brick-brothers
Active Member
For those Reefers that has a Septic Tank. When you do your water changes, do you flush the saltwater down the drain? Or do you dispose of it another way?
Septic Tank
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homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
I throw it on my stone driveway to keep the weeds at bay. Occasionally I dump it down the drain, but 10G of SW I don't think has hurt my septic tank one bit.
The 10G once a week or so in a several thousand gallon system will not disrupt to much. 1 shower a day should dilute it enough to not be a factor.
The 10G once a week or so in a several thousand gallon system will not disrupt to much. 1 shower a day should dilute it enough to not be a factor.
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brick-brothers
Active Member
Ok good to know. And I do have some weeds I need to control myself. Thanks for the imput
homer1475
Figuring out the hobby one coral at a time.
Being in Brooklyn, aren't you on the citys septic system, and not a septic tank?(Yes I live in NY, but many, many hours away from the city so I truly have no idea).
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brick-brothers
Active Member
Na I haven't updated my profile. I'm move to PA. Living on well water and septic tank. A whole different ball game for me now
What's up man! Long time. I used to do that until I had to pump it out. My waste water I have run outside to the flower garden and the water changes I built a drain line that connects to a garden hose on a hose reel and stretch it down the driveway to the gutter. it runs down to the storm drain. Being doing that a few years now.
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brick-brothers
Active Member
What's up bro. Yea I'm living in the burbs now. Got my tank up and running going through the cycling stage. I started doing the water changes and totally forgot that I'm on a septic tank now, lol. First it was the well water now having to change my ways how I do my water changes.
ca1ore
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I've been putting OSW into my septic tank for over 20 years. I keep asking my septic guy if he sees any unusual erosion and he says no. I think that dilution with regular house water that goes through the system largely allays any concerns. Frankly, I worry more about the while house water softener.
92Miata
Valuable Member
My septic tank is 1000 gallons. 995 gallons of 1.000 and 5 gallons of 1.026 = 1000 gallons of 1.00013. IE, its not worth worrying about.
My house was built in'90 - with a water softener dumping its effluent into the septic. We live in the Chesepeake Bay watershed - and state mandates pretty frequent septic inspections. 30 year old equipment looks fine. The amount of softener salt I go through is an order of magnitude higher than the level of reef salt.
My house was built in'90 - with a water softener dumping its effluent into the septic. We live in the Chesepeake Bay watershed - and state mandates pretty frequent septic inspections. 30 year old equipment looks fine. The amount of softener salt I go through is an order of magnitude higher than the level of reef salt.
i think the septic question has the same answer as the "do you use tap water" question...different areas of the country have various soil conditions and could be affected differently....i have a friend in the poconos and the ground there was so rocky soil had to be trucked in to build an above ground septic mound....on long island the soil was so sandy all you had was basically a brick drywell with holes in the sides and no leach field...where i am now its all clay and it needs about 1200 square feet of open bottom tunnels in the leach field to try to get water to soak into the ground....salt may affect the permeability of stuff that isnt very permeable in the first place
mfinn
likes zoanthids
This question comes up frequently and I always see people who claim they know that it will wreck your septic tank and drain field, but I have been in my current house for just short of 30 years and have been dumping my water change water into the septic tank the entire time.
For nearly 20 years it was 200+ gallons a month. The last 10 or so maybe around 80-100 gallons a month
I have asked the guys who have pumped the tank to inspect it for salt damage and they always tell me they see nothing out of the ordinary.
My grass still grows green ( when it rains, because I don't water much in the summer) spring, fall and winter, in the area of the drain field.
For nearly 20 years it was 200+ gallons a month. The last 10 or so maybe around 80-100 gallons a month
I have asked the guys who have pumped the tank to inspect it for salt damage and they always tell me they see nothing out of the ordinary.
My grass still grows green ( when it rains, because I don't water much in the summer) spring, fall and winter, in the area of the drain field.
I used the put it all down the drain. Then, I found out that pond had a salinity of about 1.012 after many, many years, so I got out the water pump and pumped it nearly empty and then filled it back up from the stream nearby... bit water change. The lillies, frogs, fish, etc. were much happier.
The issue is not really the septic system, but the accumulation of salts in/near the field or pond.
The issue is not really the septic system, but the accumulation of salts in/near the field or pond.
fish farmer
2500 Club Member
I toss my waste water in the yard. I'm usually siphoning stuff like sand, shells and little bits of rock which I don't want going into my house plumbing.
