Barely hard water but constant spots on glass shower. Need advice

[Simcole]

Hi all. I registered here because of all of the conflicting info I'm getting across the board. I have a private well at my house and it's my first well ever. I put my own 20" big blue water filter system on myself and am quite handy, so this should be right up my wheelhouse. I have a total hardness of 38mg/l or 2.2gpg water hardness. Here is a picture of my quality report.



I have a family of 4 and I'd rather estimate on the high side. I figure I'd just get the 64k unit from my local hardware store and be done with it but I wanted someone else to chime in. My high estimate math is: 400gal * 2.5gpg = 900gpg per day. 7 day cycle * 900gpg = 6300gpg per week. 75% efficiency unit would mean that I need a 10,000 grain unit.

There are two conditions I'd like to solve here.

1) I have a master glass shower that has water spots on it now after living here 6 months. I didn't blade the water off and now I'm stuck trying to scrub these spots off with 000-gauge steel wool because no cleaner has removed the spots so far. I've tried CLR, rubbing compound, vinegar, magic eraser, etc. I have since bought a blade and squeegee the walls and floor after every shower now which kinda sucks but whatever.

2) I have a slight iron coloration after about 2 weeks in the toilet bowl. I have looked into this and found it's probably clear iron as opposed to normal rust colored iron.

What softener would I need to handle these two situations?

 

[Bannerman]

An element not specified in your report is Silica. Silica will often leave spots that are virtually impossible to remove. If the spotting was a result of hardness, then CLR should have removed them.

There is no filtration system that will remove Silica except Reverse Osmosis.

Many find the periodic application of a water-repellent coating such as Rain-X will be effective to prevent additional spotting. Unfortunately, there is not currently an effective method to remove the spots that are already there.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Simcole]

An element not specified in your report is Silica. Silica will often leave spots that are virtually impossible to remove. If the spotting was a result of hardness, then CLR should have removed them.

There is no filtration system that will remove Silica except Reverse Osmosis.

Many find the periodic application of a water-repellent coating such as Rain-X will be effective to prevent additional spotting. Unfortunately, there is not currently an effective method to remove the spots that are already there.

I am unsure about Silica content. So far the steel wool is working but taking forever. I plan on using RainX after this gets cleaned or Endura Shield. Any other good methods of removing these spots I should try? I did dillute the CLR to the 50/50 it recommended and only left it on for 5 minutes, maybe I'll try full strength for 10 min.

 

[Reach4]

I have a family of 4 and I'd rather estimate on the high side. I figure I'd just get the 64k unit from my local hardware store and be done with it but I wanted someone else to chime in. My high estimate math is: 400gal * 2.5gpg = 900gpg per day. 7 day cycle * 900gpg = 6300gpg per week. 75% efficiency unit would mean that I need a 10,000 grain unit.

In general, do not use the advertised grains for calculation. Use about 2/3 for that, because to get the nominal grains takes a lot more salt than you want to use. However your 75% factor is pretty good, so just switch to 66%. Also, add a couple grains of hardness to compensate for maybe 0.4 ppm iron based on your description.

Cabinet type softeners are compact, but tend to be considered replaceable units. The softeners with the separate brine tanks are more maintainable, although they do take more space.

If CLR won't remove spots, I agree that silica could explain it. https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/silica-etching-glasses.84048/

If you sprayed down the shower with distilled or RO water after showering, that could help. Maybe replace shower doors with frosted glass where the deposits may not show.

 

[ditttohead]

NTLWATERTEST

Use this link, a full well water test would help.

That being said, when you replace your shower doords be sure to spend the extra few bucks for the coated glass. Some popular options are ShowerGuard glass and EnduroShield EC5. Many more available. These ar basically hydrophobic coatings that do a remarkable job of protecting the glass for many years. Even ith perfectly soft water, silica will still be a major problem. FYI, I do not enodrs either of the two coatings I mentined, they are just a couple that i am familiar with.