Black tank treatments.

[specta]

Back when i bought my first RV everyone recommended adding Calgon and Camco TST to your black tank.

Do people still recommend adding stuff to their black tank?

Are you adding anything to yours?

[specta]

Ski Pro 3 wrote:
I drop in 2 packets of dishwasher pods. They cut through grease and **** on dishes without making suds and will do the same for the black and gray water tanks. I've never had odors and this seems to break down the turds to slurry.
My brother bought a 5th wheel and said his gray water tank drainage was stinking pretty well and asked what to do. I recommended 2 of the pods and he said that did the trick. It's cheap. It works. All my sensors for fluid levels stay clean and work.

Thanks, I like this.

[Ski_Pro_3]

I drop in 2 packets of dishwasher pods. They cut through grease and **** on dishes without making suds and will do the same for the black and gray water tanks. I've never had odors and this seems to break down the turds to slurry.
My brother bought a 5th wheel and said his gray water tank drainage was stinking pretty well and asked what to do. I recommended 2 of the pods and he said that did the trick. It's cheap. It works. All my sensors for fluid levels stay clean and work.

[TxGearhead]

Downey Fabric softener and liquid Dawn.

[n0arp]

We usually don't add anything to our tanks - if they begin to smell we'll add a dose of Happy Camper, which may be once a year or two. We're full-timers, so our rigs get a lot of use.

We have an Air Head composting toilet in our truck camper, so the truck camper only has grey tanks. We still have conventional black tanks in our fifth wheel (two of them, one for each bathroom). I don't think we've ever had a black tank smell, and grey generally smells worse, despite that most would assume the opposite. I think it's because of the rotting food that collects in the galley tanks.

Anyway, no need to add anything to the tanks unless they have an odor, and if they have an odor, you might want to look at the venting/trap situation instead of trying to neutralize the smell with chemicals.

[lenr]

Unique Camping + Marine RV Holding Tank Treatment. Works great. It's good bacteria that breaks down poop and paper. We use Charmin with no trouble. They also make a poop pyramid breakdown product and a black tank sensor cleaner. Most of the other products kill the bacteria that makes the odor. This stuff keeps that kind from developing in the first place. You can't mix it with bacteria killing products. We use nothing else and have no odor.

[mbloof]

+1 for AquaKem. Kinda hard to find the original formulation but still good stuff.


- Mark0.

[scbwr]

We've used Happy Camper Tank Treatment for many years and it works well. But, the black and gray tank sensors on our MH haven't worked since we bought it in 2018 and I haven't found any tank sensor cleaning product that has worked....but it's no problem not having them.

[greenno]

I use the same additives as most of you guys do but I also do something a bit different too. If you ever get bogus readings from your tank level gauge, I know hard to rely on them in the first place but every season I add 5 gallons of H2o directly into the tank via the head and also pour in 50lbs of ice cubes and take it for a short drive. Then I dump the tank and almost anything that was sticking to the insides of the tank are GONE and any smell is also reduced.

[magic43]

Us either so we will continue to use Thetford Aqua-Kem.

[jimh406]

I think it’s a question on what odors you want to smell. If you want to smell the raw poop, go for it. We don’t.

[Kayteg1]

That might be new to this post, but S**t stinks and no matter how many perfumes you dump in it, it is still S**t.
The deal is to have good vent that takes stink above the roof.
It is common that vent pipes extend few inches inside the tank and when the S.. level comes above the end, the only way stink can go is inside.
That's why smart owners check those things and do harpooning when necessary.
Years ago I could also buy Venturi-type roof vent ends, who would make vacuum in the tank, preventing the stink from entering the interior.

[specta]

Lots of good posts, thanks.

I don't add anything to mine either but I did back when I bought my first RV.

I was told in another forum that a bottle of hydrogen peroxide will kill the smell.

[ticki2]

Neither do I

[mountainkowboy]

Never use anything in ours....