My wife and I have just purchased our first TT and we have been reading about black water tank problems IE toilet paper choices and using enough water when you flush so as to keep the bad guy solids in solution and not building the evil pyramid in your black water tank. So here comes the stupid question; When you flush how much water is considered enough to keep the black water tank happy???? My foot is on the flush peddle awaiting your reply!! Thank you all for your replies.
I just try to always remeber to keep that foot on it that extra few seconds. I also like to put a little water in when I start with an empty tank. Wait to dump your tanks when you are around 3/4 full. and I like to drain my gray water right after closing my black valve. cleans out your hose. I have never had any issues. but eveyone may have a method, just use common sence and don't let anyone talk you into doing somthing that sounds stupid to you. And, We love Scott brand RV tissue......Feels like home and only $2.88 at Walmart.
Same information from me as MCRANE. Our black tank is 57 gallons and each time I dump it we add back around 5 gallons of water. This way the tank is wet all the time. We use tissue (any brand) from Wal-Mart or any large supermarkets you can find. We never use tissue paper from Camping World as the (water in the jar test) killed that plan. Also use the Thetford non-formaldehyde treatment to keep down any odors. We also buy this at Wal-Mart. Never had a problem in all our years on the road with waste water tanks.
Since it has now been two days, I'm hoping that you have now done the deed! If you refill the bowl to half or so full each time and do not use excessive amounts of TP, that is all that is needed. As suggested, it is always wise to start with 5 gallons or so of water each time that you dump and never dump until about 1/2 full or so, more if it is a small tank. This is not a disaster that will happen with one bad flush, but something that takes place over an extended period of time. The most common way to cause it is leaving the black tank valve open when the toilet is in use. The change to liquid is one that requires a combination of both water and time. If you are hosting a house full of visitors, then you might be wise to add one of the biological digesters to your tank to speed the process, but with only two people the time factor should be enough if you don't short on water.
We have never used anything but regular toilet paper in our tank and have never had any problem at all. To test one day we put a regular paper towel in the tank just before dumping and only saw a couple of little tiny bits of towel remaining as it dumped. We are careful to keep the good bacteria growing and have never had to add any chemicals to our tank either. We have been in a position where we could only dump about every 3 weeks or so and have never had an odor. Letting the tank get fairly close to full before dumping makes getting the solids out much easier.
