Saltwater Tank and Septic System

[Steve...]

Does anyone have any experience with having a saltwater tank together wish a septic system? Im just curious if the water changes from the tank will have any negative impact on the septic tank because there are bacteria in the septic tank.

[spit.fire]

bacteria doesnt matter, the salt eats the concrete tho

[Steve...]

bacteria doesnt matter, the salt eats the concrete tho

Humm, thats not good. So are you saying I can have a salt water tank if Im on a septic system? Know of any alternative solutions?

[spit.fire]

find a spot in the yard to dump it out?

[Steve...]

find a spot in the yard to dump it out?

Ya Im guessing that could be the only option

[Myka]

How big is your aquarium? I don't know much about septic systems, but I think you would need a fair amount of salt in the system before it would affect the concrete. Does your system get pumped out or does it go into a septic field? Is it a plastic septic tank or concrete? I would probably talk to a septic guru.

The bacteria definitely doesn't matter - bacteria adapt easily from salt to fresh to salt.

[spit.fire]

How big is your aquarium? I don't know much about septic systems, but I think you would need a fair amount of salt in the system before it would affect the concrete.

this too

[The Codfather]

Steve,
the problem that you might encounter if that you have a lot of bacteria in the septic system. when you flush a large volume of water, be it fresh or salty, it could potentially affect the amount of bacteria in the system. We recommend that even regeneration from water softeners be discharged elsewhere and not through the septic system. Now if there is a small amount, in other words a small tank, with small wc's it may be fine, but i do not know the size of your septic system nor the size of your tank.

[Skimmin]

Codfather is right. I've seen it first hand ruin a septic field.

[Steve...]

How big is your aquarium? I don't know much about septic systems, but I think you would need a fair amount of salt in the system before it would affect the concrete. Does your system get pumped out or does it go into a septic field? Is it a plastic septic tank or concrete? I would probably talk to a septic guru.

The bacteria definitely doesn't matter - bacteria adapt easily from salt to fresh to salt.


The tank will be 12' long x 3 ' deep and 28" tall plus sump. Im guessing the total water volume would come in close to a 1000 gals. So the wc will be prob 100 to 200 gals monthly. Im not sure what kind of tank it is yet as its a new build.

[Steve...]

Steve,
the problem that you might encounter if that you have a lot of bacteria in the septic system. when you flush a large volume of water, be it fresh or salty, it could potentially affect the amount of bacteria in the system. We recommend that even regeneration from water softeners be discharged elsewhere and not through the septic system. Now if there is a small amount, in other words a small tank, with small wc's it may be fine, but i do not know the size of your septic system nor the size of your tank.

Perhaps pumping the water into the ground maybe or somewhere else? Its on a acreage so there will be plenty of room .

[Steve...]

Codfather is right. I've seen it first hand ruin a septic field.

Is this directly from a salt water tank? How so and what had to be done?

[Skimmin]

As I understand the bacteria in the tank gets wiped out by the salt and the salt then gets pumped out to the field and plugs/saturates the field. A great company to talk to in Calgary is Alaqua. They design and build septic systems and fields. They are professionals. Give them a call and im sure they can answer all your questions.

[Steve...]

As I understand the bacteria in the tank gets wiped out by the salt and the salt then gets pumped out to the field and plugs/saturates the field. A great company to talk to in Calgary is Alaqua. They design and build septic systems and fields. They are professionals. Give them a call and im sure they can answer all your questions.

Thats great, Ill give them a shout

[The Codfather]

The tank will be 12' long x 3 ' deep and 28" tall plus sump. Im guessing the total water volume would come in close to a 1000 gals. So the wc will be prob 100 to 200 gals monthly. Im not sure what kind of tank it is yet as its a new build.

Ya Steve, I can save you the call. You definitely will not want to dump that amount into your system, it will do a considerable amount of damage to both the septic(bacteria)and the field(final disposal).

[Aquattro]

Ya Steve, I can save you the call. You definitely will not want to dump that amount into your system, it will do a considerable amount of damage to both the septic(bacteria)and the field(final disposal).

Agreed. That's a significant load on the cultures and can affect them negatively.

[Steve...]

Ya Steve, I can save you the call. You definitely will not want to dump that amount into your system, it will do a considerable amount of damage to both the septic(bacteria)and the field(final disposal).

So would you guys all agree it should be pumped out to through a different line into the ground?

[Myka]

So would you guys all agree it should be pumped out to through a different line into the ground?
Yes. Definitely the best long-term solution.

