Looking for recommendations for filtration system

[Aquazen]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for your opinions on what kind of setup to invest in to get the best out of my terrible water. There's currently an old filtration system in place that worked "okay" in the past, but with time and all the dynamite they used in the area over the years, water quality has gone down.

Here are the test results of today's water :

Hardness : 18.5 gpg
Total iron : ~5.5 (varies from sample to sample)
Ferrous iron : 1 mg/l or less
Ferric iron : 4 mg/l or more
Colloidal iron : exact amount unknown but present
Manganese : 2.20 mg/l
Tannin : 1.4 mg/l
Color : 17 UVC
pH : 6.5 to 6.9 (varies from sample to sample)
Conductivity : 763 us/cm
Turbidity : 33 UTN
Alkalinity : 317 mg/l CaCO3
Sodium : 65 mg/l

As you guys can see, there's everything you don't want in there. Multiple issues... hardness, iron (all sorts), manganese, tannin, bad pH. Also, water quality changes from day to day so keep that in mind.

The current system is composed of 5 steps :
1- Pressure tank
2- 10 x 47 ph booster (calcite + corrosex mix that we re-bed yearly)
3- 10 x 54 katalox light filter
4- 10 x 54 SST-60 resin softener
5- Viqua UV with 2.5 x 20in pre-filter.

This setup worked up to around 90% but there's always been some manganese and iron making its way through the system and obviously nothing to filter out the tannin.

Now, here's what I'm thinking, please let me know if I could improve on this or maybe go a different route.

1- Pressure tank
2- Soda h injection
3- Retention tank (80 or 120 gallons)
4- 12 x 52 Katalox light filter (or filox)
5- 10 x 54 or 12 x 52 mixed bed macroporous C-800-MP + colloidal A501P resin
6- 10 x 54 tannin filter with Tannex resin, would start with 1 cf and add another 0.5 more if needed.
7- UV system

I was thinking maybe even add chlorine or hydrogen peroxide injection, but I'd need to add a carbon filter too, which is a boat load of stuff.

In any case, I'm looking forward to your opinions and ideas.

Thank you,
David

 

[V Scott]

I will be glad to help with system design. You have a lot of existing infrastructure that can be utilized but it's time to stop throwing equipment at this water. Also, unlearning what you think is correct will possibly be the challenge. If your coachable, send me a PM and we can wade through it.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

KL in a 12 inch tank should have about
I suspect your backwash water is maybe 20C give or take, so I think you would want about 14 gpm. Your pump may or may not be able to keep up with that. Backpressure from your calcite tank may limit flow.

Also, KL media does not have really long life. Replacement may be in order.

 

[Aquazen]

I will be glad to help with system design. You have a lot of existing infrastructure that can be utilized but it's time to stop throwing equipment at this water. Also, unlearning what you think is correct will possibly be the challenge. If your coachable, send me a PM and we can wade through it.

Hey I'm all ears, but for some reason I can't PM people? Can we do this in this thread if you don't mind?

 

[Aquazen]

KL in a 12 inch tank should have about
I suspect your backwash water is maybe 20C give or take, so I think you would want about 14 gpm. Your pump may or may not be able to keep up with that. Backpressure from your calcite tank may limit flow.

Also, KL media does not have really long life. Replacement may be in order.

Hi Reach, the pump is giving me 10-11gpm give or take, seems like we couldn't provide the tank with enough flow.
current setup is over 15 years old. Also worth knowing, our katalox filter has a vortech tank (bottom plate only) and we usually change the media every 4-5 years. At the moment it's got a mix of katalox / greensand / AG+ / catalytic carbon, heavy on the katalox.

 

[Mswlogo]

KL in a 12 inch tank should have about
I suspect your backwash water is maybe 20C give or take, so I think you would want about 14 gpm. Your pump may or may not be able to keep up with that. Backpressure from your calcite tank may limit flow.

Also, KL media does not have really long life. Replacement may be in order.

His softener resin might need replacing too and probably over worked with tired Katalox.

I think his system, as is, might do the job and just needs a major refresh.

 

[Reach4]

Hi Reach, the pump is giving me 10-11gpm give or take, seems like we couldn't provide the tank with enough flow.
current setup is over 15 years old. Also worth knowing, our katalox filter has a vortech tank (bottom plate only) and we usually change the media every 4-5 years. At the moment it's got a mix of katalox / greensand / AG+ / catalytic carbon, heavy on the katalox.

To measure the backflush rate, ideally you could divert drain water during backwash into a 5-gallon bucket, and time the seconds to fill the bucket.

If S repreasents the seconds, the gpm will be 300/S.

By measuring the drain flow, you also are measuring the effects of some piping plus the DLFC flow control plus the valve effect. Also, during backwash, I think the pressure gauge at the pressure tank should stay above 29 psi.