Need help choosing best solution to filter water

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Charlees Larrabee

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Hi, I'll start off by giving thanks to all that can help me with my problem. I'm a new home owner and looking to find the best, most cost effective solution to ridding my well water of Iron, Manganese and possibly Sulfur. Back when I first bought the home I was recommended a GE under cabinet softener and while that worked for about 6 months the resin is now fouled and will need replacement. In my home I have two toilets that have been here for around 10 years. I've cleaned out one of the retaining tanks and left the other one as is to keep track of the slime build up. On the tank that I cleaned there is no new buildup however on the uncleaned tank there is a good layer of a dark brown/black slime. There is a possibility I'm assuming that this could be IRB and I plan to have a test done in the next week. The Sulfur smell that we are experiencing is VERY weak, the softener seems to reduce it where it's almost unnoticeable and when there is a small it is only out of the cold water. We have a 40 gallon tank heater and there is never any odd odor coming from the hot water. I'm thinking the Sulfur smell might be IRB?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2iiuwnTSWz5ZDFSTFlSYUhsMlU <--- Water test results from 1 year ago when I bought the home. The well was sitting for 12 months before the sample was taken. I'll be getting a new test done soon. I had a local shop come to my home last week and they tested the Iron on-site as 1PPM from raw water now.

Sorry for the long winded post but I'll do my best to wrap it up! My budget is $2,000 and I've got a limited amount of space to work with, probable 6ft by 6ft being the absolute max. I'd like to keep the current softener and replace the resin inside rather than get a new one. I know what I've got isn't the best and when the valve eventually fails I'll jump for a better model.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that my flow in GPM has been confirmed at 9.8
 

Bannerman

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there is a good layer of a dark brown/black slime
Is the buildup actually slimey to touch or just appearing that way? Prior posters have mentioned slime but when questioned, they acknowledged the deposits were not actually slimey.

A softener is not the best tool to remove the iron quantity that your lab test indicates. Four mg/L iron plus 0.22 mg/L Manganese is a substantial quantity which should be dealt with by a a system specifically intended for that purpose. A softener will not correct a sulfur or bacteria issue.

Katalox Light is now the media of choice for reduction of iron, manganese and sulfur. The quantity of KL would need to be more than available in a cartridge so the iron filter would need to be substantial, likely 2 cuft or larger, depending on your water flow requirements. If there is actually an iron bacteria or sulfur bacteria issue, you may wish to alternatively opt to utilize chlorine injection followed by a contact tank and carbon filtration to deal with the iron, magnesium, sulfur and bacteria issues.

Your test indicates an amount of Arsenic which substantially exceeds the EPA limit. You may wish to consider a Reverse Osmosis system for your drinking/cooking water.

While you refer to an 'under cabinet' softener, I expect you actually mean 'Cabinet' model which has the resin tank located within the brine tank. I don't know which model you have but I suspect you maybe able to revive the resin capacity once the iron is dealt with, by running a resin cleaner such as Iron-Out or similar through the resin bed, perhaps multiple times.
 

ditttohead

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Before we do anything, lets see the new test results. pH, tds, salinity, iron, manganese, silica, hardness bacteria and much more are all important factors that must be considered when doing a water treatment system. Without those, we would only be throwing out ideas that may be good or bad.

As your last test result shows, you are very high on the arsenic level. pH is ideal, tds was not done?
 

Charlees Larrabee

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In the toilet tank it feels slimy but there is definitely a dirt like texture to it as well. It also wipes off and cleans super easy, one streak of the finger on the side of the bowl and it is off. I drained my pressure tank the other day to check my true GPM and once I got it empty the last two gallons of water that came out of it was near pitch black, I'm guessing from the manganese. I am assuming that is what is causing the buildup in the toilets but still want to get a test done to be sure. I believe my true levels of Iron and Maganese are lower that what the test shows and hopefully a new test will reflect that. I was looking at a 1.5 cu ft katalox light setup from Pure Water Products LLC to handle the problem. If I have IRB however I was looking at the chlorine injection, but was curious whether or not the retention tank was something that I must have.

Build up on the shower curtain is a light red color and there is some rust in the shower. In the toilet bowls however there is a black staining up to the water level. The levels of Iron and Maganeese don't seem to be high in day-to-day use. Cleaning the shower and toilets once a week keeps everything looking new and there is no staining of clothes when using the washer.

The biggest issue that we have with our water is when showering. When we installed the softener for the 6 months our water was incredible! No staining and it gave some of the best showers we've ever had. Super soft water, slippery and the wife loved it for shaving. Fast forward to today and it's the same as when we bought the home.

Another thing of note is that when my son takes a bath with bubbles, the bubbles left in the tub that don't drain down end up forming a light black film around the tub. Washes off easy, just annoying.
 

Charlees Larrabee

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Before we do anything, lets see the new test results. pH, tds, salinity, iron, manganese, silica, hardness bacteria and much more are all important factors that must be considered when doing a water treatment system. Without those, we would only be throwing out ideas that may be good or bad.

As your last test result shows, you are very high on the arsenic level. pH is ideal, tds was not done?

Definitely! I plan to get in done ASAP. I just got the sample jars today and will be running them to the lab first thing Monday morning. Because of the Arsenic we have invested in a RO filter for under the sink. I purchased a TDS meter when buying the system. TDS of raw water is 140, TDS of RO water is between 4-6

EDIT: The test that I plan on having done will cover Bacteria, Nitrite, Nitrate, Fluoride, Chloride, Hardness, Copper, Iron, pH and Manganese and Iron Bacteria. Is there anything else that I should have the lab test for?

I work for a chemical company and have access to good accurate equipment. I did my own PH test last week and got 7.42.
 

Reach4

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EDIT: The test that I plan on having done will cover Bacteria, Nitrite, Nitrate, Fluoride, Chloride, Hardness, Copper, Iron, pH and Manganese and Iron Bacteria. Is there anything else that I should have the lab test for?
Arsenic, E. coli again?

Sulfur smell would be from SRB. If you haven't sanitized in the last year or two, I would expect you would be positive for SRB and IRB. I would not bother testing for them presuming they cost a significant amount extra. I would presume they are present and sanitize. I am not a pro.
 
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