A couple of months ago I allowed my calcite/corosex tank to run for at least a couple of weeks with a leak such that I was discharging water out the backwash line. My water quality decreased but I tried not to worry about it. This was a mistake. I'm struggling to get my system functioning optimally again. I'm still experiencing some iron bleed through with color and taste not ideal. Immediately after a softener regen it's less than 1ppm iron, but not back to the way it used to be and seems to deteriorate in quality until another regen.
a) I replaced my piston seals and spacers for my calcite/corosex Fleck 5600 and there have been no more leaks. I also refilled the tank with 1/2 cubic foot of calcite and about 10% corosex.
b) I have manually regenerated my Fleck 7000 MTM tank several times and confirmed Pot Perm is present and being drained and refilled. Settings are:
Cycle 1 - 10
Cycle 2 - 45
Cycle 3 - 10
Cycle 4 - 10
Cycle 5 - 10 (I have a 0.25gpm BLFC)
(Fleck 7000 valve on my MTM tank set at 15 and the capacity at 24).
c) I replaced my 1/2 cubic foot of Centaur Carbon in my Fleck 5600 tank. Unfortunately the bag was not sealed and this carbon could be anything.
d) I have manually regenerated my Fleck 6600 containing water softening resin several times and confirmed brine draw and presence of salt upon each regeneration. I've used two acid containing products to "clean" the resin.
e) I have confirmed chlorine present and injection system working.
Problem solving, my thoughts:
a) Water conditions could have changed. But, I assume 10ppm plus iron already.
b) Something could still be broken, but everything seems to be cycling appropriately.
c) I could have severely fouled my MTM or softening resin or damaged the softening resin attempting to clean it.
d) The carbon could be something other than Centaur Carbon and this is actually making a difference.
Currently I'm focusing on confirming the MTM tank is functioning well. I'm regenerating and observing the output bypassing the carbon and softening resin. Should I expect the water to be free of purple color? I just manually regened and the water looked purple and rusty. I just manually regened again skipping steps one and two and the water surged very dark a couple of times and then appeared somewhat purple and rusty. A third manual regen skipping steps one an two again yields water somewhat purple and rusty. Another full regen and the water yields a couple of very dark rusty waves and then stabilizes to light purple after several minutes of water flow. I put the carbon online and test pH of 6.5, Total Alkalinity of about 120-150, Total Hardness of about 120, and no detectable chlorine. Iron, about .6 to 1 ppm. Of course at this point I may not be getting any benefit from chlorine and retention with all this water flow. With softener back online (about 600 gallons left before regen) I'm getting .15ppm iron, pH still low, 6.2 to 6.8, Total Alkalinity 100, Total Hardness 50.
Any hunches? Perhaps I'm making my way slowly but surely back to normal or am I missing something?

Soft Water Advice Forums

A fantastic resource for learning and receiving help:
Soft Water Advice Forums
Especially keep an eye out for the advice of Greg.

Fleck Valve Manuals

A good location to find fleck valve manuals is here:
http://www.ohiopurewaterco.com/shop/customer/home.php?cat=82

Pics Only (Reverse Order, start from bottom)

Dealing with Iron in Arkansas

Hi everybody! I have 10ppm plus iron! I currently use chlorine injection, a calcite/corosex tank (Fleck 5600), a centaur carbon tank (Fleck 5600), a MTM tank (Fleck 7000), and a water softener (Fleck 6600). All mineral tanks are 10x47 with 1" riser tubes and top distributor baskets. My MTM tank has a fine mesh riser tube and top distributor basket. My well pump generates about 8 gpm.
Here are various notes I'll organize:

November 18, 2007:
My 5-in1 test strips reveal:
A pH of 8+
Total Alkalinity of 240 ppm (there's definitely some blue there suggesting 180+)
Total Hardness of about 0
And no total or free chlorine
A Hach Total Iron test strip result of 0 ppm
A phenol red test reveals a pH of 8+
My pH in is about 6.3, after calcite it was 6.8, and after calcite/corosex it is around 8
I just tested with a strip and it looks like Total Alkalinity ppm (CaCO3) is 180 to 240.
I noticed just a few minutes ago that only 245 gallons are left before regeneration of the water softener.
Normally my Total Alkalinity is closer to 120.
My water hardness was reading 120 and normally it looks close to zero.
Maybe I need to tweak the softener regen settings?
The pH was purple as can be, 8.4+?

MTM valve should be set to:
Cycle 1 - 10
Cycle 2 - 45
Cycle 3 - 10
Cycle 4 - 10
Cycle 5 - 10 (you have a 0.25gpm BLFC)

Fleck 7000 valve on my MTM tank set at 15 and the capacity at 24 and the regeneration settings at 10/45/10/10/10. See above.

Two 40 gallon retention tanks and a 47 gallon pressure tank. I assume this works out to be around 100 gallons of retention. My well pump maximally kicks out 8 gpm.

I use Dow Corning 7 Release Compound:
http://www.ellsworth.com/display/productdetail.html?productid=343&Tab=vendors

I'm interested in Vortech bottom distributor plates:
http://www.enpress.com/newproducts.html

Am I using
Pur-Gard?
Notes:You definitely can shock your brine tank with Pur-Gard.
Pour 1/2 a bottle of Pur-Gard into your brine tank via the brine well.
Allow at least 1 hour of contact time & then regenerate the system within 12 hours.
After that, pour the balance into the feeder with the existing res-up.
Top up with Pur-Gard from now on and life is good.
The drip-feeder does indeed cause dilution, so I'd suggest you shock the tank about once a year for total peace of mind.