Fairy in the septic tank - Help Please!

Lovely subject! I have no idea about the best washing up liquid for septic tanks, but if you need to reboost the bacteria you can buy sachets or tablets to throw down the loo every week. Failing that, our (German) plumber told us to chuck a few bottles of beer down the toilet, the yeast improves fermentation!

Lovely subject, yes. I confess that when I read "11 of us are sharing one septic tank" I thought, "Wow, that IS overcrowding - and uncomfortable". Sorry to be so flippant!

go to France - buy huge pack of Eparcyl - it boosts bacteria in Septic tanks (fosse septique) - flush a sachet a week or whenever you fancy it down the loo. Job done. We also use it when anyone in the family or a guest is on antibiotics as they have the same effect on the tank. Vital for good health of the tank.

Know absolutely nothing about this but I found it interesting. I was beguiled by the title, but that might be because GD is currently into fairies and I was really worried about one being caught in your septic tank.

Over 30 years ago we moved to a cottage with a septic tank having previously had mains drainage. I spoke to a very helpful lady at the district council who said don't use anything biological, no bleach, disinfectant, bubble bath domestos etc. If you do use one of these products always dilute thoroughly. If you need to have the tank emptied (which you shouldn't as it should run properly) throw a dead cat or chicken in the empty tank to get things working again.We had no problems at all with the septic tank until 14 houses and flats were built next door and we were connected to their private sewage treatment plant. Now there is a very hard and fast rule for all of us that the only items that go into the drains are human waste and toilet paper.
I had not heard of the sachets of French bacteria but the idea of some beer may work if not some raw chicken added straight into the treatment plant (so it doesn't block the pipework). Good Luck!!

Quite surprised that washing-up liquid would do that tbh. We avoid bleach and always restart the bacteria after antibiotics. We use Tarax which only needs to be added once every six months. Is it possible that someone was taking antibiotics?

I'm sorry, when I read 'Fairy in the Septic Tank' I wondered how she had got in there and if anyone was helping her to get out

Seriously, I am not sure but it is something I will mention to DD because they have a septic tank; however, they are the only ones using it generally and they have just had a new one installed.

There is another thread, I think, on the over-use of anti-bacterial products and I had read recently that they are of little use; hot soapy water is just as good - but what does 'soapy' mean? Does it mean detergent in which case check the ingredients carefully or good old-fashioned soap?

Would a pro-biotic work in the tank? You would need quite a lot though, to restore the balance.

I thought you had a fairy that magicked the nasties into nicies for you but then I read the OP.

How do you put the good bacteria back in now they've been killed?

I do know that when we hire holiday cottages, there is always special stuff that must be used. I don't know it's name as really I don't need to buy it. But there is clearly stuff you can buy.

Actually the last time we had ours emptied the man told us to put a whole camembert in(best place for it, but don't tell the neighbours I said that).

Oh thank goodness. I was soo worried. Thought We would all have to shout we believed in fairies to get her out.

Tinkerbell that is

Camembert Mamie, c'est dégoûtant! No wonder the French countryside stinks so much when you drive round it!

How on earth do you know anout the efficacy or not of bacteria ? A camembert ? What !!!!

Well you know if the bacteria have stopped working because it smells! Mind you with a Camembert...
When we were house-hunting we viewed a house in Camembert. It had an entire room full of cheese labels.

I am not sure in which country this septic tank is, but we have one at our house in France (entirely ours, we do not have to share) and the instructions we give all visitors, and obey ourselves, is not to use any household cleaning product, whether for washing dishes, clothes, paintwork or any other purpose unless it clearly states on the bottle that it can be used sagely of you have a septic tank.

I have recently been using mould resistant paint on the walls of an unventilated cloakroom and I always wash the brushes in a bowl and empty it on the gravel courtyard, because, by definition, it must contain anti bacterial/microbial ingredients.

Our installer told us that if there was a problem with the cesspit it would smell. Because, as a holiday home the house is only used intermittently we use the six monthly product Tarax topped up with a packet for Eparcyl at the start of every visit

So many of us are recommending Eparcyl, do you think Gransnet could get some extra money from them by charging for these recommendations?

Eparcyl - the old cure-all! I've used it on ours, especially recently since husband put about about a pint of petrol down one of the toilets. He won't admit how much, and why he was using it.
The petrol smell lasted a few days, but seems to have gone now TG.
From our experience, the occasional addition of something harmful does no permanent damage to a septic tank.
For the OP - I was reading an article today in the Sunday Times which said that antibacterial cleansers should be avoided anyway because they help to destroy the natural human resistance to bacteria.

I use Eparcyl too but another thing you can put down is yoghurt - especially any which is past the sell by date. We still have an old system and so far it has passed all the tests - we have a Fosse solely for the toilets and a grey water system for the sinks, washing machine etc and the rainwater has its own pipe work to reach the ditch along the road. It works well and much less problems than the fosses for all waters to go in. I throw all buckets of floor cleaning product on the garden and any fat in pans etc I also put onto the garden or wipe the pan out with kitchen towel so it does not go into the pipe work - inspection chambers are cleared out regularly. As monica said - when it is all OK no smells etc.

The post about adding a dead cat reminded me of when we went to camp and had latrines dug in a farmer's field. When we left he often threw in a dead sheep or cow before filling them in. He said the bacteria helped with decomposition.