The present study reports the removal of Ca (II), Cr (III), Mg (II) ions from aqueous solution using 3D-porous nickel films (3DNFs) as a novel adsorbent material prepared by hydrogen bubble dynamic template (HBDT) method at room temperature. The structure morphology and the phase constitution of 3DNFs were characterized by FESEM, EDS and XRD. Adsorption process of Ca (II), Cr (III), Mg (II) ions was fast as the equilibrium was established within 30 min, and the maximum adsorption at equilibrium was 44.1 mg/g, 46.4 mg/g and 32.7 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption kinetics well fitted using a pseudo second-order kinetic model. The adsorption isotherm data of all the three metals fit well the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm model. It was found out that kinetics of adsorption varies with initial concentration of metal ions. Thermodynamic parameters (i.e., the standard Gibbs free energies (Delta G), enthalpy change (Delta H), standard entropy change (Delta S)) were also evaluated. Thermodynamic analysis indicated that a high temperature is favored for the adsorption of metal ions by 3DNFs. These results suggest that 3DNFs have good potential application in effective adsorption of metal ions with satisfactory results. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.