The tank is a pretty simple device. I'd pump it and have a knowledgeable person fix it right. Many people who move to the country don't realize that you can't let everything go down the drain. No kind of grease should go down the drain. Some soaps cause trouble. Cleaning solutions can kill the necessary bacteria in the tank. Tank additives are a waste of money too. I suspect the service man will easily see why the water wasn't draining from the tank.

There are some good books on greywater use, and best I've seen are all written by Art Ludwig, and are in the library systems. If yours doesn't have the books, get them through an Interlibrary Loan. All good info with diagrams, easily understood. The good greywater systems are all simple. A pump is usually used for pumping the water HIGH or FAR. If there is enough vertical drop and not too far distant, gravity feed is sufficient. Greywater is usually used for watering trees when used directly. There is no harm in using it on fruit trees, but you wouldn't want to use it on low-growing food plants. Don't worry about food particles or minor bacteria. The soil microbes make short work of them. Rainwater collection: Here is a precipitation map of MT http://www.bigskyfishing.com/Montana-Info/galleries/maps/precipitation-map.shtm If you are in the lighter orange area, you get 10-15" of rain. If you got 10", for every 1000 sq ft of roof (house, barn, garage, sheds), you have the potential of slightly over 76,000 gallons of water. The average American household uses 35 gallons of water per person per day. See Rainwater Collection Calculator here: http://www.csgnetwork.com/rwcollectioncalc.html Sue Here is a link that might be useful: Greywater Oasis

I wondered how you would direct the water from the roof to your tanks; and how will you divert the water when the tanks are full? We installed rain barrels last year and currantly have 1000-gallons total in 9 containers of differeing sizes (50-gal., 185-gal., 215-gal. at 5 downspouts) and it's enough water for the very limited amount of landscaping/plants we water and the small garden (22'x6'). Only occasionally do we have enough to apply to our postage stamp size yard (the grass in our front yard is approx. 22'x22' and the back right-of-way is 83'x10', and that's all the grass we have - we've eliminated everything on the sides and the rest of the back yard). Therein lies the key - eliminate as much grass as possible. Our yard is relatively new and we designed it with the least amount of grass possible. We installed a diverter at each downspout. When the barrels are full, the water bubbles up into the diverter and it's directed out the downspout. I had it figured last year it takes about 1-gallon per square foot in the garden, PER week, and we have two 50-gallon barrels (piggy-back to one downspout) located next to the garden. And you must remember, Mother Nature does ALL the figuring (LOL). It took about 1/4-inch of rain to fill a 50-gallon barrel. We didn't run out of water last summer, but came close a couple times (we're located just outside of nowhere in the middle of Kansas). Great job if you can get this to work for you! -Grainlady

jrb451 oh I’m sure it does…we got a visual of that water twice when my family was visiting… 😳 The d-box has been emptied on Monday and still is empty as of now (Friday afternoon). The septic pump folks on Monday said it’s possible it was just overloaded and that the drain field just needed some time to be “empty” and “rest” after the hydraulic overload (that was the term he used to “diagnose” what was happening to us) for at least two days…and then it might be fine…it’s now over four days. But last night (Thursday evening) I was starting to hear effluent trickle into the second tank (lid is on but dug up for now in case the septic folks…need to come back.. 😳) Anyway, I know it’s difficult to diagnose over this blog and certainly aware too much water is not good, it sure wasn’t this past week. And also could be overlooking other details as this is my first place of residence with a septic system, and I’m learning as I go (hopefully not the hard way…we’ll find out soon) Anyhoo, just trying to cling to hope that this was a one time thing and I don’t have to bear the burden of an uber-expensive drain field replacement! 😫