Bleach accident Help!

[Nat-X]

About 3/4 of a gallon of bleach was run through the washing machine with my son's laundry and is now wreaking havoc inside the septic tank.

What do I need to do?

 

[Matt30]

What do you mean by wreaking havoc? That's a lot of bleach to run at one time but it should dilute a fair bit inside the tank. I can't see it doing a great amount of damage

 

[Zanne]

Bleach might kill some of the bacteria, but bacteria is rather resilient. Some of it might die, but once the initial shock is over, it will be back to multiplying again.

I've had bleach, antibacterial soap, dish soap, and all sorts of stuff go in to my septic tank. The bacteria still recovers because there is so much of it and it multiplies quickly.

But, if you are still worried about it, you can flush some RidX down the toilet to feed the bacteria.

 

[Matt30]

I would be more concerned with the kids clothes!

 

[SHEPLMBR]

What type of septic system do you have? Conventional, I agree with above statements of the diluting of the bleach. But if you have a non-conventional systems with pumps, filters, etc., you may indeed run into some trouble.

 

[SHEPLMBR]

So what was the outcome?

 

[Nat-X]

My local septic tank service company told me not to worry about it, and that it wasn't that big of a deal.