Need Help Deciding How To Treat My Water

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HiccaBurp

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Need help in deciding how to treat my water.
Northern IL
Well - about 150'
6-7 people living in the house
2,400 sq ft plus full basement partially finished, full later
3 bathrooms, with a 4th in the basement once finished
SFR = 35 seconds for 5 gallon bucket

Water test results: Aquascience.net Free test. Results similar to other tests by lab.
PH 8.0
TDS 350 ppm
Hardness 136.8 ppm
Iron, Man, Cooper, etc.. ND
Sulfides *POS* not quite sure what that means?

I've had my water tested and Iron has been 1.5 ppm in other tests. My water is clear when poured.. after sitting a few hours, a hint of orange is seen. It seems to fluctuate thru-ought the year.

We also get rotten egg smell. Sometimes it's strong, sometimes barely noticeable. Actually, my water seems to fluctuate quite a bit between the seasons.

Our softener which came with the house can't handle our load and finally not really working. It's a Culligan 8" medalist.

We need a new softener. Plus I'd like to filter out the rotten egg smell and help with iron when it's more prevalent.

Aquascience which i've purchased items from in the past and had good results recommended this...

Fleck 12"x48" Oxygen Chamber System w/2510sxt
http://www.aquascience.net/oxygen-chamber-systems/index.cfm?id=881

Fleck 48,000 grain softener w/2510sxt
http://www.aquascience.net/water-softeners/index.cfm?id=646

I've also had another online retailer recommend softener with a KV 85 or something like that inside the softener, no pre filter besides my Big Blue which I already use.

What is your thoughts? What is your opinion of Aquascience?

Thank you!!
 

ditttohead

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The equipment you are looking at will probably work but the carbon system will probably not do much for the iron.

Water fluctuations are very normal in many areas. You should design the equipment around the worst case water you get.

Iron at 1.5 ppm can be problematic.

See if Aquascince can recommend a different media that handle both iron and H2S. Carbon will do a fairly good job on the H2s. Maybe a manganese dioxide based media.

Otherwise, the good old Chlorine injector/contact tank, GAC, softener combo is always fairly easy to work with. The chlorine injection oxidizes the iron to make removal easy for the GAC bed.

I am not a fan of relying on the softener for iron removal. it works but it is highly inefficient.
 

HiccaBurp

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Thanks Dittohead!

Our water is good sometimes, then for periods we'll get a pretty strong metallic taste/smell, then a strong sulfur smell. Right now the water seems in it's better cycle hence the no iron detected. However, I did fill up a jar and after a day, the water turned from crystal clear to a hint of orange in it.

I agree about not using the softener for iron removal. Plus it wouldn't do anything for the sulfur smell.

Chlorine injections... not a big fan of chlorine in my water since my little kids drink it. Is the GAC supposed to remove it? Yes, but can anyone guarantee something will not go wrong? I just can't take that risk with my kids health? Maybe I'm wrong? Plus I'm a low maintenance type of person.. keeping up with pre/post filters and salt is enough :)

You mention manganese/dioxide... how does that work? Does it require a chemical like Greensand?

I'm not tied to Aquascience, do you have someone else to recommend?

Thanks again!!
 

ditttohead

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Chlorine injection systems put small amounts of chlorine into the water, which is then easily removed by the GAC. This treatment method is a common simple way to be 95% sure the treatment process will work. It has many other benefits as well. Water sanitization, possible tannin reduction, etc.

The greensand plus system you refer to is a simple design and works most of the time. It is usually recommended to use chlorine or other oxidizer as a regenerant. Not many companies rely on Air injection as the sole oxidizer.

I am also not much of a fan of the 5600 being used for the regenerant valve for Greensand Plus. Greensand plus requires 12 GPM per Sq. Ft. @ 55 F to properly backwash, so 7 GPM would be needed to backwash that system properly. If your water temperature exceeds 55F, then higher flow rates would be needed. The maximum backwash rate of the 5600 with a 25 PSI drop is 7 GPM. The 2510 or 7000 would be better choices for this media in a 10" tank.
 
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