WC waste water drained to sump pump hole

[cjr8420]

does anyone drain there tanks in their sump pump hole. its closer for me than any drain i have just wondering if any one has done this a while with no sump pump issues clogging or extra stinky or anything else im not thinking of thx mike

[Northwoods Discus]

The left over water in the sump could develop and odor if not pumped often enough. I would use a drain if available. Drains have the elbows in to keep an area of water always present sealing gasses from coming back up into the building. If you pump it often enough maybe no problem but why.

[DiscusOnly]

does anyone drain there tanks in their sump pump hole. its closer for me than any drain i have just wondering if any one has done this a while with no sump pump issues clogging or extra stinky or anything else im not thinking of thx mike

It's not usually a good idea to do that.

My sewage drain is about 1 foot above grown and when I added tanks to the basement, the easiest would have been to drain all my tanks into the sump pit. After talking to a plumber, I was told that's a no no cause it's a code violation.

My sump pump doesn't discharge the water into the sewage line. It actually drain into street storm water drain. By dumping "grey water" that's what the fish tank water is considered as, it's illegal to do so.. just as it's illegal to pump water from sump pit into the sewage line.

[jimg]

i drain all my tanks into a sump pit I put in just for that. true smell could be a problem, but mine has the ro waste overflow going to it plus many tank wc's daily so my pump is running quite often. If yours will sit for a few days, a couple drops of bleach will help or do as ND says and go to a drain with a trap.

need to add to this;
my sump drains to a dry well, not street drainage.'
most drains with a trap run to either septic or sewer. be carefull not to overload septic.

[Northwoods Discus]

I guess I didn't think about the legal aspects but I live in the country and our sump drains into our woods, and our drain into our drain field so sometimes people do not want to put too much through their septic. It would be legal in my case to run it into the woods. I have a separate drain for the tanks not on the septic but not into the sump well.

[jimg]

i live in a rural area too and used to drain mine to the leader drains, kept the discharge area muddy so I dug a small drywell.
I'm not sure fish tank water is grey water though, may be. I know grey water as sink, shower, washing machine water with detergents and grease in them.

[cjr8420]

why, i can siphon straight to the pit .right now i siphon to a barrel then pump to a drain it would cut out a step and make it a bit easier

[Northwoods Discus]

I dug a "dry well" also and filled it with large sized gravel. Our house is on 10 acres with woods. Luckily the house is on a hill and makes drainage easy with no wet spots in the yard. The cedars in the woods love it.

[cjr8420]

as far as codes laws im not worried about any of that .my sump is pumped rt in my backyard which in summer months i pump my wc waste water into the yard anyways

[calihawker]

I dug a "dry well" also and filled it with large sized gravel. Our house is on 10 acres with woods. Luckily the house is on a hill and makes drainage easy with no wet spots in the yard. The cedars in the woods love it.

I'm exactly the same here and my wc water goes to a garden way down the hill. The added benefit I discovered doing it this way is the enormous suction caused by the long hose going downhill. I have to actually choke it off because it sucks so hard.:)

Steve-O

[jimg]

I am on 7 acres with many gardens. My plan this year is build an in ground tank and use it for gardens, just have to lay low on pp or bleach.

[cjr8420]

are the people doing this using reg sump pumps or are u using ejector pumps. i dont think with any of the fish waste i would need the ejector but would hate to screwup the sump pump

[Northwoods Discus]

I am not using any pump, luckily I am able to use gravity. I believe there are pumps that are rated for "gray" water that can handle some materials other than clean water. I think most sumps should be able to handle mostly soft aquarium waste. Maybe not a lot of plant material from planted tanks though.

[cjr8420]

thx e1 for their input im going to start with it as will make my wc easier to keep up with thx again mike

[jimg]

No need for effluent grinder pump. I use these http://www.irawoods.com/Zoeller-53-0001-M53-Mighty-Mate-Automatic-Dewatering-Submersible-Pump?sc=2&category=48897

[Jhhnn]

Fish poop from the tanks won't damage your sump pump- the stuff is small & soft, so the pump will just make it finer as it passes through. If the sump pumps out into the yard & it's legal, I wouldn't have any qualms about it at all. You just don't want to create a swampy area out back, that's all...

The greater the height difference between the top of a siphon and the outlet, the greater the flow, so it might speed up water changing, too, if you rig it right...

If you're concerned about smell, put an airstone in the sump- it'll smell like an aquarium...

I aid that wrong about the siphon- the greater the difference between the higher water level and the discharge end of the siphon, the greater the flow...

[Wes]

Sounds like you will have some really green grass. Fish poop fertilizer.