Bromine in septic tank?

[Dave, I can't do that]

Hi All,

The wife tried some chlorine based tablet things in the tank of the toilet and it kept the bowl nice and clean. The tablets were rated Septic Tank saf e as the amount f Chlorine going in was quite small. But -- after about 3 m onths all the seals in the tank disintegrated. I replaced them all and now no more tablets. Momma has to use elbow grease. :)

Just heard about a bromine tablet system that feeds the treated water strai ght into the bowl water-flow and does not sit in the tank. Sounds good.

Question is, will small amounts of Bromine flushed to the Septic Tank (1000

-gal) be an issue? We only flush the toilets every time with solids or othe r than that, about two or three times a day for accumulated pee *if* it sta rts to smell. Gotta stop eating Asparagus! :)

Thanks

[trader4]

t and it kept the bowl nice and clean. The tablets were rated Septic Tank s afe as the amount f Chlorine going in was quite small. But -- after about 3 months all the seals in the tank disintegrated. I replaced them all and no w no more tablets. Momma has to use elbow grease. :)

aight into the bowl water-flow and does not sit in the tank. Sounds good.

00-gal) be an issue? We only flush the toilets every time with solids or ot her than that, about two or three times a day for accumulated pee *if* it s tarts to smell. Gotta stop eating Asparagus! :)

Unless you're dealing with extremely limited water for some reason, why not just flush the toilets more and skip the tablets? The addional water has to cost an order of magnitude less than those tablets. I don't use any tablets and have no problems.

As for the bromine screwing up the septic system, larger quantities of any disinfectant isn't a good thing. But if the chlorine tablets didin't screw it up, I don't see why bromine would as long as they are at similar small concentrations.

[Robert Macy]

t and it kept the bowl nice and clean. The tablets were rated Septic Tank s afe as the amount f Chlorine going in was quite small. But -- after about 3 months all the seals in the tank disintegrated. I replaced them all and no w no more tablets. Momma has to use elbow grease. :)

aight into the bowl water-flow and does not sit in the tank. Sounds good.

00-gal) be an issue? We only flush the toilets every time with solids or ot her than that, about two or three times a day for accumulated pee *if* it s tarts to smell. Gotta stop eating Asparagus! :)

did you read the other thread about experimenting to remove brown stain?

From that I tried muriatic acid and voila! no elbow grease and shiney newlike commodes!

Used to have to work and work everyday trying to maintain a poor level of calcification. But now. one treatment lasts more than a month.

Forget the tablets. just muriatic acid at $5/gal from HD; reduce water level to minimum poor in 1/4 cup or so, swish around, add baking sode until fizzing stops, flush, and DONE! don't breath fumes. they sneak up on you. After doing two bathrooms and barely smelling fumes; I had a nose bleed. So run fan, open window, hold breath. But in exchange for such precautions, no work.

[dennisgauge]

What are you people eating that it takes so much work to keep your toilets clean?

[Frank]

My well water does it and it varies. I've got a sediment filter but did not think water is hard enough for a full treatment system.

Thread has been interesting to me.

The commercial cleaners with muriatic acid are about half the strength of the concentrated acid which would be the cheapest thing to use. Concentrated acid fumes are corrosive and quite penetrating so it would probably be best to dilute acid for in house use.

[Robert Macy]

Eating? the deposits don't really come from solids, but urine.

It's a combination of hard water from an Arizona well, humidity at 12% drying the water right out of a bowl, and the water's reaction to urine. Standard problem everywhere, just a bit more intense under these circumstances.

Note CLR and all those advertissed products were exercises in futility. After hours of cajoling the deposit off the bowl, still had residual and still came back like a vengeance.

However, muriatic? 10 seconds and done for months.

Work smart, not hard.

[Robert Macy]

No water treatment? Being slightly 'green' I opted out on any softener, or processing of the water. I live in one of two houses built by the same contractor using the same EXPENSIVE septic system - comes out of New England and double processes the affluent so the runout is cleaner than most river water. My neighbor has water softener. In less than one year of use, he has VISIBLE white salt stains all over the surface of his field, plus some kind of blackish looking coloration. This is desert, but still plants don't seem to grow much over his field. Over my field now after two years of use - no coloration whatsoever. The only indication that our field is even there is that the plants look a bit more lush, slightly taller and lots of them.

So, I'm convinced no water softener was a great idea.

Plus, our hot water heater company [White?] told me that their systems don't like softened water, they're designed differently and soft water will shorten their tank/mechanism life. The tank seems ok, but we have to replace the bottom heating element about every six months average - no THAT's hard water.

[chaniarts]

here in az, i found the product called 'kaboom', available at home depot, to work well on the water stains from our hard water.

[Robert Macy]

thanks for that heads up! Wife's been asking me to find kaboom, to no avail. will be at HD today and get some!

[Frank]

I don't like the idea of more equipment in the home to worry about. The sediment filter gets most of the brown stuff out and I only need to change a cartridge every 6 months.

The plumber I use tested the water for free with obvious intent of selling a treatment system. I saw the results, I am a chemist, and know when results are borderline and insignificant.

Same with pH. Water is slightly acidic ~6.5. Plumbers have talked neighbors into replacing all their copper pines. Had a few pinhole leaks in the past but it has been over 12 years since the last one.

My hot water heaters often don't last past the warranty period of 6 years but I don't replace heating rods and failure is always a leak.

I've got alternate drain fields and am currently on the original field, maybe for the past 10 years, grass on top is not that lush but it is completely dry. Water soluble chemicals get diluted in the septic and for OP, I can't imagine any problem with bromine vs chlorine. Clean out guy recommended liquid detergents and keeping fatty waste out of the garbage disposal. He showed me a coating of wax like stuff on a clean out.

[Older woman]

replying to Frank, Older woman wrote: Advice from a chemist is much appreciated! I’m retired (72) & primarily use a very small guest bathroom with a quickly nasty looking toilet bowl. I recently used spa brominating tables instead of chlorine tablets (in a Kaboom system that bypasses the tank) for fear of inhaling chlorine gas. The bromine tablet worked great but also has a strong odor. Is the off gassing from bromine or chlorine tablets toxic? Many Thanks.

[invalid unparseable]

Bromine is probably a little less toxic than chlorine. Both could attack rubber seals and degrade other organic materials. I do not like to use bowl cleaners that sit in the toilet tank at length. Small quantities are safe in the septic as they get highly diluted and degraded.

[Tony Muma]

I bought this from HomeDepot and Amazon: Flush'n Sparkle Self-Cleaning Toilet System 8200 Septic which is safe for internal tank parts because it flushes the bleach water directly into the toilet but you have to buy the 1" diameter Borane Tablets [less smell of Chlorine] and cut the refill cartridge after the tightening channel to put the tablets into it