Piperflyer
Gold Member
I keep seeing commercals for septic tank additives to promote a cleaner tank, if there is such a thing. Are these really necessary or should you let the tank work by it self? Any chemists out there.....
Septic Tank Chemistry
- Thread starter Piperflyer
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lilranch2001
Super Member
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I would like to hear the answer to this from an expert as well
powerpace
Platinum Member
Not an expert but: From what I understand you don't need any thing added unless your good bacteria and microbes are damaged. Dumping too many phosphates, kitchen grease, bleach etc, down your drains.
creekbend
Super Star Member
I had out tank pumped around 6 weeks ago. I asked the owner of the septic service the same general question. He told me to flush 2 tablespoons of powdered yeast down the toilet once a month. He had been in business for 28 years. He also added that I should not allow food scraps, grease; etc. to enter the system.
Artisan
Veteran Member
IMO,
The worst thing for a septic tank type of system is chemicals. Bleach is the worst, bleach kills basically every living organism known to man, bleach in your septic kills bacteria, killing bacteria is killing billions and billions and billions of little soldiers whom do nothing all day long but eat each other!
Anti bacterial Soaps, do the same thing. The inside of your sewer and drainage system turns into slime, aliens, gook, youck and it eventually turns to as hard as lightweight concrete. Not all drains can be cabled because of this.
There is a product called BIO CLEAN
Bio Clean is basically good bacteria, you can put it in your mouth and it will not hurt you. I will let the web site I linked to do the selling, if your not convinced call them and ask questions.
I have been selling bio Clean for almost 12 years and no complaints. It is not smoke and mirrors, it can work, but you must STOP the chemicals. If I were to buy an older home I think the first thing I would do is pump the tank and scrap it inside and fill it w/ a fire hose, squiring it clean and pump it and do it AGAIN till I had it as clean as I can, I would put in maybe 300 gallons of as warm of water as I could and dump a few cans of Bio Clean in it and stir...BELIEVE IT.
The worst thing for a septic tank type of system is chemicals. Bleach is the worst, bleach kills basically every living organism known to man, bleach in your septic kills bacteria, killing bacteria is killing billions and billions and billions of little soldiers whom do nothing all day long but eat each other!
Anti bacterial Soaps, do the same thing. The inside of your sewer and drainage system turns into slime, aliens, gook, youck and it eventually turns to as hard as lightweight concrete. Not all drains can be cabled because of this.
There is a product called BIO CLEAN
Bio Clean is basically good bacteria, you can put it in your mouth and it will not hurt you. I will let the web site I linked to do the selling, if your not convinced call them and ask questions.
I have been selling bio Clean for almost 12 years and no complaints. It is not smoke and mirrors, it can work, but you must STOP the chemicals. If I were to buy an older home I think the first thing I would do is pump the tank and scrap it inside and fill it w/ a fire hose, squiring it clean and pump it and do it AGAIN till I had it as clean as I can, I would put in maybe 300 gallons of as warm of water as I could and dump a few cans of Bio Clean in it and stir...BELIEVE IT.
Kays Supply
Veteran Member
As Artisan says, it works. I took over my father-in-laws Bio-Clean sales 30 years ago. He had sold it for probably 30 before that. It has a money back if you are not happy policy. He never paid back a claim, To date I have not either. I use it in my tank. The biggest mistake with it is using too much. It grows once put in use. The warm water method has worked the best for me.
Larry Caldwell
Elite Member
The solids are supposed to stay in the tank, where they can be pumped out and disposed of as septage. If the solids get into the drain field, they will plug it solid and you will end up installing a whole new system. Adding bacteria won't hurt anything, but it won't help either.
Avoid grease and oils, which do not digest, and form the heavy crust on top of the liquid.
It's critical that the baffles are in good shape. The inlet baffles kill the momentum of sewage entering the tank, while the exit baffles skim the grease off the top and only allow liquids into the drain field.
How long your tank can go between pumping depends on what you put into it. Some plants have a high silica content, and leave a lot of sludge. Food scraps don't digest well, though there are garbage disposals with enzyme reservoirs designed to help that along. Smaller tanks or tanks with heavier usage will need to be pumped more often.
Avoid using a septic tank as an RV dump station. The RV chemicals will harm it, and the massive rush of water will overwhelm the baffles. For a similar reason, low flush toilets and front loading washing machines are a good idea. The less water you push through a septic tank, the longer the solids get to settle out.
Some people will brag about how long they have gone without pumping their septic tank. That works fine until it doesn't, and they end up buying a whole new system.
Avoid grease and oils, which do not digest, and form the heavy crust on top of the liquid.
It's critical that the baffles are in good shape. The inlet baffles kill the momentum of sewage entering the tank, while the exit baffles skim the grease off the top and only allow liquids into the drain field.
How long your tank can go between pumping depends on what you put into it. Some plants have a high silica content, and leave a lot of sludge. Food scraps don't digest well, though there are garbage disposals with enzyme reservoirs designed to help that along. Smaller tanks or tanks with heavier usage will need to be pumped more often.
Avoid using a septic tank as an RV dump station. The RV chemicals will harm it, and the massive rush of water will overwhelm the baffles. For a similar reason, low flush toilets and front loading washing machines are a good idea. The less water you push through a septic tank, the longer the solids get to settle out.
Some people will brag about how long they have gone without pumping their septic tank. That works fine until it doesn't, and they end up buying a whole new system.
Egon
Epic Contributor
TripleR
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I have been told by septic tank people and plumbers, "yeah, it's great" or "waste of money". We don't use any and have the tank pumped every three years.
They were all pretty consistent about recommending against detergents etc., but what are you going to do?
They were all pretty consistent about recommending against detergents etc., but what are you going to do?
aczlan
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