It sounds like good “old blue” may be gone, but there’s Thetfords Aqua Max; so dont get too worried yet.

For Years Thetfords Aqua Kem (the blue colored black tank treatment) was what everyone seemed to use in their black tanks. Aqua Kem smelled great and did a fairly decent job taking care of any waste problems in the black tank.

Then the market started to change and folks began using the Geo Method; or various tank treatments that relied on probiotic enzymes to digest the waste. Trust me, we tried several and were never impressed with the odor control.

We ran out of Aqua Kem on our recent journey to the great North. So I ordered Aqua Max which also relies on probiotic enzymes to break down waste. The product has a nice scent to it but its not nearly as strong a scent as Aqua Kem.

What we found was that this might be the best product for digesting waste that we’ve ever tried; but doesn’t do much at all to control odors. I could tell after three days that odor control was an issue. looking at reviews on-line, I can see this is a common complaint.

I had a conversation with a Thetford representative on whether they were considering tweaking the odor control, and he said they were currently working on the formula. He also told me that Aqua Kem has been discontinued due to the formaldehyde that is one of its main ingredients.

If Thetford finds a way to improve odor control I would always buy Aqua Max. It works really great at digesting solids. For better odor control in the meantime they suggest adding another bottle to the black tank….but thats expensive!

So for now we will rely on our back up supply of Aqua Kem; and see what improvements are made to Aqua Max.

To read more about Thetfords Aqua Max click here.