Any requirements for softened water?

[gwrace1]

I would disagree about a softener removing metals. I have tested my water both before and after softening as I'm on a south texas well. The water has significantly less metals after being softened. The ingredient in the Iron Removing Salt pellets is citric acid. You can also use citric acid to remove metal stains from any pool. Additional reduction in metals occur when I prefilter the water before it goes into the softener.The 2 micron whole house filter I use becomes red with iron after just a few hours of filling the pool.

[waterbear]

I would disagree about a softener removing metals. I have tested my water both before and after softening as I'm on a south texas well. The water has significantly less metals after being softened. The ingredient in the Iron Removing Salt pellets is citric acid. You can also use citric acid to remove metal stains from any pool. Additional reduction in metals occur when I prefilter the water before it goes into the softener.The 2 micron whole house filter I use becomes red with iron after just a few hours of filling the pool.

But is is not the softener that is removing the metals. It is your prefilter. Same type of setup that I have now (micron and carbon--tanks is as big as the softner resin tank!) If you are using plain salt pellets in the softener like I am it will not have any effect on the iron content.

[prh129]

Looking around on the web, I am finding that soluable iron will get trapped in the filter resin and the normal filter backwash doesn't wash it out. There are several products such as Iron Out and Rust Out that are supposed to remove the iron and other debris from the filter resin.
I have noticed lately that my water softener (10 years old) has been using a lot less salt lately and water useage has not decreased (it has probably increased). I do not have a prefilter on the unit, water comes directly from the well tank.
I just picked up some Super Iron Out today so I will try it out.
When the PS234 kit ships out I should be able to analyze the water going in and coming out of the filter. That should tell the story.

[prh129]

Actually, it looks like it won't tell the story as the PS234 doesn't look like it tests for iron.

[waterbear]

prh129, just be aware that you will only be testing calcium harness, not total (calcium and magnesium) hardness. Total hardness is a different test. Taylor makes a few and most of the pool test strips I have seen test total and not calcium hardness although they do not have much accuracy. As for testing for Iron, once again you will need a separate test for that since it is not in Ben's kit.
Also, my understanding is that when Iron gets trapped in the resin it reduces the efficiency of the resin at removing hardness. When my system was installed I did not have an iron problem and my installer told me I was lucky because he said my resin would last much longer.

[gwrace1]

The softener plays a major role in removing iron. I've tested if both ways with and without the prefilter. I installed the pre-filter mainly to reduce the work of the softener and prolong the softener resin life.

Before the pool forum data was lost, Ben had an extensive post on using a water softener to remove metals that included Iron and Maganese.

For my pool it worked wonders. I did go thru a lot of regeneration cycles and salt for a 26000 gallon pool. I'm using an SWG so some salt in the pool was not a concern but an aid in getting to the level the SWG required.