Thank you for the help, answers below.
TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids. Because TDS is a number indicating a total amount of dissolved solids, it is not specific on what the solids are comprised of.
While Sodium will represent one type of dissolved solid, so will calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, chloride, and a broad range of other minerals and metals.
I understand this and I should've said that detailed testing showed high salt content so I'm using a digital salt meter to test the numbers I've stated above.
The way to identify what is contained in the water, will be to have a lab test performed by a qualified water testing lab.
Since TDS is lower from the well but is elevated after the cistern, leads me to question, what materials were utilized to construct the cistern? If concrete, perhaps some concrete leaching is occuring which maybe causing the TDS increase?
It's a concrete cistern, installed in 2021. Is leaching common in new cisterns and if so, does the leeching wane over time or is leaching an unusual occurance?
When was the last time the cistern was completely drained, cleaned and sanitized?
To my knowledge never since it's only 3 years old
What pipe material is utilized between the cistern and house?
Unsure, only pipe I see so far is pic heading into the ground but unsure between the well house and the house.
What type of pump is utilized to pump water from the cistern?
I don't have that information and not sure how to obtain it. There's some kind of weirdness surrounding this well and system because the company that installed it (who are reportedly one of the best in the area) won't return any calls and I've tried repeatedly.
You mention a filter system. Was the higher TDS measured before the filter, or after?
I've measured incoming well water pre-filter and salt measures around 100-150ppm and it stays about the same exiting the system before going into the cistern. There's no jump in salt until it gets pumped out.
If after, is this a backwashing type filter system, or an upflow or cartridge type filter?
The only backwashing is the iron filter
What filtration media is installed?
Prior to the iron filter it's a 25 micron bag filter and after the iron filter is a 1-5 micron cartridge.
MODEL BP-420-25 bag and DGD-2501-20 cartridge
I should also add that there's a Tripple O ozone system (not a UV system that I said above). It's 3 years old and my understanding is the bulbs need changing every 18 months. Could there be some negative effect from this delay in replacing bulbs and also, if you're familiar with this ozone system, the cistern may have been empty for a period of time while the previous owner had city water delivered to the lower house cistern leaving the upper cistern empty. I can't confirm if or for how long but figured I'd cross every possibility.
