Fresh water tank sanitation

The amount of bleach needed to sanitize the RV tank is about one cup of bleach for every 40 gallons. A 43-ounce bottle of bleach can cost $10 or more, depending on the brand, but you can save a lot of money by using it for routine RV water tank cleanup.

I noticed when reading through this thread that some may be running the bleach through the toilet. I thought that you should never put bleach in the black tank?

Thanks all for the info.  But now I have another thought.  Should the bleach sanitizing and odor/taste neutralizing include the hot water heater?  I am concerned that it might negatively affect the anode rod.  I guess I could remove the rod and plug the drain hole???  

I am of the alternate opinion, I never sanitized my FWT, yet we used it all the time, almost never having water hookups where we camped.

We only used the FWT for showers and dishwashing. Cooking, drinking, toothbrushing water was always taken from a 2.5 gallon bottled water dispenser. I learned this from many years traveling in remote locations in underdeveloped countries.

This approach has the advantages of never having to worry about ingesting contaminated water and also allowed us to bring a few extra gallons. Since water was our limiting factor boondocking that extended our stays. And regardless of how well you sanitize your tank you can't ever be sure the water your putting in it is really safe, there could be contamination somewhere in the water system.

In any case that's what we do and why. Others do the sanitation thing and are comfortable drinking the FWT water. As you say it's all about choices