Katalox Backwash How High Lift

[iblackihiawk]

I suspect that with your new less lossy path, you can adjust the flow up, and see the KL boiling at the right level. So use a valve to limit the flow and raise it until you are about half way to 2/3 of the way to the top. It would be interesting to see what gpm that occurs at.

Any recommendations for a bleach solution to let it soak for a couple hours in to try to break up the chunks a little.

After about 2 hours of breaking it up with a broomstick (I may do some tomorrow but I ripped half my nail off on the lip of the tank on accident), I think I have have gotten "most" of the chunks, some of the chunks were probably 4-5 inches a piece some were only .5 in. I pounded out what I could to turn it back into sand/gravel and I think I may get much better flow now.

I will be trying the DLFC that you referenced.

Can you reuse media or is it a lost cause?

If I pour all of the media out into a tub, break it down into sand completely and re-add is back in will it still work or is it too far gone.

I am goign to try all the options besides having to purchase more katalox, but I will if needed, and I will likely put in 1.5 cuft this time which I think you said required about 7-8gpm?

 

[LLigetfa]

It looks like there is a deflector at the top. You can just pull this off it looks like? Similar to the one on the left. There is not a basket like the one on the right.

I assume the picture is not yours. Without a top basket, there is a risk of losing media down the drain or clogging up the head. Mine has a top basket and so not worried about either. I have a blowdown/sample port with ball valve just before the inlet onto which I thread an airline fitting through which I can introduce small bursts of compressed air. If I suspect the media has blobbed, evidenced by the drain line running clear, I give it small bursts of air to create a boiling action to break up the blob. I monitor the drain for evidence of iron.

If I give it too much air and drive the media up onto the top basket, clogging it, the drain line flow will decrease. I then switch to the fast rinse and pack cycle to clear the basket. This is all useless info for you since you have no top basket.

Another method I use to break up the blob is to slap the side of the tank with my hand creating vibrations in the tank while in the backwash cycle. I monitor the drain line for results.

I think the media could be dumped out into a feed grain sack to contain it and then plunge and knead it to wash and break it up. After the mixture of gravel and media is poured back into the tank, a backwash will separate and stratify the gravel to the bottom.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[iblackihiawk]

I assume the picture is not yours. Without a top basket, there is a risk of losing media down the drain or clogging up the head. Mine has a top basket and so not worried about either. I have a blowdown/sample port with ball valve just before the inlet onto which I thread an airline fitting through which I can introduce small bursts of compressed air. If I suspect the media has blobbed, evidenced by the drain line running clear, I give it small bursts of air to create a boiling action to break up the blob. I monitor the drain for evidence of iron.

If I give it too much air and drive the media up onto the top basket, clogging it, the drain line flow will decrease. I then switch to the fast rinse and pack cycle to clear the basket. This is all useless info for you since you have no top basket.

Another method I use to break up the blob is to slap the side of the tank with my hand creating vibrations in the tank while in the backwash cycle. I monitor the drain line for results.

I think the media could be dumped out into a feed grain sack to contain it and then plunge and knead it to wash and break it up. After the mixture of gravel and media is poured back into the tank, a backwash will separate and stratify the gravel to the bottom.

Yeah I don't have a top basket but I have a top dispersion net or whatever its called.

Okay I will likely try to put it back into service and backwash it for an extended period of time and see if it will break up with water naturally with good 8-9gpm flow which based on reach4 should give me almost 50% expansion (which I will monitor to make sure it doesn't get too high), and then I will worst case have to take the media out and dump it into a garbage bin and break it up and then introduce back into the tank and give it a good couple backwashes

Just wasn't sure if I should introduce bleach at some point.

There is no way to draw a solution in with my tank (it doesn't have the brine assembly whatsoever) so if I do go that route, I would need to pour it in from the top and let it soak, put it back into service and then backwash.

 

[Bannerman]

An upper screen is not normally installed in an iron removal system since the screen will usually become partially blocked with ferric iron deposits, just as observed in the photo. A screen blockage can reduce the backwash rate, resulting in insufficient media lift during backwash and further resulting in the media clumping together as you describe.

An umbrella diffuser installed on the riser tube is intended to deflect the incoming water across the surface of the media instead of pouring straight down and eroding a void into the media directly below.

