Iron Filter Choice

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Terrasol

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I'm in the first stages of choosing a replacement for the 30 year old iron filter in our newly-acquired rural home. We've got well water with these stats (1-3 had via a laboratory water test):

(1) iron=1.7ppm
(2) manganese=0.296ppm
(3) ph= 7.4
(4) hydrogen sulfide is detectable by nose but not heavy

My thought is a standard greensand filter (i.e., with permanganate). Re/the possibility of Pyrolox or MangOx, I measured the flow rate just after our well tank using the unscientific bucket method and got 15gallons/minute (I'm on a shared well without immediate access to the pump, if that matters).

Additional info: hardness=17.4g/g per laboratory test (though we got merely 5-7 on the store-bought test kit). So the system's got the softener after the iron filter. The softener is working well and getting the hardness level to about 3g/g. The unit to be replaced would appear to be merely a birm filter, since there's no attached supply reservoir and I'm guessing that the pyrolox-type media weren't around 30 years ago. Re/media amount and tank size for the iron filter, we're just two people.

Last thoughts: I hesitate to go the Pyrolox or MangOx route for fear of insufficient backwash flow rate. I'm also unsure of dissolved oxygen levels, though the lab results yielded 7.7mg/l on a sample held way too long and not tested on site. So greensand seems to me best. But what do the more experienced members think?

I look forward to hearing what you've got to say.
 

Mikey

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What about MTM? I don't know anything about it other than it's an alternative.)
 

IDIOT#3

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hello,

i discovered that with MangOx, it is claimed to be 80% manganese dioxide as the medium. it requires ***an above negative 170 ORP*** reading to be effective. i have too low of a reading, and a work around is to use aeration, contact tank, chlorine ahead of the iron filter and or a host of other alternatives.

i have about the same levels of iron and manganese coming from my well. i decided to use a 4.5" X 10" pre-filter, dual 75/25 micron...from the advice of a Minnesota water treatment fella, then a softener using iron-out salt and or resin cleaner, but need to be careful about cleaner types and gel zeolites. the plan is, monitor it for a year, and see if added expense is necessary.

if i find it necessary, i like the air-charging 2510 AIO, it uses Birm (not recommended for Hydrogen sulfide, if i remember correctly), and other media KDF-85...but you could research and probably use other media instead. the added head of air and dissolved oxygen it is claims to produce is key if oxygen is low for certain media to be effective. the other thing i like about it is the fact it is one tank, and the control valve is used to impart air into the system, without an added air compressor.

how effective it would be...not sure. hopefully the first plan works out, and i won't have to revisit the iron issue. it is not as expensive to just re-bed a softener your size, unless you are doing it a couple times a year. ideally...it is best to remove the iron first, and let the softener work on hardness.

i also dicovered there are different names for the same media and mixes. the Pyrolox is reported to require 25-30 gpm for backwashing.

good fortune to you.


***http://waterdoctorjcgalloway.com/manganese-dioxide.html other sites have this information, but it is not always in large type.
 
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Mikey

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The interesting thing about MTM to me is that I've read that regular backwashing with a chlorine solution is sufficient -- no KMNO4 required -- but I haven't found any specific guidelines or configuration information. Do you have anything beyond Clack's data sheet?
 
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