black water tank treatments

Well, I live full-time in my 32 foot Wanderer Wagon in an RV park in Arizona. I've been here a little over a year. I had issues with the tank plugging up and had to manually remove TP from the bottom of the tank. Real fun job.

The guys on either side told me to use RidX and a septic safe TP. So, after getting the tank emptied, I used a box of it and IT WORKED GREAT! There is only me so I have to dump about every two weeks. I clearly notice the difference--- TP and other waste is broken down. The liquid coming out of the tank is a much different color than before RidX. Actually, I mostly use generic RidX from Dollar General as it's half the price of the brand name and works just as well.

d1h wrote:
Don't you need some sort of enzymes to break down the waste and toilet paper? Sort of the same principle as to why you put rid x in your septic tank at home.

nope. first most any toilet paper will disinegrate by itself in water. Not even a need for "RV" toilet paper IMHO. We've used Costco TP in the house and trailer for over a decade, never an issue. I have a short clear section on the macerator (dump at home) and I've never seen a piece of toilet paper enter the macerator that was more than maybe a few inches square. poof it's gone.

Next, you will be flushing all the stuff out, you don't need to turn it into something else. The waste will come out with the other fluids, especially if you have a inlet for a tank rinser.

Don't you need some sort of enzymes to break down the waste and toilet paper? Sort of the same principle as to why you put rid x in your septic tank at home.

When staying put for a while, I drop a pill for smell issues. Always “breaks up” on the drive to the dump.

Been using 1 cup Calgon, 1/2 cup laundry soap (about every third dump) for two decades and have had great success. Sensors have even worked great.

scout dad wrote:
Hello,
I am wondering how many of you use some sort of chemicals in your black tank? Do you think it helps with breakdown of stuff in tank?
I am NOT looking for TP suggestions or anything like that . I know use plenty of water. I am just wanted to see how many people actually uses them?

happy Camping

Nope, no chemicals.

Tank "treatments" in reality are only "deodorants" to cover or mask the smell. They do not break down anything and any marketing hype that says otherwise is nothing more than snake oil sales and marketing stuff.

Your tanks are "holding tanks", not septic systems, two completely different functions.

Holding tanks do not break down or digest material, they hold the material until you can dump it.

Septic systems do breakdown and digest material, solids not digest-able fall to the bottom, digestable materials get broke down into smaller particles and those flow out with excess water to the septic field. And no, you do not need to add any special treatments to septic systems either. They self start the process from everything that is already present in the waste. Solids that do not digest eventually must be pumped out by a honey dipper.

Water is all you need to "break down" the material into a easy to dump material, in some respects water acts as a "solvent", the more water you add, the better everything in the tank will thin down.

Before dumping the black tank before storing trailer, I fill it up to 3/4 tank with water, then dump. Close valve, add some Dawn dish detergent, fill tank halfway then dump again. close and finish with grey water tank.

Cheap laundry detergent pods and lots of water. Started using the pods when we got the 5er +decade ago. Good for klutzy me, nothing to spill.
Edit - Also put one down the greywater too.

We usually throw a pod of laundry detergent down the toilet when we set out on a trip, add a little water and let it do its thing while we drive. Detergents are polar and will work to dislodge anything built up on the walls of the tank, and will work to break up any solids in the water. I hear the full timers using jus water, that's fine. But laundry detergent is cheap, and putting 1 or 2 pods down the toilet is easy. For those of us who's RV's get less constant usage it's probably not a bad idea to use it. It certainly wont hurt anything.

Cheap laundry detergent is all you need, if anything. Like many prior have mentioned, just dump in a cup, drive around to splash it around, then go dump it.

we use cheap laundry liquid detergent, 2 Cups, plus 1 cup of Borax in the black tank and the gray tank and we dump about once a week. works fine for us.