The chart linked below specifies the usual recommended backwash rate for Katalox Light media to be 10-15 GPM per square foot (ft2) so as to achieve 20-30% bed expansion. Since your 10" diameter tank cross section equals 0.54 ft2, the appropriate backwash rate will then be 5.4 - 8.1 GPM while using 60°F temperature incoming flow. If your water temperature is cooler than 60°F, then the backwash rate should be normally reduced to compensate for the higher density cooler water. The backwash rate is conditional on each specific media, tank diameter and water temperature, not the quantity of media within the tank.

Because your unit contains only 1 ft3 media within a tank that is suitable for 1.5 ft3, there will be additional freeboard space above the media which will allow greater backwash rate than 8.1 GPM with little risk of media loss to drain. Assuming your well pump and piping are capable of supporting 9 GPM constant, you could install a 9 GPM DLFC button.

Because you suspect the 1/2" drain tubing is limiting the backwash rate, before replacing the drain tube, you might temporarily disconnect the 1/2" tubing and install a short length of 3/4" tubing directed into a bucket to assess if the backwash rate will be increased.

Once the flow rate to drain is increased, to attempt to further breakup the media clumps, you could perform an extended backwash. Once the controller is advanced to backwash, remove the power plug from the wall socket to prevent the control valve from advancing until power is restored. Back washing the media for 30-60 minutes at a higher flow rate maybe sufficient to substantially reduce the amount of clumping in the media.

https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/155

 

[iblackihiawk]

An upper screen is not normally installed in an iron removal system since the screen will usually become partially blocked with ferric iron deposits, just as observed in the photo. A screen blockage can reduce the backwash rate, resulting in insufficient media lift during backwash and further resulting in the media clumping together as you describe.

An umbrella diffuser installed on the riser tube is intended to deflect the incoming water across the surface of the media instead of pouring straight down and eroding a void into the media directly below.

The chart linked below specifies the usual recommended backwash rate for Katalox Light media to be 10-15 GPM per square foot (ft2) so as to achieve 20-30% bed expansion. Since your 10" diameter tank cross section equals 0.54 ft2, the appropriate backwash rate will then be 5.4 - 8.1 GPM while using 60°F temperature incoming flow. If your water temperature is cooler than 60°F, then the backwash rate should be normally reduced to compensate for the higher density cooler water. The backwash rate is conditional on each specific media, tank diameter and water temperature, not the quantity of media within the tank.

Because your unit contains only 1 ft3 media within a tank that is suitable for 1.5 ft3, there will be additional freeboard space above the media which will allow greater backwash rate than 8.1 GPM with little risk of media loss to drain. Assuming your well pump and piping are capable of supporting 9 GPM constant, you could install a 9 GPM DLFC button.

Because you suspect the 1/2" drain tubing is limiting the backwash rate, before replacing the drain tube, you might temporarily disconnect the 1/2" tubing and install a short length of 3/4" tubing directed into a bucket to assess if the backwash rate will be increased.

Once the flow rate to drain is increased, to attempt to further breakup the media clumps, you could perform an extended backwash. Once the controller is advanced to backwash, remove the power plug from the wall socket to prevent the control valve from advancing until power is restored. Back washing the media for 30-60 minutes at a higher flow rate maybe sufficient to substantially reduce the amount of clumping in the media.

https://view.publitas.com/impact-water-products/2018-catalog-final/page/155

Any recommendations to clean the media while I have the top open and can add a bleach solution before I put it back into service?

If I do add bleach what concentration should I add?

Thanks.

 

[Bannerman]

Cleaning the media is performed during each backwash cycle that is utilizing the required backwash flow rate.

An oxidizer such as oxygen, chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, ozone or pot perm is often injected into the water stream before it enters the KL filter to benefit with initiating oxidation of iron, manganese and/or H2S which will assist the KL to further oxidize and filter out the remaining unwanted elements.

Which oxidizer and quantity of KL needed, will be greattly determined by water conditions. I do not recall seeing a current comprehensive lab report for your raw well water.

 

[iblackihiawk]

I suspect that with your new less lossy path, you can adjust the flow up, and see the KL boiling at the right level. So use a valve to limit the flow and raise it until you are about half way to 2/3 of the way to the top. It would be interesting to see what gpm that occurs at.

I took everything out of service, took off the controller, took off the diffuser and spent about 6 hours with a broomstick and a light and laying on the floor breaking up all of the large pieces of media that I could. I really didn't want to pour it out unless I absolutely had to. Half of a thumbnail later (I caught my thumb one time trying to break up the bottom of the tank and bent back and ripped off half of my thumbnail on the lip of the tank), I got EVERY chunk that I could possibly get with a broomstick

Re-ran the entire inlet with 1" PEX and 1" Sharkbite fittings.

I removed all of the filters except for a 100 Micron Spindown Filter with 1" Inlet/Outlet.

I tried backwashing with the 7gpm button that was provided to me and got almost 0 lift again same results as before. I was getting approximately 6-6.5GPM only. (The distributor tried telling me that I was only getting this because the tank was clogged which I thought could be true after looking inside, I'm pretty sure he was wrong now though).

I took 7gpm button out and and got pretty good results around 8-8.5ish GPM still. If anyone knows what (in inches) 4"-5" lift. It almost uniformly lifts 4" inches before "bubbling"? I want to know what % lift approx I am getting especially after a 1.5 hour backwash.

Just as an update but I needed to get it back into service now, here is the results much more uniform but not as much lift as I expected for 8gpm:

I still intend to do what Reach4 and others have recommended and will be installing the 9gpm DLFC (I would be curious if I can find a 10 GPM one) and will post the results of 9gpm as well if they are different than the 8gpm. I am thinking the hose is too much of a limitation to get more than 8ish gpm though a 1/2ID hose.

Big thanks to Reach4 and Bannerman and LLGet for the help. If you can answer question about that would be great.

 

[Reach4]

If column of media is 20 inches when not backwashing and 24 inches while backwashing, bed expansion is 4/20=20%

Removing front end filtering and increasing drain size should help. Removing the cartridge from a cartridge filter should reduce some pressure loss before actually moving housings.

Also, gravel helps make the flow more even, if you do not already have gravel. Do you know if you have gravel?

 

[iblackihiawk]

If column of media is 20 inches when not backwashing and 24 inches while backwashing, bed expansion is 4/20=20%

Removing front end filtering and increasing drain size should help. Removing the cartridge from a cartridge filter should reduce some pressure loss before actually moving housings.

Also, gravel helps make the flow more even, if you do not already have gravel. Do you know if you have gravel?

Idk how much media in inches 1cuft is.

It has gravel I'd have to look how much but it has gravel and it's way more even after breaking it up almost uniform around.

It's only a spin down in front of it now I completely removed the cartridge filters when I moved to 1" pex.

 

[Reach4]

15 lbs of gravel will roughly fill the lower dome. The 1 cuft of media would be about another 22 inches if I did the calculations correctly.

 

[iblackihiawk]

So I'm still only getting like 20% lift maybe 25%-30% at peak with 8gpm. Hopefully the 9gpm pushes it to 30-50

 

[iblackihiawk]

15 lbs of gravel will roughly fill the lower dome. The 1 cuft of media would be about another 22 inches if I did the calculations correctly.

As an update, tried this like we talked about. It got slightly more flow but after looking at the GPM button and the actual DLFC max flow with no button in it, I believe that the plastic DLFC is limited to just over 8 GPM with no button maybe 8.5 so I got almost no change in flow rate when I put this on.

I purchased this:

Drain Line Flow Control DLFC Brass QC x 3/4

www.softenerparts.com

Which is the fleck 2510 brass dlfc that allows you to go to something like 15gpm (I bought the 10 gpm one).

I believe which I could be wrong, that it has a much wider hole in the quick connect portion and I can probably change out the flow rate with the 9 gpm dlfc that I just bought with the 10 gpm if I want. I'll try both and see which gives better results.

I'll update when I receive the new part. In the mean time I am backwashing every day and based on the filter between the softener and the katalox filter I am not getting much Iron passed. And the filter after the softener has not changed (5 micron) whatsoever so any iron residual is getting resolved by the softener.

I'm getting close, hopefully I close it out with this final part. Again I will update when I get there.

Reach4 see below for what I tried:

1/2"x3/4" Nipple --> 9gpm DLFC -->3/4" MNPT x 3/4" Barbed Nipple -->3/4 Reinforce Vinyl Hose

 

[iblackihiawk]

15 lbs of gravel will roughly fill the lower dome. The 1 cuft of media would be about another 22 inches if I did the calculations correctly.

Final update, hopefully the iron will be fully filtered out by this but thought I would throw this out there (I may add .5 cu/ft of media later).

