Water Hardness

[JohnG]

Howdy! We are owners of a new Sundance Cameo for about three weeks now. We are struggling with many of the same issues that I have been reading on this board, but I am bound and determined to figure it out. I think one thing I need to do right away is to buy a testor kit and stop relying on the test strips.

My question right now relates to the hardness of our well water. A local spa dealer tested my well (& spa) water for me a couple of days ago, and confirmed that my test strips are not conclusive, and that my well water is very hard - 320 PPM. Because we are on a shared water well system, and my wife wanted to irrigate a large vegetable garden, I spent the money to build a 1750 gallon rainwater collection system when we built the house for purposes of watering her garden. The system collects water off of the roof of the house into screen protected gutters. The water is stored in a totally enclosed concrete cistern. I have made provisions for sediment traps on all three gutter down legs, as well as the up-leg to the cistern (the water is pushed up into the tank by head pressure from the top of the collection pipes.) With all that said, I would like to ask if it would be easier for me to use the rainwater (filtered of course) when I fill my tub and adjust the chemical balance of the rainwater rather than use the well water and struggle with the water chemistry the way I am now.

Any suggestion will be appreciated.

JG

[stomper4x4]

Ebay K-2005

Yes, ditch the test strips. All my chemical problems ended when I got a good regant test kit. They are very precise when used correctly. Taylor K-2005 is the kit I use and it is top of the line. I got it on Ebay new for 37.97+shipping. That's not too bad of a price. The link above is the kit I'm talking about.

Interesting Idea with the rain water. I'm no pro but I would think if the water was free of dirt and clean then I think the next step would be to test the rain water. It may be that you use half well water and half rain depending on the hardness of the rain water. Of couse if the rain water was real soft then you wouldn't want to use just the rain water.

I'm real interested in the test results of the rain water....ph,hardness,ect.

If the rain water is stored in a dark tank then would there be less chance of algee?

Using rain water may or may not be a good Idea. I don't know but I'll be watching to see what others say about this.