Ok, I've been trying to decide how to best tackle this treatment system I'm putting together. For the most part, our water quality is relatively good. Right now my biggest concerns are the nitrate and pH levels. We do also get small black flake of what I initially thought was chips of shale like rock that eventually clog the screen filters on the faucets etc... now I wonder if it could possibly be from the acidic water corroding the casing or something. All the piping in the house is PEX, so, I'm not concerned with corrosion of piping.
Test results are raw untreated well water.
pH: 5.7 (previous test was 5.8)
Nitrates: 7.6 mg/L (previous test was 9.7)
Link to full test results
Every time I think I have it figured out, I seem to change my mind or find a thread with contradicting advice...
Equipment on hand: Rusco SS 200 mesh (74 microns) sediment trapper and 3 BB filter housings, the rest I'm still trying to figure out.
Given, the stuff I have currently will not address my main concerns but I prefer to over-prepare vs try to play catch up later.
My initial plan was to do something like :
Pressure Tank > Sediment Trap > Neutralizer > BB ( 25 / 10 / 5 / 1 micron) > Softner (if needed) > Nitrate filter
My hope was that a Softener could server dual roles to remove nitrates and soften the water. Although I did see examples of mixing media, I don't believe that's the best idea. I'm leaning toward a 2.5 Vortec non-backflow calcite neutralizer, I know it technically says calcite down to 6.0 but based on our usage and the larger tank I think it would work (correct me if I'm wrong) and then putting the softener between the neutralizer and nitrate filter, however, I feel like the softener would almost negate the acid neutralizer. Then again, I'm not even sure I would need the softener yet.
I've not really considered soda ash injection yet but that could be a solution. I just need to do more research on it. What I saw initially was info pointing to it potentially being toxic if you add too much and ineffective if you add too little... on top of it already requiring more diligent and frequent maintenance
So, I guess my main questions would be:
Test results are raw untreated well water.
pH: 5.7 (previous test was 5.8)
Nitrates: 7.6 mg/L (previous test was 9.7)
Link to full test results
Every time I think I have it figured out, I seem to change my mind or find a thread with contradicting advice...
Equipment on hand: Rusco SS 200 mesh (74 microns) sediment trapper and 3 BB filter housings, the rest I'm still trying to figure out.
Given, the stuff I have currently will not address my main concerns but I prefer to over-prepare vs try to play catch up later.
My initial plan was to do something like :
Pressure Tank > Sediment Trap > Neutralizer > BB ( 25 / 10 / 5 / 1 micron) > Softner (if needed) > Nitrate filter
My hope was that a Softener could server dual roles to remove nitrates and soften the water. Although I did see examples of mixing media, I don't believe that's the best idea. I'm leaning toward a 2.5 Vortec non-backflow calcite neutralizer, I know it technically says calcite down to 6.0 but based on our usage and the larger tank I think it would work (correct me if I'm wrong) and then putting the softener between the neutralizer and nitrate filter, however, I feel like the softener would almost negate the acid neutralizer. Then again, I'm not even sure I would need the softener yet.
I've not really considered soda ash injection yet but that could be a solution. I just need to do more research on it. What I saw initially was info pointing to it potentially being toxic if you add too much and ineffective if you add too little... on top of it already requiring more diligent and frequent maintenance
So, I guess my main questions would be:
- If I added a softener after the neutralizer, am I just basically negating the effectiveness of the neutralizer?
- Is there nitrate preferring resin that can do light softening duty (don't really believe there is)?
- Does the flow make sense or would you guys make changes add/remove items?