Thursday 4 pm – 5 hours

Well it is now 5 hours and our microbes have reproduced themselves to be 16,384 times the number that you started with at 11 am. I told you the numbers would get mind-numbing.

And you can see on the left that the breakdown is very noticeable. If this was in your holding tank, things are looking better already.

My poor photography doesn’t do it justice but it looks like someone has just sprinkled some gravy powder on the top of the water.

On the right side there is no degradation at all. In fact as the water has cooled the fat is solidifying back to it’s original state.

The difference between breaking down and degrading is critical in your holding tank.

Most chemicals or enzymes or household items such as vinegar or nappy powders can break down the organic matter. (They can also corrode your system and harm the environment, but we’ll save that for another day.)

But although they break dow organic matter, they don’t get rid of it.

So even in it’s broken down form it is:

still in your tank
still organic matter
still going rotten, and
still going to smell like a three week old chook left on your kitchen bench.

What makes your grey water tank smell is rotting stuff. Big or small, it still rots – and still stinks. It’s the same in your house drains as well!

The right microbes will break down the organic matter AND eat it. Degrade it to water and some natural gas.

Only live microbes can do that.

Graham

Follow the demonstration: