Water treatment systems? I'm overwhelmed and confused

[floribunda]

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about how best to treat water (and here I am inviting more!). I just moved to a property with typical south Sebastopol water - lots of iron, hard, acidic, some nitrates. No bacteria at least! There's a system in place with the multiple tanks for salt, calcite, etc. that probably cost a lot to put in and needs some servicing if I'm going to use it. One plan is to get it up and running and then to put an under sink reverse osmosis system in each kitchen. Another is to use an ozonator in a storage tank for the houses and to have a separate storage tank for irrigation (there is already a 2500 gallon tank in place that just needs to be hooked up to the well). And yet another is to install a Biocera system.

This is all new to me - my water up to this point has been really good and I've just used an under sink multipure. I'd welcome simple explanations, pros and cons, and/ or personal experience with these various systems.

Thanks

[Thad]

If you set up your water softener see if it is capable of using potassium instead of salt, they have purge cycles and can use more than 50 gallons each tank a couple times a week with very hard water you could use up to 120 pounds of salt a month
https://www.softenerparts.com/kb_results.asp?ID=16

You will create a dead zone where the tanks purge plus aggravate high blood pressure ..." In areas with very hard water, the softened water coming from your tap can actually add a significant amount of sodium to your diet. The harder the water, the more sodium the softening system must add to replace the dissolved calcium and magnesium. ..."

https://highbloodpressure.about.com/...r-softener.htm

Potassium is three times the cost of salt but you can store and use your purge water for irrigation. Potassium is good for plants and us

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about how best to treat water ...

[Sara S]

I had my own spring for 36 years and then moved here, where the water is just as you describe it, so I just have Arrowhead deliver water to me; lots cheaper than most other solutions....although I may get a softener just for the dishes!

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about how best to treat water...

[Bryan]

Welcome to home ownership!

I have iron in the water - anytime you see iron, it means the water is acidic.
That is because it requires acid to leach the iron into the water from the rock.
Probably few bacteria can survive in the acidic water.

You can add a 'whole house' system - one big enough to handle the house input.

There is a 2 step process to fix that - use calcite filter as the first step.
This will ph balance the water and its just crushed quartz.

If you want, you can then add a salt softener to the plumbing.
It is not required but makes the water work better for laundry and cleaning.
You can test if the ph is balanced with a simple litmus paper.

I buy my water equipment and filters from this website.
cleanwaterstore.com

You can save about 50% of the cost of the equipment if you do the plumbing yourself.
Its very easy plumbing and a little 110v electrical work. All PVC piping.
You'll save easy $1,000. No monthly fees. You buy calcite every 6 months or year
depending on how acidic the water is. Same with salt. very cheap stuff.


Nitrates should be removed from the drinking side - at the faucet you use to drink water.
A reverse osmosis system is easy to plumb under the kitchen sink.
You don't want to do this for the whole house as it is unnecessary unless
you drink a ton of water in the shower.

I have lived on my own well in Hessel area for 26 years. If you don't
want to do the plumbing, try AmericanWater Systems - Jerry was the owner
who first sold me this system. Now I maintain it myself.

You don't need an ozonator - that is for bacteria issues.
Feel free to email me more questions.

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about how best to treat water ...