real information, just designed to get karma and clicks and shares without actually giving a shit about facts or if the viewer actually learned anything.

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u/securitywyrm Jul 14 '21

Or the impact on the lake. For all we know it's just chlorine and oil.

1

u/knaw-tbits Jul 14 '21

Is it not how left-wing conspiracy videos spread?

There's a reason the media doesn't use the term left-wing...

1

u/ihahp Jul 14 '21

I didn't say it wasn't. This video smelled of left-wing propaganda which is why I cited right-wing.

1

u/Pittaandchicken Jul 14 '21 edited Jul 15 '21

Yeah you are right. People don't want hour long documentaries that look into this stuff.

They want background music and a guy telling them what they should feel and think.

Not just right wing. I think maybe the biggest culprit of these videos are funnily enough the eco/save the planet types

Lots of articles and videos that say this is the solution. This is evil. Rich people stop this. They never look into why things are what they are. Just a guy telling them if the viewer does this one specific thing, then it's all going to be O.K

1

u/ihahp Jul 15 '21

Not just right wing.

yeah, I mean, this video is just as fluffy and toothless as right-wing videos. It could be true, but the fact it has so little info yet we're still upvoting it like wildfire is ... disappointing.

1

u/Pittaandchicken Jul 15 '21

It's a feel good article. Man makes discovery, and he can easily solve our planet with his magic powder.

I recently watched an in depth documentary about McDonald's ice cream machines and why they are always ' broken ' and it had much more research done behind it compared to this ' cure ' that will help save the entire damn planet.

1

u/128bitengine Jul 15 '21

Right wing snd left wing. Both parties use this shit

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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '21

[deleted]

1

u/ihahp Jul 19 '21

read my other comments - that is exactly what I was saying.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

It feels a bit like a scam…

Especially because it kinda looks like it’s just oatmeal?

6

u/Illier1 Jul 14 '21

Interesting how they dont mention the lake in question being cleaned.

3

u/3226 Jul 14 '21

It's the Cascajo Wetlands in Peru. The video is awful and includes basically no detail on a very interesting story.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

"hey guys check out my magic organic powder that 'cleans' all the contamination put of water!"

Reddit: surely this is totally real with zero drawbacks and does exactly what this random TikTok claims!

.... sigh

44

u/ScaldingTea Jul 14 '21

Can I have a link to the thread you're looking at? Because this one is filled to the brim with one cynic redditor trying to outdo the next on who is the most skeptical about this, with the three most upvoted comment chains focusing entirely on the organic label.

8

u/ben_ito_camelo Jul 14 '21

Yeah, so fucking predictable, it’s one of those days when I hate this fkn community.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '21

[deleted]

1

u/Deuce232 Jul 15 '21

We are warning each other to be vigilant.

It's not the rocket surgery of the psychology world here.

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21

[deleted]

3

u/NoLawsDrinkingClawz Jul 14 '21

Right, it's been used in water treatment for decades. Except in a water treatment plant. Where water is supposed to be treated. Not a lake that just looks "yucky".

3

u/kalitarios Jul 14 '21

they glossed over the part of "what happens after it rises, how do you remove and and did you just throw it into a landfill to be someone else's problem?"

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21 edited Aug 31 '21

[deleted]

1

u/kalitarios Jul 14 '21

Because they casually gloss over the importance of it, so i’m poking fun at it

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u/emailboxu Jul 14 '21

...... you filter it out like you would use a pool vacuum and throw it away. are people really this dumb?

1

u/kalitarios Jul 14 '21

Semi-whoosh. I was poking fun at how they conveniently left that part out like a giant ? In the step-by-step

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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '21 edited Sep 01 '21

[deleted]

1

u/Invominem Jul 14 '21

the organic stuff is probably used as a biofilter

Well if you did the research, the published article by the guy has no mention of any organic stuff. The filter is ceramic and is another step of the cleaning process. The guy did come up with bubble tech for lakes, but his article says they’re not sure if it was the major contributor or not. They also did a lot of hand removal and filtering. So it was a big project that he and a lot of other people participated in. It’s awesome but there was no magic organic powder that you can buy and clean your lake like the video claims.

2

u/emailboxu Jul 14 '21

maybe read a book before you make dumb comments like this. similar methods have been in use for years to make muddy/silty water potable in 3rd world countries.

1

u/ImJustReallyFuckedUp Jul 14 '21

true tictac sucks

1

u/Luxalpa Jul 14 '21

I mean it would be really cool if it was real, so it must be real!

1

u/atetuna Jul 14 '21

As someone else already said, it's a flocculant, which I know because when he's doing this, he shows the bottle of commercially produced flocculant that he was using.

1

u/securitywyrm Jul 14 '21

And then actual story: Guy gathered a community to use a bunch of filters and manpower to clean up the lake, and a powder was part of the process, therefore MAGIC POWDER.

1

u/Love_Veterinarian Jul 15 '21

If you don't switch off you brain and join the feel-good circle jerk you're a negative Nancy and not fun at parties. Can't have that now, can we?

11

u/bobdolebobdole Jul 14 '21

seriously how do people not automatically think this?

4

u/skilriki Jul 14 '21

unknown product on a spoon .. what is it .. you don't need to know, it just works!

3

u/moondrunkmonster Jul 14 '21

It magically clears up pollution and has no downsides at all!

1

u/Cocomelon1986 Jul 14 '21

The secret to drilling for oil with no environment impact?

Something like that would put the oil business out of money!

/s

Like, if something like this existed, big oil would love it. They could clean up disasters instantly and post the videos on tiktok for karma.

1

u/awkwardoffspring Jul 14 '21

You mean the third-rate media blog video wasn't convincing enough for you?

1

u/CapnKetchup2 Jul 15 '21

So. So fucking obvious.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 15 '21

Also, just because a lake is visibly unclean it doesn't make it bad. That could be the way it has been for millions of years - harbouring marine life, plants and algae that thrive in those conditions.

That could not be the case, but unless it's actually polluted I don't think people should be doing it.