When a property is sold, the owner must give the purchaser a written notice stating that a small sewage discharge is being carried out and give a description of the wastewater system and its maintenance requirements. This is not onerous – the seller just needs to inform you, the buyer. that occasional checks are made, that they use a biological wastewater treatment to reduce sludge and improve discharge quality and empty excess sludge that may accumulate.

If the seller currently has a septic tank that discharges to a water course (that is, into a ditch, stream or river – there are special rules for reed beds) then the system does not meet regulations introduced in 2020, and the sale will trigger the requirement to incorporate a soakaway or replace the tank with a ‘package sewage treatment plant’.

Visit gov.uk for further information.

Buyers should satisfy themselves that any system is in good working order and does not cause pollution. There could be costs involved in engaging a surveyor to inspect the system. There can be further costs if a septic tank needs to be upgraded or replaced or does not qualify for exemption under the Regulations.

It is important to identify the location of the system and the buyer’s solicitors should insist on the tank being emptied to facilitate closer inspection and also check that appropriate rights and obligations are in place if the system, either the septic tank / treatment plant or soakaway is located on someone else’s property.

People often use the terms ‘Septic Tank’ and ‘Cesspit’ as synonyms, but there is a big difference.

A Cesspit, sometimes also referred to as a ‘Cesstank’, is a holding tank without an outlet. The waste is not treated or drained, as it simply collects black water and stores it in an underground tank. Hence, Cesspits require a great deal of maintenance as they need to be emptied frequently. Most often, they may be used as a temporary measure or on facilities such as campsites and marinas to dispose of chemical toilet waste that cannot go into a Septic Tank, which would disrupt the treatment system.

If you live off-grid from mains sewage you are most likely to have a Septic Tank or Package Sewage Treatment Plant – an electrically powered Septic Tank that improves the rate of waste digestion.  These systems both rely on a biological bacterial treatment process, involving billions of microbes, to breakdown and digest organic waste, allowing the treated wastewater to subsequently drain safely away into a soakaway.

The big difference, therefore, is that because these Septic Tanks have a drainage system they do not need emptying so often, except when sludge residues build up. Regular use of Muck Munchers ensure these build-ups are are kept to an absolute minimum, saving unnecessary expenditure on pump-outs.

Check out our blog Cespits vs Septic Tanks – Unconfused! for further information.

If you have a septic tank that discharges into a water course, river, stream etc. you must either upgrade to a sewage treatment plant or install a soakaway, because the discharge direct from a septic tank isn’t clean enough and will, in all probability, be causing pollution.

For more details visit gov.uk

No. Muck Munchers XL and Kick-Start Bio-Booster are based upon entirely naturally occurring products and contain harmless bacteria, together with micronutrients and to help the bacteria quickly activate, to produce enzymes to commence organic waste digestion.

No. Because Muck Munchers are entirely biological, they actually have a beneficial effect upon the environment, producing clearer, purer water discharges. We do, however, recommend that you take reasonable precautions, washing your hands after use, avoiding eye contact and inhaling or ingesting the product.

Muck Munchers XL contains sufficient for a normal sized family septic tank and is guaranteed for a household of up to 6. If you have more than 6 people in your household, you should consider doubling up the quantity of Muck Munchers Solu-Packs each month or, even better, use them at 2 weekly intervals.

Muck munchers do digest fats, greases and oils, which are major cause of blocked drains both in pipes to the tank, the tank itself and the outflow drain-field pipes from your septic tank system.

When you flush Muck-Munchers down a sink or toilet, a proportion of bacteria will adhere to drainage pipes, where they will help digest organic waste that has coated drain walls. To digest fats, oils and grease within the kitchen, utility and bathroom wastes and drainpipes, and avoid the build-up of black slime, many customers use Digesta Waste Trap and Drain Cleaner too, to keep household waste pipes clean and blockage-free.

Stuck for choice. When first using Muck Munchers apply the Kick-Start Bio-Booster to the toilet that is the furthest from the drain leaving the house. With monthly Muck Munchers Solu-Pack treatments, it’s a good idea to use a different toilet each month (if you have more than one), or, if you have a slow-running drain from a bath, basin or sink, dissolve the Muck Munchers in a few litres of barely luke-warm water, leave for an hour and then discharge.

Not always. If you discharge a lot of chemicals, detergents, antibiotics, fats, oils and grease into your septic system, or if it’s already under stress you may either need to add more frequent Muck Munchers Solu-Packs or empty the Septic Tank or Treatment Unit. What you should experience is far less frequent emptying, together with a healthy, odourless tank with more effective outflow drainage.

