Hi, I am new to this forum. Right up front let me tell you that I own a "high quality" ionic footbath and have done a total of around 800 footbaths. 400 or so between my wife and I and the rest on others. Full disclosure: I have sold a number of units as a distributor just to let you know. No advertising, I promise. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Maybe I can shed a little light on my and my manufacture's take on the water colors.
I do not for a minute think that the color of the water has much to say about who is in it. If a person affects the color, then it's way down the line of probabilities. I will say that almost all the time, when someone takes a footbath, there is usually a chlorine or a yeast or even a combination of the two smells. I know what your thinking. I have run the footbath many times without anyone in it, and without fail, I cannot smell either smell. A few times with other people, the smell has been so strong, I almost can't stomach it.
Many people after getting a footbath from us have reported significant energy improvement for the next few days. I had one gentleman that 3 months before I saw him had his foot crushed with 3000lbs of roof truses. He had a large open wound under his foot and a half dollar size open wound on the end of his heel. When they took off his bandage off the heel, blood started dripping out at around 1 drop or better per second. His foot was dying and every week the doc would have to scrape out dead tissue and infection from the wounds. Also, when I went to their house to give them a footbath, I observed that from about 8" below his knee all the way to the tip of his toes it was a very dark purple! I then gave him a footbath and he noticed nothing too unusual. After I cleaned up the bath and put it away, I turned around to face him. His girlfriend had bandaged him up and put him back in his hospital bed (in his living room). I took one look at his bad foot and gasped. All I could see that was not bandaged was his 5 toes and they were exactly the same healthy color as his good foot! Needless to say, they bought a footbath from me and he used it every day for maybe 1 1/2 months and then tried going every other day. Well, several days after the first bath, he went into the doc and the doc was totally amazed. There was no dead tissue or infection to scrape out! In fact, he no longer had to scrape anything out and after a week or two, new tissue started forming inside the wounds. After 2 or more months (not sure exactly) the wounds had totally closed and they were scheduling physical therapy for him! He is now done with therapy and except for a minor limip, he is totally healed! Oh, I forgot to mention that they only called me after the second time the doc insisted that he needed to have his foot amputated!
I do have a number of amazing stories plus stories of our manufacture. But I can say one thing. That is testing and studies are helpful of course, but nobody will tell that man who almost lost his foot that ionic footbaths are a scam. Also, I should mention that even though I encouraged them to suppliment their minerals, they didn't really do much to my knowledge. Unfortunately, even though I tell people that, they still seem to get good results without taking more minerals. Of course they should suppliment, but I really don't think that the benefit only comes from taking more minerals. Too much experience for me to go along with that line of reasoning.
Also, I don't sell the Q2, but Terry Skrinjar is the original inventor of the concept itself and designed the Q2. There is a website that contains many studies, as that site has the most solid evidence (studies) of any site on the web. But one page in particular has a study that showed the body was releasing heavy metals into the footbath water. It's at this site:
http://webdeb.com/q-machine/testimonial.htm
Just look down to the lower left and click on "other anedotal reports." There is a wealth of useful information on that site (webdeb.com) for those of you that want solid information. I do know that they used the Q2 for their heavy metal experiments which is generally considered among the best machines out there today.
One other comment. I did learn from those people that most of the detoxing taking place is not happening while in the footbath. Most of it is taking place in the next 2 or 3 days after through the normal elimination channels your body uses.
Hope this helps.