Fish rooms and septic tanks

[jaws7777]

I had the same concerns when we moved to a house with septic. Like others said it really depends on your soil and capacity.

After talking with the septic guy i decided it was safer to just drain the tanks using a pump and pool filter hose.

Honestly wasnt worth the possible headaches

 

[Ulu]

My real concern would be draining any salt water.
I normally drain tankwater on my lawn. But I started my first SW tank & it'll go down the drain.
But I'm in the 'burbs with typical utilities.

 

[PYRU]

My real concern would be draining any salt water.
I normally drain tankwater on my lawn. But I started my first SW tank & it'll go down the drain.
But I'm in the 'burbs with typical utilities.

I drain it where I don't want anything to grow or sacrificial area.

 

[PYRU]

Hello; Yes the extra tank water will progress the same as any other, I think the main question is if the total volume from the entire home will overwhelm the drain field. I have soil with a substantial clay content which takes in water slowly. If I were to overload the field lines the water would likely pool and might even work up to the surface. I have seen this in my neighborhood. The effluent would be mixed with human waste products. My guess is simply pumping the excess tank water out into the yard would be better than this.

Had a long dry spell a few years ago and the only place my grass grew was over the drain field. A nice green patch of grass surrounded by brown grass.

All of our speculation is interesting but may be a mute point if the soil drains well. I lived in NC for a couple of years where the soil was sandy. It could rain big time and 30 minutes later you could not tell because the water drained away quickly. There was a housing boom back then and most new homes had septic fields. The neighborhood had sandy soil but a different sort of sand was hauled in by truckloads to be put around the septic fields. It was code and I guess there was some good reason for the different sort of sand. When I left around the year 2000 there was a big problem around Wilmington NC because too many homes and other buildings had been built and the soil was oversaturated in several places. I do not know what they ever did.

Maybe the OP will be lucky and have soil that perks well.

I was talking about the pathogen deal

 

[skjl47]

I was talking about the pathogen deal

Hello; I have been pouring my tank water on the ground for years. Specifically on some outside plants. I do not know the odds of any tank pathogens making it into local water bodies. I guess it is possible. I do not have big tanks set up any more so the total volume I dump is small.
I am also not sure if running the tank water thru a septic system would change much with regard to pathogens. I guess my hope is any pathogens are not likely to make it thru the soil. Good point you raise tho .

 

[jaws7777]

Charney

Heads up with the potential new house. Make sure the yard is graded properly. Drive by after a decent storm and make sure no water is settling over the leach field.

Learned this the hard way.

 

[duanes]

Where I used to live near Lake Michigan, rain gardens became trendy, even though we were all on municipal sewers, mine was in line after my rain barrels, a sort of dip in the yard where certain vegetation was planted.
I also ran all old tank water thru that planted area to my pond, of course in the dead of winter, i had to adjust water changes to the reality of the situation.

Now where I live, 50 yards from the Pacific, the entire island is on septic tanks, and I run all old fish water thru a fruit and veggie garden.
As far as cooking oils and fats, I sop them all up and use the saturated paper to start the BBQ (I've always hated the taste petroleum charcoal starter fluid imparted), using the paper with olive oil soaked paper in the charcoal starter chimney is a great alternative.

As an aside, using something like Rid-X as a probiotic in the tanks, might in the end also be benificial to the septic system, especially those certain times of year when terrestrial plants are dormant.
The Use of Probiotics in Aquaculture (Read!)