Make a Tannin system from a Water Softener

I found a supplier of chlorine by phoning the company that makes it; Alpha Chemical in Dartmouth, who pointed me to Atlantic chemical and finally to Colby Liesure Pools. The original product name is Alpha 12. I left a message and will find out the price when he calls back. Comes in liquid 5L pails sold 3 in a case from the suppliers to the retailers.
I will find another contact tank, cast iron is out. Thanks...
Looks like the HN55 will be the pump if I do this. Noise probably won't be an issue since it will be in a room. 3 hours till I'm off to the cottage!

Majorshooter said:

I found a supplier of chlorine by phoning the company that makes it; Alpha Chemical in Dartmouth, who pointed me to Atlantic chemical and finally to Colby Liesure Pools. The original product name is Alpha 12.

Click to expand...

Good find. That is WQA Goldseal certified: http://12.2.248.199/goldseal/6.html

Mikey, It was your post about the gold certification of Chlorox that helped me find the gold seal site and then I went through a bunch of listed Canadian companies until I found one that listed chlorine. The companys head office just happens to be right here in Dartmouth!

Thanks

"This product—a germicide—is an 8.25% sodium hypochlorite solution containing approximately 7.85% available chlorine by weight. In addition to being a highly effective liquid chlorine bleach for laundering and household disinfecting, it is widely used in sanitation of poultry and livestock houses and equipment, dairies, creameries, restaurants and taverns, as well as for purification of drinking water and disinfection of water for swimming and wading pools."

Maybe it's just me.... none of that mentions or seems to apply, to common Clorox 5.25% household bleach. So saying "Clorox" seems to be in error, unless the correct/specific Clorox product is included.

Gary Slusser said:

Maybe it's just me.... none of that mentions or seems to apply, to common Clorox 5.25% household bleach. So saying "Clorox" seems to be in error, unless the correct/specific Clorox product is included.

Click to expand...

Good point. Clorox does a lousy job of advertising this capability of their "standard" bleach. The 5.25% and 6% versions were WQA-listed, and still claimed to be OK for water purification. The newer "Concentrated" version is also OK, according to their Consumer Services folks:

"Clorox Liquid Concentrated Bleach - Regular Scent may still be used for water disinfection/sanitization. The concentrated formula has 8.25 percent sodium hypochlorite. This means you may reduce your bleach usage by 1/3 to obtain the same parts per million of available chlorine."

The caution was on the label of their 5.25% bleach.

Gary Slusser said:

The caution was on the label of their 5.25% bleach.

Click to expand...

I'll rummage around in the next few days and try to find a bottle of that.

That caution was years ago and I haven't seen it heard of in years but I don't see where Clorox is including the 5.25% bleach as all government agencies, water treatment guys, etc. etc. do. And I suspect there is a reason they don't want it used as such or they would include it. Also, those saying to use "bleach" then includes all manufacturers' bleach.

Yeah, just saying "bleach" opens up a large can of worms. There was talk of benzene being in some bleaches, everyone's trying fancy scents (including Clorox, who specifically advise not using scented Clorox for potable water treatment), and the overall QC isn't so great in the off-brands. One neighbor recommends swimming-pool chlorine, but again the brand name matters. Majorshooter really did it right by looking through the list of WQA gold-sealed manufacturers and tracking down a retail supply.

Or just saying Clorox like my good buddy said previously.

Dittohead, I performed the Chlorine bleach test you mentioned and it didn't make any real difference in the water color. I think it actually made it more yellow than yellowish brown. I installed a small under the counter carbon filter that was laying around the cottage for years at the kitchen sink. It made a big difference. The water was almost clear in a styrofoam cup. I dropped the lake water samples off for testing. I haven't heard back from the guy with the water softener on the size of the resin tank. I heard that you need 2 cubic feet of resin for adequate removal which might mean some smaller tanks would not hold the resin. Any comments on that? I think I better email him again. Maybe I can get the price down. If the resin gets close to the top of the tank I also read that you need a basket. I assume that is to stop the media from leaving the tank?
Cheers all. And thanks for the help. I will find what is right for me with your help.

Your "pilot" test says a lot. If the color is eaily removed with carbon at a high flow rate, you may be able to simply replace the media in your tank with GAC. It is much cheaper, no regenerant, and it also removes many chemicals that may or may not be present in the lake water. Do you have a lot of power boats in the lake? I sell a lot of tannin removal equipment, but I am not a big fan of it. The problems it can create sometimes outweigh the benefits. Try this test, run water though the carbon filter at a high speed, as fast as the filter will handle. Does it still remove the color? Do you have the model number of the filter? The color can be from many sources, and some may be removed by carbon, tannin resin, or even just the micron rating of the filter. It will cost almost nothing to do the next test. buy a 5 micron or 1 micron sediment filter cartridge and put it in the filter housing in place of the carbon. See if that also clears it up. Please post the test results when you get them and we will come up with a great and reasonble priced solution for you.

First off what is GAC? Something Active Carbon/Charcoal? During the summer months we get a fair amount of power boats/Jet ski's on the weekends. It is slowly becoming more of a pontoon boat lake. I will test the filter at high speed and get a model# next trip. I think the color is the same at a slow or fast rate of flow. I am currently running 5 micron and 1 micron whole house filters after my pump and before my flourescent bacteria system, hot water and buffer tanks. The carbon filter is after all that under the kitchen sink. It makes the biggest difference in color.

Majorshooter said:

First off what is GAC? Something Active Carbon/Charcoal? During the summer months we get a fair amount of power boats/Jet ski's on the weekends. It is slowly becoming more of a pontoon boat lake. I will test the filter at high speed and get a model# next trip. I think the color is the same at a slow or fast rate of flow. I am currently running 5 micron and 1 micron whole house filters after my pump and before my flourescent bacteria system, hot water and buffer tanks. The carbon filter is after all that under the kitchen sink. It makes the biggest difference in color.

Click to expand...

OK I see.... Granular Activated Carbon. Some more reading req'd.

Finally got the info back from the gentleman with the water softener for sale. It is a 10 x 56 inch canister and a 16 x 16 x 37 brine tank, Fleck 5600 head. I have to reply back whether I want the water softener, he is asking $400 and it is only a couple of years old. Does it sound like a good buy? Big enough for the tannin media? 1.5 or 2 cu/ft? Still no word from the guy I gave the water samples to. I will find his number and give him a call.

As for the sediment filter test the system already has 5 micron and one micron inline whole house filters installed and yes it cut the color down considerably.

Majorshooter said:

Finally got the info back from the gentleman with the water softener for sale. It is a 10 x 56 inch canister and a 16 x 16 x 37 brine tank, Fleck 5600 head. I have to reply back whether I want the water softener, he is asking $400 and it is only a couple of years old. Does it sound like a good buy?

Click to expand...

That is about 2/3 of the price of a new 2 cubic ft system delivered with new softener resin. That's high for used.

Plus I will have to buy tannin resin if I go forward with it and that ain't cheap. I doubt he will go $200, maybe 250....