Septic Tanks and B/W Processing

[rob_sollett]

My wife and I are planning a relocation to the land of septic tanks

in upstate NY from NYC. I have looked into the dumping of used

chemicals into the septic system and decided it's something I should

not do.

My question is to owners of septic systems...what do you do with

your used chemicals????

My wife says go digital but I can't find a place for a compact flash

thing on my M6! (sorry, poor joke).

Thank you for your time.

[roger_hicks1]

Not a problem, at least with French fosses septiques. Dilute the chemicals well. Alternatively dilute them well and pour 'em on the lawn.

 

Colour is another matter...

 

Cheers,

 

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com)

[rowland_mowrey]

Silver metal in the fixer might be a problem. If so, just reclaim the silver with steel wool and then dilute the residue and dump it slowly.

 

Very few people seem to have problems with septic tanks being hurt by photochemicals. It seems that the chemistry, if diluted and dumped slowly, is rather harmless - as long is silver metal is limited.

 

Ron Mowrey

[michael erlich]

My home is on a septic system and I dump everything directly down the drain except fixer. I remove the dissolved silver from the fixer with an electrolytic cell (Silver Magnet) and then dump that, too. The fixer, I mean. I've been doing this for nearly 10 years with no problems.

 

I believe selenium toner could harm the bacteria in the septic tank, but you can use it to exhaustion and that will remove nearly all the selenium.

 

Color bleach-fix is another matter, as it can not be used in the Silver Magnet. When I accumulate a couple of gallons of the stuff, I take to a cooperative local 1-hour lab to add to their waste stream.

[jtk]

You risk killing the bacteria (ie the functionality) of the septic system. Smelly and expensive, been there done that.

 

Save your chems, including your wash water, and dump it on somebody else's property by dark of night.

 

If you aren't kind to the little beasties in your septic system you'll repeatedly have to reinvent them after pumping the system. But what the hell, plumbers have to make livings too!

[gary_meader]

My darkroom is in my shop and I've designed it to not be on our septic system. What I've

done is to route my drain directly into a drain field of my own making. The drain pipe

goes to a field of gravel, 3ft wide by 3ft deep filled with washed rock. Everything but fixer

and selenium goes here, and it seems to be OK. My theory is that by the time any organic

chemistry reaches anywhere vital, the earth will have filtered it pretty well. Heavy metals,

that's another story. I think you'll be OK

[kevin_mcdonald1]

As we are on well water with a nasty sulfur content, we buy spring water in gallon jugs @ the grocery for drinking. I save the empties, and simply dump everything into those - developer, stop, fixer, and the first two rinses (Ilford method). I figure by the time I get to photoflo, it's safe for the septic.

 

I CLEARLY mark the waste bottles with a sharpie (permanent!) marker, and dispose of them at a regional recycling center or at a community disposal day. I always save up enough to be asked if I'm commercial, but I insist it's household and highly diluted, and it's never been a problem.

 

It's a bit of a hassle, but it's better than chancing tearing up the front lawn when the septic dies.

[bobmichaels]

I dump everything but fixer into the septic tank since I only do b&w. I had it pumped last year even with no problems but because it was recommended. Then I had to go out and meet the guy that worked a "honey wagon". He said our septic system was in great shape and had no problems. It actually did not smell too bad.

 

I take fixer to the community art school's darkroom where it gets the silver removed.

[Uncle Goose]

Great, just dump it in the nature, Just pollute everything. Seems that America still has to learn a lot of pollution control.

 

Here in Belgium you can turn your chemical waste in at a collectionpoint where they take it to special plants for nature friendly destruction.

[thomas_sullivan]

when I was in a house with septic, I dumped everything down the drain....4 years of B&W chemicals down the drain. Truthfully, I had NO problems with JUST B&W chems down the drain. Previously, before I got back into developing my own stuff, I use to drain the dishwasher and clothes washer into the septic.........Now THOSE chemicals from the detergents caused outrageous septic problems........finally had to divert the clothes washer to a seperate drain system to cure it all.

 

Should I have sent it down the septic path, or should I have sent it down the clothes washer drain path. I figure that the silver being a heavy metal would sink to the bottom of the septic tank and stay there. where as in the other drain system it would have immediately seeped into the ground (french drain type system for the clothes washer is what the experts in my area recommended for clothes drain systems)

 

seriously though, if you are that concerned about the septic problems and or the environmental problems, there are many more normally used household cleaning items that should be thought about before dumping down the drain before you even get to photochemicals (of the black and white variety). Clothes detergent, no matter how environmentally clean screws up a septic system faster than anything I have encountered.....and bleach, and bleach alternatives, spot remover, whatever chemical was in the clothes to begin with from working on the car, or the pesticides for the garden, or the rags you use to wax the furniture or the car....and on and on and on...... all of course....IMHO

[jtk]

IMHO aside, the silver and several of the chemicals do sometimes kill the bacteria in septic systems. This ain't rocket science. A smaller system is more vulnurable than a larger one, and a leaky one may be less vulnurable than a legally proper one.

 

Certainly some chems that go down the drain are worse than photo chems, but this isn't a philosophic argument, it's a practical one having to do with suffering from failed system, paying somebody to pump the damned thing out, then reestablishing bacteria. Money.

[roger_hicks1]

Dear John,

 

Ummmm.... Don't they all leak? I mean, that's what they're for. If they didn't, they'd fill up a bit quick.

 

But as you state, there has to be an important relationship between the size of the tank and the volume of chemicals dumped.

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[bill_knippenberg1]

Ask the manufacturer for an MSDS; it should have disposal

instructions on it. You may be able to get it from their website. Try

one of these sites:

1. www.setonresourcecenter.com

2. www.hazard.com

-Then go to msds>vermont>siri>flasite

3. hazmat.dot.gov

 

Also, try calling your county for disposal instructions. It may mean

a trip to the recycling center or dump but at least it will be

disposed of properly. It is not a matter of out of sight out of mind.

We need to be helping the environment not damaging it. I hope

this helps everyone.

[jtk]

Yes, they all leak. Some leak in the wrong places or drain excessively. I was unclear :-)

[rob_sollett]

Thank you one and all for your advise. I'll pass on dumping onto my neighbor's land under the dark of night. The silver magnet does sound interesting and something I may explore when the time comes. In the meantime I still have my b/w darkroom here in NYC, and frankly, a digital layout upstate is gaining my interest with it's zero pollution quality.

Me, digital LOL!!!!! Let's see what Santa Wife brings Daddy in December.

Thank you.

[larrydressler]

I added Rid-X every month for 5 years and dumped everything in the drain. I never had a problem I had it pumped the day I moved in to that house and then any problems were from tampons not the dark room.

Larry

[everheul]

I've always used steel wool, and dump the old fixer right down the drain. I've never had to pump the septic tank yet. Unless you are processing at an industrial capacity, I wouldn't worry.

 

I'd take your wife's advise on going digital. Just send me the M6 since you will have no need for it in the digital world :-)