Effect of salt water aquariums on septic systems?
- Thread starter Highside
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918ReefCpl
Member
depends how much other grey/black water is going into the tank to dilute the 10 gal of salt water....you could upset the biological chemistry in the septic tank - do you get it pumped out annually or additives (bacteria etc)? If you dump it into the outside, the salt will eventually build up unless you have enough rainfall to leach the salts farther into the ground - usually causes grass to turn brown as we had a salt water pool (no chlorine) and backwashed into the backyard and where the drain from the pool hose was the grass hasnt grown back yet...
Lint_Licker
In Memoriam
dump it down your driveway and around the end of your driveway. Salty driveway and driveway entrance=no ice 
Pickupman66
New member
that is a big no no on the salt in the septic. If not greatly diluted with other fresh water you will kill all the bacteria in the tank that is used to disolve and break down the solids in the tank. IT is not that you are just doing 10 gallons per week, but 10 gallons in a very potent concentratin over about a 3 minute time span on a weekly basis that gets you in trouble. If you are rural, andhave a "thicket" of trees, I would dump in there or in the culvert.
fallinapart
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11306730#post11306730 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NeveSSL
I don't know about you all, but I urinate 10 gallons a week.
Brandon
Information Overload!
Fishboy42
Premium Member
I hope not all at once?!
When I was growing clowns at the house, I poured about 100-200g of saltwater a week into our septic system with no problems, and I still dump a lot of saltwater down the drain for quarantine/personal tanks. But...since it was/is so regular, I figure that we have a brackish community of decomposers living in there...
I don't know if I could recommend it, but with the amount of saltwater I was putting down there, one would think that if it was bad for septic tanks, we would have had some issues. The grass over the drainfield grew really well during that time as well
Matt
We do have an extra-large tank and drainfield though; you know how much we ETRC'ers like to eat
waynesworld
Premium Member
Well I dump mine outside and never have any problem with grass growing if I had a nice yard I would put it in the driveway if it is gravel. I use to live in MN and they dump salt on the roads all the time in the winter.
MGM_
New member
Softeners discharge brine directly to septics. Typically 40-70 gallons per regen. I would limit the quantities discharged at one time but normal water changes should have minimal effect.
Researchers from NSF found that brine wastes had no negative effects on the bacterial population living in the aerobic treatment tank, even when the system was loaded with twice the normal amount of brine. The tests determined that water softener wastes actually help with treatment processes. WQA's final report states that the wastewater has "œa beneficial influence on a septic tank system by stimulating biological action in the septic tank and caused no operational problems in the typical anaerobic or the new aerobic septic tanks." In other words, the researchers in this study found that microorganisms living and working in a home aerobic treatment system are not harmed by water softener salts.
Researchers also found that the additional amount of water discharged to a treatment tank during the regeneration process had no negative impact. The question concerned whether the volume and flow rate of the regeneration brine might overload the system and cause carry over of solids into the drainfield. The study found that the volume of water discharged was comparable to or less than that from many automatic washing machines and other household appliances. Researchers also found that the wastewater flowed into the treatment tank slowly enough so that it caused minimal disturbance.
http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/gndwater/pr...er Use Raises Questions for System Owners.htm
Researchers from NSF found that brine wastes had no negative effects on the bacterial population living in the aerobic treatment tank, even when the system was loaded with twice the normal amount of brine. The tests determined that water softener wastes actually help with treatment processes. WQA's final report states that the wastewater has "œa beneficial influence on a septic tank system by stimulating biological action in the septic tank and caused no operational problems in the typical anaerobic or the new aerobic septic tanks." In other words, the researchers in this study found that microorganisms living and working in a home aerobic treatment system are not harmed by water softener salts.
Researchers also found that the additional amount of water discharged to a treatment tank during the regeneration process had no negative impact. The question concerned whether the volume and flow rate of the regeneration brine might overload the system and cause carry over of solids into the drainfield. The study found that the volume of water discharged was comparable to or less than that from many automatic washing machines and other household appliances. Researchers also found that the wastewater flowed into the treatment tank slowly enough so that it caused minimal disturbance.
http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/gndwater/pr...er Use Raises Questions for System Owners.htm
poolkeeper1
New member
Who dug this old thread up? Haven't seen a lot of those people lately!
Bill
Bill
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