This is the perfect time to start using Muck-Munchers to establish a very active bacterial population to create a very healthy tank and improve soakaway performance to reduce potential blockages and damage to the system. 

You do not need to empty your tank prior to using Muck Munchers unless it already contains excessive amounts of sludge. While microbes are miracle workers, if your tank already has a build-up of sludge the Muck Munchers will slowly reduce the organic sludge levels over a period of time.

Muck Munchers are indeed effective in winter. You might not be in the garden – you might not notice the smells. But underground the septic tank or treatment unit is warm, from bath and shower water, and bacterial activity. The bacteria are active and going about their business, doing a really effective clean-up job. So come spring and summer you should be completely odour-free with the tank working at peak performance.

Muck Munchers Kick-Start Bio-Booster introduces billions of bacteria to activate the septic tank system, quickly generating aerobic activity, even in pretty stagnant systems. A fairly healthy tank may not need it. But to give you a no-quibble, money-back guarantee, we’d prefer you use it.

Yes, you can use Muck Munchers with all types of Package Sewage Treatment Units. Whether you have an old traditional brick-built septic tank or a modern package sewage treatment unit or bio-filter, Muck Munchers is the perfect alternative to more frequent cleaning and emptying.

Effective organic waste digestion relies totally on maintaining a healthy microbe population which is constantly being depleted, especially by the sheer volume of anti-bacterial contaminants entering the tank.

Regular applications of Muck Munchers will maintain a near optimum level of microbes, whatever type of septic system you have and ensure added protection to the soakaway.

Muck Munchers can help, but not in all situations. Septic Tanks can overflow for two reasons – blocked soakaway drainage-fields caused by poor tank activity or water-logged ground. Regular use of Muck Munchers will improve the quality of water entering the soakaway, which in turn will ensure better drainage.

Overflows in themselves can also create water-logged ground. If your tank is already over-flowing, we’d recommend that first you empty the tank and jet wash as much of the soakaway as possible (using a rear-facing jet wash to flush organic waste back into the tank, not further down the drain), then treat with Triple Action Bog Busters which will improve aerobic soakaway performance and now start using Muck-Munchers monthly treatments immediately.

On the contrary. By creating an active aerobic bacterial environment, waste becomes more fluid, making it less demanding on equipment as pumps and other mechanical equipment, reducing wear and tear and extending pump working-life.

Yes. It’s important to understand that some Detergents and most Bleaches destroy bacteria. The healthier your septic tank, the more efficiently the bacteria population can cope with pollutants. Regular monthly Muck Munchers treatments are designed to help counteract the impact of detergents and bleaches.

What is important is to avoid

• Chlorine-based bleaches and cleaners
• Antibacterial dishwasher washing machine products

The use of ‘bio’ and ‘oxy’ detergents are both beneficial to your septic system.

No. Muck Munchers have a very positive effect on the environment reducing potential pollution.

By digesting sewage and organic waste, the wastewater entering the surrounding soil area is cleaner and purer, resulting in a healthier environment.

Yes, Muck Munchers is certainly worth it if you are looking to reduce your septic tank maintenance costs, especially on frequent pump-outs. Plus, regular use will help ensure a healthier soakaway system reducing the chances of damage and the extremely expensive cost of repair or replacement.

To perform effectively, septic tanks and treatment plants rely on aerobic bacterial activity to degrade and digest sewage and organic sludge. By increasing that activity, Muck Munchers digest the waste reducing the chances of over-flows, sewage back-up and clogged drains. As waste is significantly reduced the need for emptying septic tanks is also reduced and, in many instances, can be virtually eliminated.

If there is insufficient microbial activity in a septic tank the wastewater flowing from the tank to the soakaway will contain excessive effluent (sewage, fats, oils and grease) that can easily clog the soakaway pipes and the little drainage holes within them, through which wastewater normally percolates through to the soil.

As are result, the soakaway can become anaerobic. The bacteria begin to create a slime around themselves. They not only become ineffective they also block-up the spaces between soil particles beyond the drainage pipes, inhibiting free-drainage. In such instances the best treatment is to apply Triple Action Bog Busters, which will improve aerobic soakaway performance, and then start using Muck-Munchers monthly treatments.

Muck-Munchers is particularly suited for septic tanks that have periods of infrequent use, which can easily become inactive through lack of use. Hence, as many customers tell us, you’ll find Muck Munchers will provide a trouble-free sewage waste solution in second homes in the UK and abroad.