I bought this like I said:

Drain Line Flow Control DLFC Brass QC x 3/4

www.softenerparts.com

Installed it, getting between 8.5GPM - 10.5GPM depending on when pump is on/off (it drops to about 8.5GPM right before it kicks on).

Bottom line is baseline.

Middle line is the plastic DLFC with no button and 1/2" outlet drain line (3-4in)

Top line is with the Brass DLFC with 10GPM button and 3/4" outlet drain line (6in)

Based on calculations you are giving which are probably right:

22in of media:

18% lift with the 1/2" (8 GPM)

27% lift with the 3/4" (10 GPM)

Still seems a bit low, IMO but it is much improved, I might grab a 12 GPM DLFC and see what happens but I'm not sure I will need to.

If it does not work I will end up rebedding the whole tank this summer with new, but I'm going to do some water tests in a bit after getting this installed and letting it do it's stuff for awhile.

Thanks for the help again, didn't want to leave this unanswered.

 

[iblackihiawk]

I attached the 12 GPM DLFC and here are my results which don't match the graph from the first post, but maybe will over time if this breaks up from the original issue I was having, time will tell.

Top to bottom:

12 GPM (9in) - 41% Lift
10 GPM (6.5in) - 29% lift
8ish GPM - Plastic DLFC with no button (3 in) - 14% Lift
0 - Baseline

Reminder:

10x54" tank and 1cuft media
2.8ppm iron
430 hardness

From testing:
12 GPM button with the 3/4" DLFC
40 PSIG Pressure I am only able to get 6.5in of rise, as it builds to 58/60PSIG it rises at to/above (slightly) the 9in.
I believe I am limited now by the pressure and/or the 1" PEX that feeds this. I may increase my pressure tank to 50/70 instead of 40/60 and see what the results are but I think 41% lift is enough? I could be wrong though.

Currently usage is between 300 --> 600 Gallons per day (This is due to one outdoor hose that I use for filling up small pools or the occasional summer water table/etc for kids) which I think the system is actually tapped out when it gets up to the 600 gallons and it cannot actually filter all the iron out (and H2S and some magnesium) which may lead me to adding .5 cuft of media to this tank, I'm not sure I can add a whole 2 cu/ft without going to another tank). On heavy days I can definitely see the tank is very red on the inside (it is working) below the air bubble and the water during backwash is very reddish/brown) vs light days it is not as bad.

This is what my 25/75 filter between my katalox filter and water softener looks like after 3 weeks which is what it used to look like after a couple days/1 week when I was having poor backwashing:

I still have not had my water tested yet but will end up doing this sooner than later. I have a feeling I have more iron in the water than the original test showed and I will do a comprehensive pre/post filter tests.

Some minor adjustments I still need to make:

2 More elbows are going to be added to pex to bring it closer to wall which might add pressure drop
Increase my well tank settings from 40/60 to 50/70
Add more media (.5 cu/ft)
Clean media (with bleach)

Couple questions for anyone who knows about water treatment:

1) I have air bubbles (small/cloudy water) that occur for 5-15 seconds after filling a cup that completely clear up when this is operating. I'm assuming because I have an AIO that this is occurring and there's not much I can do about it, but as long as this is normalish/safe I don't have an issue with it.

2) I actually didn't think much about it before but I had the media open to air for probably 2-3 days and may have introduced bacteria to it when I broke up the media with a pole, should I be concerned about this? Should I work on bleaching this asap? I have not noticed anything but is this something I should probably do? I have a filter on the bypass line upstream of this that I could introduce a bleach solution with to shock the Katalox. Just wondering if that is worth or not. I do not have a way to pull it into the system with my setup and would have to take the head off of the filter to add bleach

3) Is 41% enough lift or should I attempt to get more?

I have not done a GPM test on this comprehensively because I am having an issue keeping the 3/4" tube in the drain when the air bubble is released during backwash that I am trying to solve so I don't flood the area. This is a MASSIVE force...

 

[Reach4]

1. Maybe ideal, I would think. If the air were to accumulate and produce troublesome bursts of air, then you could take action to remove air.
2. I don't know. Maybe this is a good time to sanitize your well and plumbing too. Summer is nice for sanitizing.
3. 41% is well above par. Declare victory. Getting all of the media to lift at all might put you above the median (pessimistic guess). Nice photos of the bed expansion. If you add another 1/2 cuft of KL, you would not want more than that. 50% bed expansion with 1.5 cuft of media in a 10x54 tank would be at the point of blowing media out of the top. Adding more KL may interfere with the AIO aspect. How big is your air bubble in the tank, and how does that decline with time?

