Filter well water for iron and manganese

[Michaelco]

We want to filter iron, manganese from a new well, prior to it entering a couple of 5,000 gallon storage tanks. .
Our Iron levels are .740 mg/l
and Manganese .051 ppm.
There is also a slight sulfur smell (hydrogen sulfide), but figure the filter will be able to deal with that as well.

We're looking at an Air Over Media type filter whose controller provides an output for controlling the well's submersible pump.

Most of the iron filters I've seen are typically located on a line that's always under pressure, so there is no problem when the filter goes into a backwash/regen mode.

In our case, the water line heading into the storage tanks will not be under pressure, and there won't be any water flow unless the tanks are low and has turned on the well's submersible pump.

I could locate the filter in the pump house right after the pressure tanks, and it would be a more typical configuration - and work fine, but was hoping to filter the water before it enters the storage tanks, to minimize sediment buildup in the tanks.

I haven't been able to find a filter whose controller has an output, so unless the pump happens to be on during the filter's backwash mode, the backwash won't happen.

Water usage:
The well, is set to pump at 10 gpm, and has the heaviest use when we're irrigating our main orchard - we use drip irrigation, which uses ~3000 gallons per irrigation. We have other fruit/nut trees we irrigate which we schedule for a different day. The most we have used across any two days is 5,000 gallons. The house use is negligible compared to the irrigation - less than 50 gallons a day.

 

[Zenon2cubed]

The Fleck 5800 SXT has a programmable relay output that could be used to trigger a relay which in turn would energize the pump. The relay would be set to energize when the regeneration starts and de-energize when complete. The AIO style filter needs pressure on the tank at all times to contain the air pocket. Sending 10 GPM through an AIO filter would probably pull the air bubble right out so you would want to add a flow restrictor downstream of the filter.

I would suggest you post details in the well/pump forum, I think you may want to add a check valve, cycle stop valve, and a pressure tank to convert your cistern supply into a pressurized line and then use an actuated valve to fill the cistern.

On a side note, I'm new to well water and you have nearly the same iron and manganese levels as my well, will my garden plants, lawn, or trees need any special fertilizer considerations? Should I consider watering them with iron / manganese free water?

Goodluck!

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Michaelco]

The Fleck 5800 SXT has a programmable relay output that could be used to trigger a relay which in turn would energize the pump. The relay would be set to energize when the regeneration starts and de-energize when complete. The AIO style filter needs pressure on the tank at all times to contain the air pocket. Sending 10 GPM through an AIO filter would probably pull the air bubble right out so you would want to add a flow restrictor downstream of the filter.

I would suggest you post details in the well/pump forum, I think you may want to add a check valve, cycle stop valve, and a pressure tank to convert your cistern supply into a pressurized line and then use an actuated valve to fill the cistern.

On a side note, I'm new to well water and you have nearly the same iron and manganese levels as my well, will my garden plants, lawn, or trees need any special fertilizer considerations? Should I consider watering them with iron / manganese free water?

Goodluck!

Thanks for passing on the warning about maintaining the air bubble, and suggestion to post on the well/pump forum.
Not all plants are sensitive to excess iron, but many plants don't do well with a high iron level - the
water agricultural suitability says iron levels below .300 mg/l are acceptable

 

[Zenon2cubed]

Thanks for the tip on Iron, I have 0.513 ml/L so I'll need to do some research. I think what you want to do is possible, but it will take some planning.