August lab results for the effluent in our home sewage tank

by Mars

We had our suspicions that the effluent in our home sewage treatment tank was not as healthy as it should be, and the recent lab results we received support this. We took a sample of the effluent earlier in the day before we introduced the Bio Booster from Muck Munchers to our tank so that we have baseline data for the condition of our tank.

The results below show an increased value of BOD, COD and nitrate, which confirms that our tank is not working to its optimal level.

AnalysisResult
B.O.D. (mg/l)78
C.O.D. (mg/l)400
Dissolved Solids (mg/l)504
FOG10
Ammonia (mg/l)0.28
Nitrate (mg/l)12.5
Lab tests carried out by Beverley Analytical Laboratories

It’s worth mentioning that we share our tank with our neighbours, and this is far from being an ideal situation because it’s not easy to see what they’re flushing and introducing into the tank.

We have called them out on several occasions for flushing things they shouldn’t have because they end up floating in the vibro filter, but it’s more difficult (impossible in fact) to know if they are cleaning a lot with bleach or flushing products that kill bacteria. This has, to a large degree, contributed to the deterioration of our tank in recent months.

Nevertheless, we will not be deterred and we’re going to forge ahead in trying to maintain the tank to the best of our ability.

From the data provided above, we can extract that our fat, oil and grease (FOG) levels are actually quite good, and that doesn’t really surprise us because we’ve adapted our diet by removing all deep frying from our cooking. We use small amounts of olive oil when sautéing things like onions, and if we shallow fry or use the wok, we wipe the pans down with a kitchen towel and throw it away before washing up.

In addition to this, we’ve also ramped up the use of natural cleaning products in the kitchen and bathroom and we do not have a single cleaning item (with the exception of some antibac products for processing potential covid-related items) in the house that is abrasive and destructive towards the bacteria in our tank.

We will take a second sample this week, while we continue to flush Muck Munchers down the toilet and into the sewage treatment plant tank, that will also be evaluated by the lab. We will repeat this again at the end of September.

This will give us a really good indication of whether the beneficial bacteria are getting to work and breaking down the sludge layer. Visually, they appear to be doing a good job because our sludge layer is not forming.

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