How about a photo of 3/4 inch drain line connection at the 2510SXT valve. What part number did that require?

 

[Doowopper]

I recently got a Katalox Light filter

2510SXT Fleck

When I watch it backwash which I can kind of do through the white wrapped tank, only like one side of the katalox is getting lifted and its only being lifted like 3-4 inches up sort of bubbling/flying up. Does that seem right or should the whole tank be mixing or more than that.

If it is hardening in the bottom does anyone have a recommendation to break it up? I could disconnect and then spray water in or something idk.

I tested for 7GPM which is all I should need for my tank...but I feel like it is just not getting lift.

I don't have any iron...but still seems pretty bad and concerned its going to freeze up. I have it BW every night instead of 2-3 days just to try to limit this but would like to not have to do this.

I recently got a Katalox Light filter

2510SXT Fleck

When I watch it backwash which I can kind of do through the white wrapped tank, only like one side of the katalox is getting lifted and its only being lifted like 3-4 inches up sort of bubbling/flying up. Does that seem right or should the whole tank be mixing or more than that.

If it is hardening in the bottom does anyone have a recommendation to break it up? I could disconnect and then spray water in or something idk.

I tested for 7GPM which is all I should need for my tank...but I feel like it is just not getting lift.

I don't have any iron...but still seems pretty bad and concerned its going to freeze up. I have it BW every night instead of 2-3 days just to try to limit this but would like to not have to do this.

I'm a brand new member and not really sure where to post.

I too recently bought a Katalox Light filter.
12 by 52 inch tank
2 cubic feet of Katalox
2510SXT Fleck.
I've been on a well for over 30 years.
I limit my flow rate to an average 1.5 gpm, it's about 1gpm at 20psi and around 2gpm at 40psi.
I can do this because I have all my filtered water go to a 2500 gallon tank right behind the pumphouse.
I then use a 1.5hp pump/motor to take the water from the 2500 gal tank and pump up my pressure tank and send the water to the house.
I have about 7.5ppm Iron with Iron bacteria so I chlorinate my well water with chlorine and have it go to a 120 gal mixing tank before going to the iron filter.
I couldn't see backwashing my filters with the brown water that comes out of my mixing tank so through 1 inch solenoid valves, I backwash my filters with the filtered water from the 2500 gal tank. The pressure tank is set to 40 to 60 psi.
It's all automatic. When a filter, or the water softener, starts to backwash/ regen, through relays, the valve that sends the now filtered water to the 2500 gal tank closes and the appropriate solenoid to take the filtered water from the tank opens and backwashes the filter.
I recently checked the backwash flowrate to the new Katalox filter from the dlfc drain line using a 20 gal bucket and stopwatch.
I backwash the katalox filter for 14 minutes. It took 95 seconds to fill 20 gals. The thing is it does that for at least 10 minutes of that 14 minutes because once the pump starts, it doesn't shut off until the backwash is finished and it usually hods at about 56 psi. It used to shutoff before I removed the 7gpm button from the dlfc. I removed it on the advice of the company who sold it to me because that's always the first thing anyone thinks is the problem.
Anyway, that 95 seconds comes out to be 12.6 gpm. I have one inch pvc going right into the control valve. form the pump which is in the same pumphouse a few feet away.
And the problem is...with chlorinated water going through a 120 gal mixing tank and 2 cubic feet of Katalox Light at an average
of 1.5 gpm and being backwashed at 12.6 gpm with filtered water, I have brown water coming out the hose bib on the output of the katalox filter.
When I received the 2510, I noticed that there was a break at the base of the control valve but not near the o ring for the distributor tube. I didn't think it would cause a problem. I emailed a picture of this to tech support and asked them could it be causing my problem. I attached the photo here.
As I said, first they wanted me to remove the dlfc button, which I did but I still get brown water out the hose bib.
Then they mailed me a new base for the 2510.
They told me to first remove the clamp at the base and remove the control valve which I did.
But when I started to unscrew the base I noticed that the distributor tube is turning with it and if I keep turning I will lift the tube up. So I stopped and called tech support. waiting for their call now.
As tight as that o ring is grabbing that tube, I still can't believe that's the problem, though I wish it was.

