Septic tank maintenance

August 22nd, 2012:

Septic sludge product

Your septic expert just arrived to orient you about your new septic system. It was a new learning opportunity for you because it was your first time to own your own home and your own septic. Years back, you shared your space with strangers in your apartment building. You didn’t really care about the septic system because you only had an apartment unit to rent. It was the landlady’s problem when it concerned the septic. When it was time for you to get a place of your own, you wanted everything to be correctly done. You knew that there would be expenses and you wanted money to be well-spent. The septic expert prepared flyers and modules for you to read after the orientation. You wanted the hard copy because of your busy schedule as well. You wouldn’t want to forget a thing especially the septic sludge product.

The septic system has one vital thing that will either make or break the entire process of wastewater treatment—the sludge. The sludge is found at the bottom part of the septic tank. It houses the anaerobic bacteria that break down the solid waste materials that go with the wastewater that enters the system. At normal levels, the sludge would allow a clear effluent to disperse into the drain field. This would not yield any clogging problem or system failure in the future. At highly excessive levels, the sludge will occupy the septic tank space, causing it to overflow. The effluent in the tank will disperse the sludge into the drain field. The drain field will get clogged and this inevitably results to system malfunction and failure. Your house and yard would start having septic water backups and disarming septic odors. The fumes contain toxic gases that would be very unhealthy for you. The septic water itself would be filled with pathogens that will result to diseases of every kind. If ever your system was to suffer from such a septic problem, your septic expert told you about the right septic sludge product that you could consider purchasing.

The right septic sludge product to help restore the normal sludge conditions should be bacterial additives. This type of septic sludge product really eliminated the heavy sludge accumulation throughout the entire system. As this process goes on, the septic odors will also be eliminated. The surrounding soil and water system remain safe when you use the bacterial septic sludge product because it doesn’t have chemical discharges to pollute.

When you choose to use a septic sludge product, keep in mind that you should not depend on it. You should still make efforts to keep the pump out schedules and to properly care for your system by doing the following:

  • Removing structures and vehicles over your septic to avoid soil compaction. Soil compaction crushes the septic components.
  • Relocate the plants that you have over your septic. The invasive roots damage or clog the system.
  • Redirect the gutter so that it would drain away from the system. Water load could be lessened this way.
  • Never dump grease, non-biodegradable materials, antibacterial solutions, and very strong chemicals into the system.

Your septic expert also asked you if anyone in your household was under prescription medications. If this is so, then you would have to subject your septic system to a regular septic treatment. These medications (namely antibiotics) kill off the resident bacteria and increase the sludge levels. Adding more bacteria will enable the system to regain the bacterial population that it loses when the medications are dumped in with the waste.

Septic sludge products should be chosen very well so that it would benefit you, the system, and the environment altogether. You can always seek the advice of your septic expert or perform personal research on your own through the Internet. Knowing the right things to do in septic system maintenance will help you become a more responsible homeowner and ultimately, a more dependable person.