dirty toilet tank

[Rambaldi1444]

My toilet also has that brown sludge inside the reservoir and I do have well water. If the problem comes from iron bacteria, is this indicative of a problem with the well water supply?

Thank you.

Eugene Liu

[Wade]

All three of mine had the same kind of stuff in them when I moved in. It also showed up in the bowl soon after I cleaned them. My toilets were 19 years old and still had original parts, i.e., flapper, ballcock, etc., and I am on city water. It was black as night in each reservoir. So it may not be your well..grab ahold of your flappers and see it you get alot of black gunk like tar on your hands. It will hard to wash off using normal soap. It this is the case then you need new flappers and probably new seals for the flappers and the ones on the reservoir to bowl. I just finished rebuilding two of mine last month and so far the reservoirs are clean. In the rebuilding process I took each reservoir outside and scrubbed them with a brush using a garden hose and Iron Out. I would start with new flappers and through in some Iron Out in the reservoir before trying to replace the other two gaskets.

[Ross Mac]

It sounds like you have manganese in your water. I had this problem when I lived in the Santa Cruz mountains in California. I would just put a half cup of bleach and leave it sit for a half hour or so before flushing. Bleach works for a lot of other things like mold and algea but use it sparingly because it can damage surfaces too. I have seen it eat the plating off of tub fixtures when used to clean tile....good luck on your project, Ross