Hi, new here and glad to find a septic specific forum where I might find an answer to what's a mystery to me.
I installed a new septic system last October: exisiting 2 compartment 1000 gallon tank with a new leach field -200' of leach lines (infiltrators.) This replaced my old system and the plastic tank was in very good condition. Our perc rate was 6 min/inch and we have a two bedroom home with no washing machine. Our lines were divided into 4 separate 50' lines fed by the distribution box, which is a standard concrete design with no baffle. We are conservative in our water usage and particularly careful to not rinse solids or grease down our drain.
I recently opened the distribution box to see how things looked (I have a filter on the outflow pipe of the septic tank and was doing a yearly cleaning/checkup) and was suprised to find a gelatinous black sludge in the distribution box. It looked to me like what biomat is described as looking like. The ouflow side of the septic tank was all greywater- the inflow side of the tank had not breached the baffle.
I cleaned out the distribution box, flushed a toilet and ran the kitchen sink to see what the flow would look like, and it was typical greywater: relatively clear and slightly grey. I had the tank pumped last October and the technician who does it for me said everything looked fine- The baffle was in place and in good condition.
Is it normal to see this type of black sludge in the distribution box, and should I be concerned that it could potentially make its way to the field? It was right up to the exit lines.
Thanks, F. Delone
I installed a new septic system last October: exisiting 2 compartment 1000 gallon tank with a new leach field -200' of leach lines (infiltrators.) This replaced my old system and the plastic tank was in very good condition. Our perc rate was 6 min/inch and we have a two bedroom home with no washing machine. Our lines were divided into 4 separate 50' lines fed by the distribution box, which is a standard concrete design with no baffle. We are conservative in our water usage and particularly careful to not rinse solids or grease down our drain.
I recently opened the distribution box to see how things looked (I have a filter on the outflow pipe of the septic tank and was doing a yearly cleaning/checkup) and was suprised to find a gelatinous black sludge in the distribution box. It looked to me like what biomat is described as looking like. The ouflow side of the septic tank was all greywater- the inflow side of the tank had not breached the baffle.
I cleaned out the distribution box, flushed a toilet and ran the kitchen sink to see what the flow would look like, and it was typical greywater: relatively clear and slightly grey. I had the tank pumped last October and the technician who does it for me said everything looked fine- The baffle was in place and in good condition.
Is it normal to see this type of black sludge in the distribution box, and should I be concerned that it could potentially make its way to the field? It was right up to the exit lines.
Thanks, F. Delone