If you can’t re-charge the Muck Munchers every month, then when you arrive at the property, add a month’s treatment soon after you arrive.

If you regularly leave the property for extended periods of several months (say), it is possible that your septic system will have become anaerobic through lack of oxygen. This can be overcome by adding an oxygenator, such as Muck Munchers Oxy-Tonic biomass accelerator, prior to treating with Muck Munchers.

No, In fact, it is little more than an old wives’ tale as yeast is not a bacterium and does not, therefore, produce the enzymes necessary to break down large organic molecules to a stage where the bacteria can digest them.

Yeast may break some starchy materials in your tank, but it is unable to digest the greasy scum layer, cellulose (as in toilet paper and vegetable material) and of course protein (poo) material.

Muck Munchers contain a range of different probiotic bacteria targeted to digest the complete spectrum of organic waste entering your septic system.

No, Muck Munchers do not sell on Amazon or any other shops. Muck Munchers are only available direct from Bio-Gard via the Muck Munchers website

The main reason is that we want to have a direct relationship with our customers. That way we can send you a helpful email reminder to treat your tank each month to ensure effective performance, along with useful information on how you can maintain healthy septic tanks – and that’s important.

It’s important to replenish the bacterial population on a regular basis. Otherwise, digestion performance decreases, resulting in build-ups of sludge and excessive effluent entering the soakaway, both of which can result in expense. Contacting customers once a month (twice at most) really helps ensure you get the best out of buying Muck Munchers.

In addition, we want to keep control of the Muck Munchers supply chain too, to ensure our products are sent to customers to reach them in perfect condition, knowing that the product has been recently produced and stored in the right conditions.

Quite simply, we want to ensure that you have a better experience and that we deliver on the promises we make when you buy Muck Munchers.

For similar reasons, our company Bio-Gard does not produce Muck Munchers for other companies in the UK, who may not have the same standards.

Septic systems have 2 key primary components – the tank itself and the soakaway or drainfield.

In a small proportion of installations, namely some with package sewage treatment units, there is no soakaway and they drain directly into a water course, such as a ditch or stream.

Contrary to what some commentators say, the bacteria in the tank and soakaway are generally aerobic and need oxygen.

The soakaway obtains its oxygen from dissolved oxygen in the discharge from the tank and from oxygen in the surrounding soil. This is why soakaways should be no more that 70cm below the surface – the deeper down you go, the less the available oxygen.

With soakaways built so near the surface you can understand why it’s important not to plant trees or large shrubs in the vicinity, as they can quickly damage the drainage system. Similarly, parking cars or concreting over the soakaway area will both compact the soil and diminish oxygen availability.

In the case of most septic systems the discharge from the septic tank will include some organic effluent. This needs to be digested, otherwise the waste will build-up, the soakaway will become anaerobic, a bacterial biofilm will develop, potentially resulting in blockages, back-ups and overflows.

Hence, a healthy bacterial population needs to be maintained, not only in the tank, but in the soakaway too.

Regular use of Muck Munchers ensures that bacterial digestion continues within the soakaway. This is a major benefit of the product, achieved through superior formulation technology using selections of bacterial strains which are facultative, which means they are highly effective in the oxygen-rich environment of the tank and suitable for much of the soakaway and will continue to digest waste once in environment with less or no oxygen.

Few owners of septic tanks think much about the soakaway. However, while it is easy to overcome a major problem in the tank, overcoming effluent build-ups in inaccessible drainfields can be extremely difficult and expensive too.

While Muck Munchers will maintain your soakaway in good health, if you do have any problems with your soakaway drainage, a single shock treatment with Triple Action Bog Busters prior to starting to use Muck Munchers is always the best course of action.

Oxy-Tonic is a Septic Tank Biomass Accelerator which adds oxygen to the organic material in the tank and accelerates waste digestion by some 7-10 fold.

In essence, Oxy-Tonic boosts the aerobic digestion process in your tank by increasing the aerobic waste digestion and improve flow, reduce blockages, deodorising foul smells, reducing slime and ultimately saving you money on costly pump-outs.

Generally, customers who have odour problems find that the simple addition of Oxy-Tonic will eliminate septic tank smells within 24-48 hours.

We understand that it’s important to find out all you can about a product before you buy.

All our products have full product details, but sometimes reading Muck Munchers reviews from other customers who have purchased and experienced these products first-hand is a really important part of deciding on the best septic tank cleaning product for you. We welcome muck muncher reviews for all our products.