By Cheri Sicard
In the video below we join Joshua from RV Gear & Far to find out which RV black tank cleaners actually work.
This is a welcome video in that shopping for waste tank treatment products can get confusing as there are so many to choose from. Joshua picked eight of the most popular black tank cleaners and put them to the test in a head-to-head match-up for six days.
To set up his experiment, Joshua got nine big black tubs to simulate black tanks. He put a couple of gallons of water into each tub and added the recommended amount of black tank cleaner. The 9th bucket contained water only, so he also had that for comparison.
So each bucket started with 2 gallons of water and enough treatment for a 40-gallon back tank. Then twice a day he added a mixture of 10 squares of toilet paper, 3/4 cup of dog food and 2 quarts of water to the tubs.
These are the black tank cleaners Joshua tested:
- Liquified RV Toilet Treatment
- Unique RV Digest-It+ Holding Tank Treatment
- EcoStrong® Holding Tank Treatment
- Thetford AquaMax® Holding Tank Treatment
- Camco TST® MAX RV Toilet Treatment
- Valterra Odorlos® Holding Tank Treatment
- Happy Campers Holding Tank Treatment
- Bio Geo Method: 1 cup dish detergent + 1 cup water softener
Joshua says it was really interesting to take the lids off the tubs on the second day to see what the content looked like. Seven of the bins looked alike with lots of floating saturated dog food pieces. However, two of the bins, the Liquified and the Unique RV Digest-It+, seemed to have digested a good amount of the solids overnight!
By the second day, two of the black tank cleaners were definitely outperforming the others. Joshua was not yet ready to say the others did not work, as he wanted to give it more time. But on day two you could definitely see the Liquified and the Unique RV Digest-It+ performing exceptionally well, with the Liquified slightly inching out Unique RV Digest-It+.
Even more surprisingly, most of the other bins looked no different than the water–only control tub.
Watch the video as you will get to see the results after six days of how well, or in many cases how poorly, the black tank cleaners worked. Some worked no better than water. One performed worse than straight water. Some left a slimy layer of semi-digested waste floating on top. And two worked well.
Spoiler alert, Liquified and Unique RV Digest-It+ were the big winners when it came to breaking down the waste. Side note, Liquify is the brand that Matt of Matt’s RV Reviews (one of our readers’ favorite RV review YouTube channels) is always touting. (Probably because it was created by the Matt’s RV Reviews team, so we’ll bet it works great.)
But wait! Joshua was not yet done with his experiment. He then took his tubs to a dump station to empty them, pouring the contents through a funnel to separate any remaining solids from liquids and to see how much residual gunk and sludge was left in the tubs after dumping.
For having no sludge or solids left over, the Bio Geo method worked best, even though it did not break down the solids well. This was closely followed by our two favorites so far, Liquify and Unique RV Digest-It+.
Starting at point 19:20 in the video, Joshua gives his conclusions. He says there are so many variables, including dosage size and volume, price, whether or not you are trying to dissolve everything, and more, that there is no one best solution for everyone. But the information he presents in this video can help you decide what is best for you. I know I just put in an order for some Liquified!
(One more side note. Make sure if you do choose Liquified to get the real thing. In this video, Matt talks about scammers from China ripping him off and selling fake Liquified products on Amazon that are not the same formula you saw in this video on this page.)
##RVDT2324
Nice job
I wonder if it could also be used in the Grey Tank?….
Yes Liquified can be used in your Grey Tank also
Great experiment. Looking for this exact answer.
Wonder if Liquified and Geo Method could be used together.
Thank you, Cheri! Very interesting test. I think that the most important feature of a black (or gray) tank treatment is that it prevent residue from sticking to the side of the tank when I dump. My understanding is that cultivating bacteria in the tanks is most important toward that end. I’ll research Matt’s tank treatment to see if it accomplishes that as well as dissolving material. Thanks again and safe travels! 🙂
Been experimenting with the Unique RV powder packets. So far, they don’t work any better for keeping sensors clean in our seasonally stationary TT with 30 gallon black tank than many other brands’ enzyme pods. They do seem to break down poo better. I’ll give the liquid version a try to see if it works any better on the sensors.
For what it is worth, I tend to think most of the products depend a lot on both time and tank agitation. Our 30 gallon tank typically needs flushing every other day (not a lot of time for enzymes to work). And stationary means no agitation.
I have been using the Geo Method since about 2008 when I bought my first motorhome and for the record, the original Geo Method does not recommend “dish washing detergent”, but does use powdered laundry soap dissolved in water prior to pouring into the black tank. It also does not recommend “1 cup” of Calgon water softener, but just a “cap full”. That said, I have always used 1 cup of “liquid” laundry soap (Oxy-Clean) and a “cap full” of Calgon in both my black and gray tanks. Not only does this solution work to keep the tanks operating normally, it also seems to eliminate any odor and keeps the factory installed tank level sensors working perfectly. Commercial chemicals are not needed.
Kleen Tank pushes Calgon bath oil beads and lemon Pine Sol. 40 oz of Pine Sol to 8 oz of beads in gallon container. Then finishing filling with water. 1/2 cup to each tank. Kleen Tank pushes this at Grand Design rallies. It seems to work, but I still have issues with the black tank sensor. 2021 GD Reflection 303RLS
Interesting but doesn’t address my biggest concern. Anything that fits down the toilet will also fit out the waste pipe.
The biggest issue is stench, we need a real world test on odor control. I’ve been disappointed with Unique and intend to try Happy Camper next since so many rave about its abilities.
Great video. Thanks
The thing I noticed that was missing in this test was how well do each of these products control odors. My wife and I try to avoid putting solids such as poop and paper in our black tank unless we’re boondocking. Most state parks in Texas have good restrooms that we use for #2 so most of the time it’s only urine that goes in. Therefore we look for products that control odors.
Excellent article-video! Interesting he chose the easy Happy Camper because of the scoop, however did not work as well as TST Orange! Preferences I guess. I have used TST O for some years – and it has the squeeze bottle to transfer liquid into the measure cup in the bottle. I haven’t had any problems. I also use it in grey tank.
I also have the automatic feed of deodorizer-digester into the toilet with each flush. Product name is “Blue Streak”. It has a baby powder scent and adds blue color to the water. Sold as a full kit with dispenser or just quart bottles for refilling the dispenser,
Interesting test, but seriously flawed. I don’t put dogfood in my RV tank, and I can’t see where it is comparable chemically with the human-digested waste that does go in my tank, with all its specific human-produced enzymes (amylase, maltase, lactase, lipase and others).
Whereas dogfood is widely known to often consist of rendered dead farm or wild animal parts, ground up, mixed, dried and pounded with preservatives for long shelf life.
I’d like to think the producers of RV tank treatments have specific chemical formulations that recognize the profound difference between human poo and dogfood. This test’s results are invalid without addressing that.
Camping World has a product called Walex Bio-Active. I wonder how that compares with the others in a test like this? The name implies there might be some sort of biological enzyme digesting capabilities. The problem I’ve had with Happy Camper is that it doesn’t remain in granular form until the package contents are used up. I have a half-full container of Happy Camper that has turned to stone and is un-scoopable. Likely due to moisture in the air and a poor seal on the container,