Saltwater Changes & Cesspools

cm11599ps

cm11599ps

New member
On my 55 galon fresh tank I simply hooked a python water changer to my sink to do water changes. Due to a high bioload I was doing 50% about every week. That's around 25 gallons of tank water plus whatever was needed from the faucet to help with the siphon. I'm sure it's 50+ gallons totalled down the drain just for a water change.

I'm assuming I won't have to do nearly as many water changes now due to decreased bioload and all, but doing a saltwater change raises some questions.

We've been in our house for close to 3 years now with 4 people living in it. So far, no problems. Whenever we have a larger outdoor party with 20+ people we always rent a porta potty for good measure. Guys in there, girls in this house.

Are there any adverse effects on my cesspool if I dump a few gallons of saltwater down the drain. I've read people saying that the salt might clog up the soil so as to not let the water penetrate and trickle away. I've also heard that the salt could cause the concrete to weaken.

Thoughts?
 
I forgot to mention that I also heard the salt could kill off the bacteria in the cesspool that help break down waste.
 
CM,

On the fresh water side, I know that wash machine water, is bad for cesspools. Not sure what happens with salt water. I have a dry well for the wash machine.
 
We live in a hi ranch and my wifes parents rent the downstairs part right now. The previous owner setup the lower level as an apartment before he had kids. All we had to do was buy the kitchen stuff and appliances, but all the hookups were there already.

The previous owner built a drywell that the lower level kitchen sink drains into. On the plus side, the washing machine also drains into the drywell instead of our cesspool. We also have a high efficiency washer that uses very little water.

When the entire house becomes ours in a few years then I plan on getting a larger tank and building a separate drywell just for fish stuff. It will be for my water changes and RO/DI waste.

I'm kind of anal about my cesspool. Like I said, we always rent a porta party for larger parties. I'll also try to wait till I hit work to use the bathroom and also hit the bathroom again before coming home from work. We also have an outdoor shower with it's own drywell that I'll use in the summer.

My brother lives a few blocks from me and also has a cesspool. He's been in the house for about 5 years now and has 2 kids under 4 years old old. His washer goes right into his cesspool. I think he's had his pumped 2-3 times already in 5 years. My sister also lives about 5 minutes away and they built a separate drywell just for the washer.

My parents on the other hand are lucky enough to have sewers.
 
It amazes me that in 2010 we still are using cesspolls in Suffolk County. It's not the sticks anymore. Maybe some of the billions of dollars that went to bail out the banks could have been put some people to work and taken Suffolk County out of the dark ages. Just my .02.

More to the point. I always dump my water change water outside just to be on the safe side.
 
I happen to work in the water/wastewater industry. If your cesspool was installed after 1982, as a single-family residence (I'm assuming the apartment was built illegally, or rather not to code) it would be a minimum of 1,000 gals. The standard design rate for a single family home is 300 gallons per day, so you would theoretically have approximately 3.3 days storage in your cesspool. Now, considering how conservative you are with your water usage, I'd say you probably have even more. In any case, the percentage of saltwater to fresh(waste)water in the cesspool is very small. I would venture a guess to say that there is not enough salt in the system to adversely affect the concrete.

Now, as for the maintenance of your cesspool... the solids in the cesspool are more of a detriment to the leaching ability of the soil around the system than anything else. Even though you aren't having any backups of the system, before you have a problem, a good regular maintenance item is to have the cesspool cleaned out on a regular basis (every 2 years, or so, is a good rule-of-thumb).

In response to James983's comment - I'm working on it! haha... but seriously, it takes millions of dollars to sewer even a small area. The Southwest Sewer District (in Babylon, the only real "big" district in Suffolk County) would take BILLIONS of dollars to recreate in today's economy. So, while we're working on sewering small pieces at a time, it is actually cost-prohibitive to sewer all of Suffolk County. Now, Nassau County on the other hand is already something like 99% sewered.
 
I would be concerned with the saltwaters effect on your plumbing. Specifically the black iron pipe that runs to your cesspool.
Probably not good for the cesspool either.
 
In response to James983's comment - I'm working on it! haha... but seriously, it takes millions of dollars to sewer even a small area. The Southwest Sewer District (in Babylon, the only real "big" district in Suffolk County) would take BILLIONS of dollars to recreate in today's economy. So, while we're working on sewering small pieces at a time, it is actually cost-prohibitive to sewer all of Suffolk County. Now, Nassau County on the other hand is already something like 99% sewered.

I don't doubt it, but cesspools are a bit primative don't you think. I know city water was a big deal also, but most of western Suffolk has that now.
 
kilroy217 said:
I happen to work in the water/wastewater industry. If your cesspool was installed after 1982, as a single-family residence (I'm assuming the apartment was built illegally, or rather not to code) it would be a minimum of 1,000 gals.....
Click to expand...

I have no idea what we have for a cesspool other than a general idea where it is. I have no idea how old it is but the house was built in 1962 I believe. For all I know we could have a couple of overturned garbage cans buried in the front lawn. lol

So dumping 25 gallons of SW down the drain once a month shouldn't be a problem?

On the same topic, what are your thoughts about adding something like Rid-X to your cesspool. It's supposed to help the breakdown of waste but I also heard it can kill off the good bacteria that breaks down the waste.
 
What you should be worried about is the antibacterial soap we all use. This stuff kills the bacteria that breaks down the sewage in our cesspools. I doubt you have anything to worry about as far as saltwater goes. But its an interesting question.

Like James I dump the water out in the backyard.
 
Where do you dump the water in the yard? Doesn't it prevent anything from growing there? Doesnt' it leave traces of salt behind?

Forgive a newbie.
 
cm11599ps said:
So dumping 25 gallons of SW down the drain once a month shouldn't be a problem?

On the same topic, what are your thoughts about adding something like Rid-X to your cesspool. It's supposed to help the breakdown of waste but I also heard it can kill off the good bacteria that breaks down the waste.
Click to expand...

No, I don't feel 25 gals a month will do any harm, purely on the basis of the percent of saltwater in the total waste stream. Things like Rid-X don't discriminate - they will kill everything. It's a matter of opinion whether that's a good thing or not. For my taste, I'd rather do regular maintenance, and not use chemicals. But that's just me.
 
Dump mine too. We are lucky enough to have a sewer system here. It is nice not having to worry about a cesspool.
 
I agree, it wont hurt your septic system. If the house had any construction on it after the mid 70's then SCHD probably made them upgrade.
 
Ok, here's something I thought about today. I plan on installing my RO/DI unit in my boiler room on my first floor. I want to pass the waste line through the wall and outside my house. I actually dug 2 drywells in that area in the spring to divert my gutters to and I haven't closed everything up yet. I want to connect the RO waste line to some PVC tubing and drain that into one of the drywells so I can bypass my cesspool.

So the RO unit is in the boiler room and directly above that is my linen closet. I want to run the purified line into the linen closet. My tank is about 20' away from the linen closet across my living room. I'd like to make some kind of quick connect in the linen closet so I can remove the line going from the closet to tank when not in use. That takes care of that.

I also had a crazy idea about water changes. Suppose I ran a 1/2" pvc pipe down my linen closet and out of the house the same way my RO waste is run. When I wanted to change my tank water I could connect a hose from the tank to the PVC pipe in the linen closet, again bypassing cesspool.

It sounds like a good idea in theory but how would I go about creating the siphon? Your thoughts about all of this?
 
Depending on the diameter of the hose, you can usually create a syihon by just putting the tube in front of a powerhead to get the water moving.
 
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