I posted here because even though I have 12.6 gpm backwash rate, like iblackihiawk, when I look through the tank during backwash I don't see the whole bed lift up. It goes up pretty high around the edges. Is the whole bed supposed to expand like the videos we see of the vortech?
By the end of the backwash, my water is perfectly clear and it run's clear during rapid rinse.
Could it be they didn't send me enough gravel? They send a sleeve which I think is 16 pounds, says it's good for 8 to 12 inch diameter tanks.
It isn't just the brown water at the hose bib.
When I backwash my carbon filter I can see just how much iron is getting by the Katalox Filter. A lot.
Is there anyone out there with a Katalox Filter who only sees clean water coming out of the filter?
So far I'm a non believer.

 

[Reach4]

Doowopper: Wow. Interesting situation. I don't have a solution for you, but I have some questions/comments:
1. How do you get the settled sediment out of your settling/contact tank? Is there a blowoff valve at the bottom, or what?
2. When you install/reinstall O-rings, you should use a silicone grease. For non-moving parts, I like Molykote 111. Where there is routine movement, such as piston seals, a lighter silicone grease (dow 7 release compound for example) is used. If using the same for both, go with the lighter grease.
3. That valve on the tank output would be seeing bypassed water during backwash. So it has not gone thru the KL. I would put a pressure gauge on that to see how that differs from the pressure at the pressure tank. (#3 was added later)

I wonder if the media clumped together while the backwash rate was 7 gpm, and has not unclumped.

I am not a pro. You have challenging water.

If there is any doubt about your bucket holding 20 gallons, you could check that it accepts 4 Homer buckets. 20 gallon buckets are not so common.

 

[Doowopper]

Wow. Interesting situation. I don't have a solution for you, but I have some questions/comments:
1. How do you get the settled sediment out of your settling/contact tank? Is there a blowoff valve at the bottom, or what?
2. When you install/reinstall O-rings, you should use a silicone grease. For non-moving parts, I like Molykote 111. Where there is routine movement, such as piston seals, a lighter silicone grease (dow 7 release compound for example) is used. If using the same for both, go with the lighter grease.

I wonder if the media clumped together while the backwash rate was 7 gpm, and has not unclumped.

I am not a pro. You have challenging water.

If there is any doubt about your bucket holding 20 gallons, you could check that it accepts 4 Homer buckets. 20 gallon buckets are not so common.

Thank you so much for responding. I was hoping it would be you. I have a math question for you later.
1. Yes I have a blowoff valve at the bottom. I don't blow it off under pressure. I never seemed to get it clean that way so once a month, every month, I drain the entire 120 gallons and run some filtered water in it several times until the water comes out clean. Then I fill it with 120 gallons of filtered water adding chlorine as I fill it. I measure the chlorine concentration at the top of the tank. I keep it at 2 to 3 ppm. Then I put it back in service.
2. Thanks for the tips with the Silicone Grease. I did use a little silicon grease on the o rings at the bottom of the control valve before installing it.
3. The bucket/ container is one of two 30 gal calibrated containers that was installed over 30 years ago by Rainsoft to inject bleach and their Magichem, which I learned later is a polyphosphate, which is used to keep iron from precipitating out. My understanding is it should only be used with low levels of iron and especially not with Iron Bacteria. I use one of them to inject bleach.
There is a hole near the top of the container below the 25gal mark so I decided to use 20 gals to test my flowrate. I attached a photo.

I have seen you many times convert gal per ft2 to gpm.
I don't understand the per ft2. I understand that water is denser when it's cold.
I understand that you need a higher flow rate to backwash and lift heavier media.
I can calculate the area of a circle.
I don't really understand why you need a higher flow rate for the wider diameter tanks or what is meant by gpm per ft2.
Could you explain that and tell me what is the formula to convert gal per ft2 to gpm for backwashing, or do you just somehow use the chart?

But the big question you haven't answered. I know it should be obvious but it's not to me...yet.
Do you know for a fact that it IS possible to have a 12 by 52 inch tank with 2 cubic feet of Katalox with a 2510 and NOT have brown water come out of the output port? Does Katalox actually filter down to the 3 micron level? Does it work at all?

