How to get rid of sandy residue and silt in the toilet tank
Mineral silt and sediment build up in toilet tanks due to changing water supply systems, leaving stubborn residue that requires manual cleaning or bleaching. Removing this water usually involves tedious trips to dump a shop vac or dealing with messy setups, making the whole process a major hassle.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to get rid of sandy residue and silt in the toilet tank
- 1Using thick bleach to remove residueDid this help you?
- 2Scrubbing the bowl wallsDid this help you?
- 3Cleaning out sediment manually from the toilet tankDid this help you?
- 4Using a shop vacuum to empty the toilet bowlDid this help you?
- 5Carrying water out to the garden in bucketsDid this help you?
- 6Lifting the toilet straight into a cement mixing tubDid this help you?
- 7Using cheaper bulk sodium polyacrylate instead of branded water-absorbing crystalsDid this help you?
- 8Using a bucket and a spongeDid this help you?
- 9Scrubbing the tank manually with a brushDid this help you?
- 10Using bowl-only cleaners instead of tank tabletsDid this help you?
- 11Bleaching the tank briefly after turning off the water and flushingDid this help you?
- 12Removing and cleaning faucet aerators and shower head screensDid this help you?
- 13Running water through the taps with aerators and spray heads removed to flush out trapped sedimentDid this help you?
- 14Calling a plumberDid this help you?
- 15Having someone run a camera through the sewer lineDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Do not buy liquid lock. I buy a 5lb bag of sodium polyacrylate for 30bucks on Amazon. It's an insane racket for oatey to sell a few grams for 4 bucks”source ↗
“over the last six months she’s been getting this residue in both toilets. It doesn’t come off easily with cleaners though bleach does remove it.”source ↗
“she says the city (Vancouver) did change over to a new piping system. So maybe that’s it? How long would it last?”source ↗
“usually its two trips out to the garden to dump the water before I can safely pull the toilet, add stairs and multiple doors and pets and cleaning the shop vac and its kind of pain in the ass...”source ↗
“itd be nice to just lug the auger in and get it done without the shop vac.”source ↗
“Opened the tank and have never seen bubbly black before.”source ↗
“We throw blue things in regularly, so this happened pretty quickly.”source ↗
“I noticed that even two days later there were tiny black particles floating in the water.”source ↗
“I’m stressing if they’ll be in the plumbing forever.”source ↗
“anytime the toilet sits still/is flushed, this brown sediment builds up…can this be cleaned? Do I need a plumber to look at the pipes?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 28Why does my toilet keep clogging and gurgling?
- 2Tankless water heater won't flow when trying to descale
- 7Can you break a plastic water heater drain valve?
- 42How to get a stuck bathtub stopper cap off
- 2How to dispose of thick dirty vacuum water without clogging the sink
- 15How to remove a broken toilet flange yourself