A Better Holding Tank Treatment ?

I have been looking for the best holding tank treatment for the Fuse.  We have had a couple of times where the holding tanks have had an Obtuse Aromatic Aroma (stink).  This has been my fault and I take the blame for my laziness.

Take my advise.  When you have an opportunity to dump the tanks, take it.  I have had several occasions where I thought I would be back out in the Fuse the next weekend and got lazy and did not dump.  Well, the next weekend turned into several weeks sitting in the hot Florida sun and the tanks got a bit ripe.

One ting to remember with all the methods.  They need some water in the tank to work.  The consensus is to add a couple (2-4) gallons of water to each tank when you dump.  This keeps everything wet, does not allow seals to dry out and keeps things moving around so you don't get a  poo mountain building up under the toilet.

When we purchased the Fuse it came with a bottle of Aqua-Kem.  I never used it since it is mostly formaldehyde.  I was told it was bad for the environment and some places won't let you dump if your treatment is formaldehyde.  So I avoided it even though it gets really good reviews.

The first thing I used was Walex Porta-Pak.  I purchased a small bag at the dealer.   It was Amazon's best seller and got good reviews, so why not.   It does have a pretty strong deodorizer smell.   The real problem was when I left it for several weeks the poo smell was strong.  I was not sure if it was actually breaking down the black stuff or just covering up the smell.  But if I dumped regularly, I had no problems.

I read that Walex had a different product called Bio-Pak.  It was touted to digest the waste faster than the Porta-Pak.  I can't say they did or didn't, but the Bio-Pak did not help with smells after a time any better than the Porta-Pak.   Again, if I had dumped regularly, it worked fine as well.

The last thing I have tried, and it seems to be working better than anything else, is a combination of two products.

The first half of the solution is Happy Campers Organic Tank treatment.  It gets great reviews and those folks using it swear by it.  It seems to just take care of the smell.  It does not cover it up, it just goes away.  Though the temperatures have not been as high lately as in the summer, so far so good,  even leaving waste in the tank for two weeks.  And the best part is we don't have the strong chemical smell, we just have zero smell.

It is a powder.  It comes with a scoop.  You add a scoop of the powder to a toilet full (ok I only filled it half way) of water and flush.  I flushed again to make sure it all went into the tank and I was done.  No easier or harder than the others.   Only downside is its availability on Amazon goes and comes.

The second half of the solution is  Calgon Water Softener .  A part of something called the GEO method.  I added a capful of the liquid Calgon to the tank.  There seems to be some confusion as to what it does.  Some say it makes the tank slick so the poo does not stick. Others say it helps the water in the tank penetrate the poo better.  I am not sure what to believe, but it does add a slightly pleasant smell and it does not hurt anything.

Another fairly easy thing to add.  I put a capful down in the toilet and flushed.  Driving around will slosh it around and make sure it gets everywhere.

I also added the same to the gray tank.  Both Happy Campers and Calgon.  Though I don't think I had any smells from the gray tank,  I was not sure.  As I was doing the research I read that some people searched for smells they thought were from the black tank that actually were coming from the gray tank.  The food waste from washing the dishes as it decomposes can be rather strong giving the black tank a run for its money.

After using this last approach, no smells.  I am going to continue this unless is stops working.   Oh, and I will take every opportunity to dump.