Puzzling well water quality problem

[Ben der Dundat]

The problematic issue I have with my well water is a dirty-looking residue that's left behind on surfaces the water evaporates from. It's really depressing and disgusting. The residue is usually easily removed with the finger; sometimes it's really dry and comes off like a scale or powder (like in the soap dispenser in my washing machine), sometimes it's less dry and has a sort of greasy quality to it (like on my stainless kitchen sink), but sometimes it takes scrubbing (like in my shower). On the wall behind the sink, it looks like what you would see on the outside of a coffee cup when some coffee dribbles down and then dries leaving behind a light brown residue. Splatter from rinsing dishes causes this.

The water comes out clear from the tap and tastes great, but for some reason this junk gets left behind. There were times years ago when the water came out cloudy, but that problem went away not long after I filled in a small pond the previous owner made that was probably less than 50' from the well.

I thought it was iron because it's light brown, and there is brown staining in the toilet tank (some very dark) that smells like rust. But I had my water tested today, and the two samples had 0.00 ppm and 0.01 ppm (I ran the pump through a couple of cycles before taking the first sample, and the second sample was taken as soon as I turned the faucet on). So I'm pretty sure I don't need an iron filter.

In the pot of water I leave for the cats to drink out of, a film forms on the sides and bottom after a few days, and builds up if I don't wipe it off. In a pool I had last year, this stuff would collect on the sides and bottom, and then become floc-like and collect on the bottom when I wiped it off. The cheapo pool filter filtered out the junk until it would clog up, but the clay-like gunk washed off easily with a hose nozzle.

I suspect maybe colloidal clay (cc), but the water is clear, and I've read that cc causes cloudiness. So I'm puzzled. Maybe it is cc, but just not enough to cause cloudiness.

First test results:

pH - 7.3
Hardness - 195 ppm
Alkalinity - 221 ppm
Copper, iron, phosphate - 0 ppm
TDS - 218 ppm

Any help to get me on the right track to know how to remediate this problem is much appreciated.

 

[Ben der Dundat]

At this point it seems to me that I need some kind of fine particle filtration followed by a water softener. I'm afraid that if I don't get the fine clay (or whatever it is) removed initially, it would foul a backwash water softener. Maybe not, I don't know.

The reason I think I need a softener is because the fouling along the rim of the cat water bowl, which doesn't get wiped off and discarded like the stuff on the bottom frequently does, builds up to the point that it becomes a hard, crusty, light brown mineralization that takes more effort to scrape off.