What is the Best RV Holding Tank Treatment? An Experiment

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Ever wondered if RV black tank treatments actually work? In this experiment, I put five popular products to the test to uncover the best RV holding tank treatment. The results might surprise you. They certainly suprised me!

What is the Best RV Tank Treatment?

Oxy-Kem RV holding tank treatment.

After testing five popular products, the clear winner was the Oxy-Kem pods. They stood out not just for their effectiveness but also for their ease of use. Let’s dive into how I reached this conclusion.

RV Holding Tank Treatment Experiment

The Setup

I started with five different holding tank treatments that I picked up at my local RV store:

  1. Porta-Pak pods (my current go-to)
  2. Unique RV Digest-It pods
  3. Oxy-Kem pods
  4. AquaMax liquid
  5. Camco TST liquid

Each of these products claimed to break down waste and toilet paper, so I put them to the test. I set up five identical containers, each filled with water, a small piece of dog waste (to simulate the real thing), and three sheets of one-ply Scott 1000 toilet paper.

I then added a proportional amount of each treatment to its corresponding container. Since the treatments are typically meant for full tanks, I scaled down the quantities to fit my experiment.

Ease of Use

Opening the packages gave me some immediate impressions. The AquaMax liquid was messy and dyed my fingertips blue—not ideal for RV life. By contrast, the pods, like those from Oxy-Kem and Porta-Pak, were clean and easy to handle.

Once all the treatments were added, I gave each container a single shake to simulate the movement inside an RV’s black tank. Then I let them sit for 24 hours

The Results

  1. AquaMax Liquid
    • The waste and toilet paper remained mostly intact, with no significant breakdown. The blue dye was the most memorable part of this product—not a good sign.
  2. Camco TST Liquid
    • The waste showed slight breakdown, but the toilet paper was still in large, intact pieces. Not very effective.
  3. Porta-Pak
    • This was my current treatment, and it performed better than the liquids. The waste and toilet paper had started to break down, but there were still noticeable chunks.
  4. Unique RV Digest-It Pods
    • Similar to Porta-Pak, the waste and paper were beginning to break down but were still in large pieces. A decent option but not the best.
  5. Oxy-Kem Pods
    • The clear winner. Both the waste and toilet paper had broken down significantly, leaving small pieces and a much more dissolved mixture. This product outperformed the others in both effectiveness and practicality.

Why Oxy-Kem is the Best

Not only did Oxy-Kem break down waste and paper the most effectively, but the pods are also incredibly convenient. There’s no measuring, no mess, and you simply drop one into your tank. For me, ease of use is just as important as performance, and Oxy-Kem delivered on both fronts.


After this experiment, I’m officially switching to Oxy-Kem pods for my RV holding tank treatment. They’re the most effective option I’ve found, and they make the often-dreaded task of maintaining your black tank a little easier.

Thanks for joining me on this experiment, and Happy Camping!


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