 

[Reach4]

I have seen you many times convert gal per ft2 to gpm.
I don't understand the per ft2. I understand that water is denser when it's cold.
I understand that you need a higher flow rate to backwash and lift heavier media.
I can calculate the area of a circle.
I don't really understand why you need a higher flow rate for the wider diameter tanks or what is meant by gpm per ft2.
Could you explain that and tell me what is the formula to convert gal per ft2 to gpm for backwashing, or do you just somehow use the chart?

I am relating gpm (gallons per minute) to gpm/sqft. For a given amount of lift, you want the same gpm/sqft. So with a 10 inch tank, you would need 1.44 times as much gpm flow for the same lift. Cross section is proportional to the square of the diameter.

But the big question you haven't answered. I know it should be obvious but it's not to me...yet.
Do you know for a fact that it IS possible to have a 12 by 52 inch tank with 2 cubic feet of Katalox with a 2510 and NOT have brown water come out of the output port? Does Katalox actually filter down to the 3 micron level? Does it work at all?

I don't know the answer. Some things that concern me is that the pH of the water is raised by the bleach. Is that a problem? Not sure.

My suspicion was that the rust entered the area right at the drain valve at the output of the tank while the tank was in bypass. Thus that need not have gone thru the KL.

I produced the table by taking a multi-line graph from Watchwater (https://www.watchwater.de/pdf/katalox-light/KL_Brochure_NEW_ver_1.1.pdf), and carefully pulling off points by looking at the X-Y location of where lines crossed.

In your case, I would consider some treatment of the KL to see if you can get it to be independent particles again instead, but I cannot be sure this will not be damaging to the media. I was thinking of recirculating Iron Out solution thru the media. I tried to rejuvenation my old Centaur Carbon media this way, and it did not work. However the media was beyond its expected life. I wrote up my try in https://terrylove.com/forums/index....edia-and-some-other-related-operations.99044/

Note that you might be able to get a surge in flow by charging up the pressure tank, and opening the flow suddenly. Just an idea.

However I think you would need to remove the housing that holds the 1/2 inch DLFC and instead get the housing for the 3/4 diameter DLFCs. It will take some searching. I think Fleck 60706-15 is the whole. See post #52 above. That adapted to the existing 1/2 inch thread, and did not come out of the valve with a 3/4 inch thread.

I now suspect that you remove the clip holding the smaller housing, pull that DLFC housing out, plug in the new brass housing, and put the clip back. Maybe look at that area and see what you think.

I wonder what would happen if you dumped a bunch of ice in your tank to cool the water temporarily, and then backwashed.

 

[Doowopper]

You earlier wrote,"I wonder if the media clumped together while the backwash rate was 7 gpm, and has not unclumped."
I just finished reading iblackihiawk's entire story and it was exactly what I needed to see.
Even though my backwash rate is 12.6 gpm, when I shine a light behind it during backwash I don't see the bed lift like iblackihiawk's final result. So I'm starting to think that your wondering is the correct answer to what happened.
iblackihiawk said he had a new system at the time. I wish I knew how new his was when it all clumped up. Mine has only been in operation for 2 weeks. I'm just wondering if it's possible for it to clump together in 1 week.
But I'm going now on the assumption that that is exactly what happened. It sure looks like it when I shine a light behind the tank.
Nothing comes up in the center.
During the first week I was concerned with the high PH that Katalox caused and spent a lot of time doing things to try to lower that.
I thought the Chlorine could be affecting the ph so I called tech support and they just said " Katalox loves chlorine".
I read where the high PH was supposed to be a temporary problem and that maybe somehow the chlorine was keeping it from settling down. All the while hoping that it wouldn't all go away because my ph from the well is about 6.5 and I thought I read that Iron could be oxidized easier in higher ph water. Not sure about that. But if the ph could stay up high enough I could retire my acid neutralizer. But ph became secondary to the iron problem.

So tech support never bothered to return my call today so I put it back together for now and decided to backwash the heck out of it for the rest of the week in an attempt to unclump the Katalox, without totally draining my 2500 gallon tank. Thanks for the thoughts on how to possibly do that Reach. I will also order the 3/4 diameter DLFC.
I am a bit concerned though. If iblackihiawk had a problem getting 1 cu ft of Katalox to expand in a 10 by 54 inch tank, how difficult will it be for me to get 2 cu ft to expand in a 12 by 52 inch tank?

And the company sends me a control valve with a 7gpm button while displaying in red letters in their ad that the system requires
10-12 GPM. Go figure.