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Well you are bringing back memories. We had water with iron deposits so bad that it looked brown coming out of the ground. We went through a water softener, then switched to a greensand tank with with a potasium permanganite backwash, and finally ended up with a oxygenating system followed by a filter. The oxygenating system was by far the best, but it used a lot of backflush water and a compressor. Abut 3.5K from Rainsoft. The water softener with iron salt will work if the concentration is not too bad. This will be your cheapest route. However, when the water is as bad as it was at our place, the softener just gooped up with brown sludge. (I did not buy this but it was a Cooligan). The greensand/permaganate system did work well, but there were several problems with it. It leaked some small amount of the potasium permanganate into the house water. This meant that we could not use bleach in our laundry and if it was bad the shower made my skin peel. Although it was MUCH better than the softener, in the end it also could not keep up with the iron in the water. About $3K from Rainsoft. I have moved from the house with the terrible water. My current house has minor iron problems, is slightly hard, and has the sulfer smell. We currently have a oxygenating system followed by a filter tank to get rid of the iron and sulfer. Works great. I am considering adding a softener to get rid of some of the calcium deposits on the dishes. The current system has been no problem and just backflushes with water (no salt or other chemicals). If the problem is bad, I would suggest getting a couple of professional opinions (usually free, but worth what you pay for it). Just remember that the water treatment companies are there to sell you something. HTH Cliff (VA) PS If you have not discovered "Iron Out" you need to try and find some at Lowes. It will take out iron stains when nothing else will. Unfortunantly it also bleaches some colors and weakens some textiles.
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