[Skimmin]

I wouldnt say right into the ground necessarily. I would think it may contaminate the area and the soil underneath. Maybe into some limestone or something... I havent a clue. If you're not concerned about any potential long tem effects then i guess you can just pump away. Im not sure what, if any, the long term effects of the soil and surrounding area could be, but as a rule every action has some sort of reaction or consequence whether good or bad. It wont cost you a dime to give them a call and see what they give you for a solution. It may save you some grief down the road. If you do call them please post what they say. I'd like to know just for the record too.

[Steve...]

I wouldnt say right into the ground necessarily. I would think it may contaminate the area and the soil underneath. Maybe into some limestone or something... I havent a clue. If you're not concerned about any potential long tem effects then i guess you can just pump away. Im not sure what, if any, the long term effects of the soil and surrounding area could be, but as a rule every action has some sort of reaction or consequence whether good or bad. It wont cost you a dime to give them a call and see what they give you for a solution. It may save you some grief down the road. If you do call them please post what they say. I'd like to know just for the record too.

I agree... I dont wont this to haunt me later on, its best we do it right the first time.

[Steve...]

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f161/saltwater-and-septic-system-154746.html

[sphelps]

I always pumped salt water from changes onto my lawn, in one small spot too as I never got around to getting a longer hose or connecting to the sprinklers. That section of lawn to this day is still the healthiest so I never saw any negative effects from the salt content. I probably averaged around 50gal a month from my 300 gallon system over around 2+ years. Often had large dumps of water in the 200 gal+ range as well from the numerous circumstances requiring such large water changes. I think it's ultimately still a small amount of salt given the rain and snow we receive each year, would highly doubt long term effects are really possible but I would suggest spreading it around to be safe rather than a single location.

[Steve...]

I wouldnt say right into the ground necessarily. I would think it may contaminate the area and the soil underneath. Maybe into some limestone or something... I havent a clue. If you're not concerned about any potential long tem effects then i guess you can just pump away. Im not sure what, if any, the long term effects of the soil and surrounding area could be, but as a rule every action has some sort of reaction or consequence whether good or bad. It wont cost you a dime to give them a call and see what they give you for a solution. It may save you some grief down the road. If you do call them please post what they say. I'd like to know just for the record too.

So I gave them a call today and they suggested installing a dry well with some kind of specialized rock in the well. That specific rock will absorb all the the crap . It would be approx 6'-8' deep to prevent it from freezing during winter. Either way, there is a solution to my scenario which Im glad to see :)

[camaro7019]

do you have any ditches infront of your house or out back you could dump it? even with the well it might still leak out into the soil, I would suggest dumping it down a ditch or out back where you wont see any negative impact, installing a well will just take away $$$ from corals :)

[reefwars]

Neighbors you don't like? ;pp

[asylumdown]

I always pumped salt water from changes onto my lawn, in one small spot too as I never got around to getting a longer hose or connecting to the sprinklers. That section of lawn to this day is still the healthiest so I never saw any negative effects from the salt content. I probably averaged around 50gal a month from my 300 gallon system over around 2+ years. Often had large dumps of water in the 200 gal+ range as well from the numerous circumstances requiring such large water changes. I think it's ultimately still a small amount of salt given the rain and snow we receive each year, would highly doubt long term effects are really possible but I would suggest spreading it around to be safe rather than a single location.

I'm surprised you've never had problems with you grass. There are parts of the Alberta and Saskatchewan grasslands that seasonally flood every year then dry out. Over long periods of time, this draw out salts from the ground water. In areas where they collect on the surface, practically nothing grows and look like white dusty patches in the middle of fields. For several meters out around them in every direction, the pant community is radically different from the rest of the grassland, favouring strongly salt adapted grasses and forbs. None of those species appear in commercial lawn seed-mixes, and Kentucky blue grass (the most commonly used lawn grass) haaaaaaates salty soil.

If you're not having any troubles, I suspect it's not that dumping salt water on your lawn isn't bad for it, it's that you've gotten lucky and the ground water/drainage dynamics in the area you've been dumping your tank water are working in your favour. Residential properties are graded to take water away from the structure, but that salt is definitely going somewhere, and likely not as far away as you think. Small volumes of water over short periods of time will likely have no effect, but with a large tank you're dumping the equivalent of 5 gallons of salt on your lawn every few months, depending on the frequency of your water changes. If you're lucky, that salt is going straight down out of the root zone and staying there, but if you're not lucky and it's spreading out in a plume through surface soil of your yard, you could be changing the salinity of a pretty wide area. You wouldn't see problems until salinity levels reached the tolerance threshold of your lawn, but once it does you'd be kind of hooped as it could take years for it to leach out.

If your'e going to be dumping salt water outside, you'd be wise to rotate the spot where you do it, and pick spots that are really well drained and drain away from your property.