Need help sizing my ph neutralizer

My ph tank serves the main house 2 1/2 bath 4 people and cottage 1 bath 1 person. It has 1 " pvc plumbing.
A 1500 gal. holding tank has juist been added. I have measured the flow rate at a faucet by the pressure tank to be 14.35 gpm (5.5 gals/23sec x60). The well water was just tested
ph 6.5
iron 0
mag .041
cloride 100
hardness 4
alk 4
tds 55

I was looking online at a Fleck 5600 with a 10 x 54 tank but they say it is for a flow rate of 12 gpm.
What would be the problem if my flow rate is 14.3 Gpm?
Also, would you use calcite only or a calcite/corosex mix?

tfasbind said:

My ph tank serves the main house 2 1/2 bath 4 people and cottage 1 bath 1 person. It has 1 " pvc plumbing.
A 1500 gal. holding tank has juist been added. I have measured the flow rate at a faucet by the pressure tank to be 14.35 gpm (5.5 gals/23sec x60). The well water was just tested
ph 6.5
iron 0
mag .041
cloride 100
hardness 4
alk 4
tds 55

I was looking online at a Fleck 5600 with a 10 x 54 tank but they say it is for a flow rate of 12 gpm.
What would be the problem if my flow rate is 14.3 Gpm?
Also, would you use calcite only or a calcite/corosex mix?

Click to expand...

By going into a holding tank, you will not have a problem with the flow rate. I would sugest you go with an upflow valve. Calcite or calcite/corosex mixture will tend to harden with down flow causing problems.

I currently am using an upflow system and everytime we use the bathtub in the master bath it spikes the internal filter and drops flow to a trickle. Also calcite is getting through and clogging a sediment filter which was put there to stop calcite from getting into the plumbing.

Up flow is a bad choice. For one reason being you need a prefilter usually.

Down flow will not work if installed before the 1500 gal tank because there will be no water flow to/through the filter for backwashing and settle rinse unless the pump runs to refill the 1500 gal tank, which won't happen unless you are using water in the house at just the right time to cause refilling of the tank and the refill continues until the backwash is finished.

So you need the AN filter after this new 1500 gal tank.

AN mineral will not clump or 'cement' in a down flow unit unless you don't have enough hardness in the water to use it. You have enough for Calcite (only) at 4 gpg. Neutralizing this water will add about 1-3 gpg of hardness to your already 4 gpg.

A 10" x 54" (1.5 cuft) AN filter does not have a 12 gpm SFR. It will have about 5 gpm SFR, meaning when you exceed 5 gpm, the time is too short to neutralize all the acidity. That's due to too little mineral and it being in contact with the water for too short a length of time. If you go to a larger filter, like say a 2.0 cuft, then your pump may not be capable of successful backwashing.

Measuring 14.35 gpm through a faucet says the actual 1" or full flow output of the pump is higher by a number of gpm. That is/was lifting your up flow filter mineral too high and it gets into the top basket plugging it up and reducing flow through it. Flow controlling the line to like <10 gpm to the filter would have prevented that but the SFR gpm of the up flow filter may be only 3-4 gpm and above that gpm you don't neutralize all the acid.

The 1500 gal holding tank is between the well and the ph neutralizer.The current configuation is............. Well > holding tank > pressure tank > sedement filter > up-flow ph neutralizer > sedement filter > house & cottage.

Why not put the PH filter in between the well and the holding tank?

Are you saying use the current up-flow ph neutralizer in the following configuration.............well > sedement filter > up-flow ph neutralizer > holding tank > pressure tank > sedement filter > house and cottage ? That does make sence since I have a farely low producing well ( somewhere @ 5gpm) I shouldn't be clogging the filter in the ph tank.
Does it matter if the ph treated water sits in a holding tank? Also, Does a concrete holding tank have any affect on ph?

One problem that I see with this configuration is that all my landscaping would be ph treated water....I currently have it split before the ph filter. ( one line goes dirrectly to landscaping, the other to the ph filter which supplies the house and cottage.
If I move the landscapping feed before the holding tank, my well can't keep up with demand ( one of the reasons that I installed the holding tank).

So when the float in the tank says that it is time the well comes on at 5gpm till it shuts off?

The calcite filter would always have the same flow... 5 gpm and not up and down from .5gpm to 8 gpm..

Would the landscaping be hurt if it was to get ph corrected water?

About the only down side is that you might have to add calcite a little bit more often, say every 12 months and not 18 months..

tfasbind said:

Does it matter if the ph treated water sits in a holding tank? Also, Does a concrete holding tank have any affect on ph?

Click to expand...

Low pH water will gradually eat away at a concrete holding tank--the tank will, to a degree, neutralize the acid water and raise the pH. Treating the water before it goes into the concrete holding tank will prolong the life of your holding tank.

Gary Slusser said:

Measuring 14.35 gpm through a faucet says the actual 1" or full flow output of the pump is higher by a number of gpm.

Click to expand...

It seems to me that measuring flow from the faucet says absolutely nothing about the output of the pump--it only shows the output of the pressure tank--unless the pressure tank is empty and the pump is running.

I'm liking the idea of putting the ph filter before the holding tank more and more.
If I do that........is there a way of ph treating the existing 1500 gal. in the tank..or woulld you not worry about it?

As the water is used it will be replaced with treated water.

You could drain down the 1500 gallons or just use it and let it be replaced with corrected water, might take a few days, but if the yard is in need of water,, then at 4gpm about 5-6 hours later most if not all of the untreated will be replace by treated.

Another question..............since the well pump is currently controlled by floats in the holding tank.............how would I activate the well pump when adding calcite to the ph filter to drain clear?

Just do it when the tank is down say 200+ gallons..

So this is what I've come up with. Does this look like it should work?
The ph filter will be fed by the well @ 5gpm instead of by the storage tank @ 14 gpm.
When I add calcite to the ph filter, i can close the shut -off valves from the well and to the storage tank and open the line at the bottom of the page to feed the ph filter from the holding tank.
I can flush it clear using the hose bib at the 100 micron sediment filter.

Actualy, I think I'll eliminate the line at the bottom of the page for clearing the ph tank and put in a hose bib right before the ph tank. Then when I want to flush clear, I'll hook up a hose from the hose bib by the pressure reg. to the new hose bib by the ph tank.

Looks simple, and that it should work.

Why is the pre filter needed? Sand?

There has always been a prefilter on the system and it does get dirty. I haven't noticed sand, it just gets kind of gucky. Also, I have a drip irrigation system, and now that the landscaping water comes through the ph treated line I think the prefilter will help keep the emitters from cloging.
I've also been told that with an upflow system it's a good idea to use a sediment filter since the ph filter doesn't get backwashed.

I'm going to start rerouting the lines today. It's going to take a few days since I do have a tennant in the cottage and I'm going to try to keep downtime to a minimum.
I'm anxious to see if this stops my calcite from passing through. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks for the help.

At worst, if a little calcite made it past into the tank, it would eventually dissolve in there and is unlikely to be flushed to the rest of your system.