Well Water

Question: Well Water? Now I have fish I had a total of 20ish. I am down to two. I think it may be because I have well water. I have had fish before. I had hermit crabs in the tank before(I cleaned it treated the water and used the ick stuff before introducing the fish) and I wonder if it is because of the hermit crabs or is it from the well water. FYI i put nothing in the water besides those things and food please HELP! I am going to buy test strips sometime today what are some other reccomended buys. And how often do you clean your tank or do you at all. FYI One of the fish I have is a algae eater and the other is a striped tiger fish.

Answer: If you only just started you tank it need to be cycled - given enough time to develop beneficial bacteria to turn the ammonia of fish waste into nitrite and the nitrite into nitrate. This takes a month with only one fish in it.

Question: well water...? alright i know that you are never supposed to mix your baby's formula with well water. i'm going to my grandmothers with my daughter for a couple days so i've bought drinking water to mix her bottles with since all my grandma has is well, but is it going to hurt to wash her bottles in the well water?

Answer: You can use well water, but you need to boil it first to kill bacteria. This was the one thing my Mom was THRILLED not to have to do anymore when their home was switched from well to city water. Also, if Grandma has a dishwasher, you can use that instead of hand washing. If it has a heater in it (and if it's less than 8 years old, I think they all do), it gets hot enough. {edited to add} If your area folks all have well water and there have been few reports of kids getting sick, it's not usually a problem docs likely don't mention it. It means that you don't have the bacterial overgrowth present in many areas. It depends some on the mineral deposits in the area. MOST kids will do fine; but some, especially with weak immune systems, will become very ill when exposed to too much bacteria from well systems. Boiling reduces that chance. This lady is unaccustomed to her grandmother's well water as I am unaccustomed to my sister's well water. Whenever I visit, (normally a week), I know I'm going to have a day or two of loose stools. I just plain had diarrhea in Texas--water isn't dirty, but I'm not used to their local bacteria critters. Hope that helps.

Question: Are there well-water safe fertilizing methods for green lawns? I use water from a well and want my lawn to be green but don't want to contaminate my well water. TruGreen states that their product is safe for well water, but I don't believe the hype. Is there something I can apply that won't cause a buildup in harmful nitrates or other chemicals? Sometimes I drink the water and my fingers turn blue.

Answer: Attorney, attorney, attorney. Are you living in the 21st. Century? What? It IS the 21st. Century? Uh... attorney, attorney, attorney, are you living in the eighteenth century? The best way to keep your water safe is to make sure that it is hovering 500 feet above your house at all times. I hope this is helpful. By the way, the Queen of the Scene proposed to me but I am marrying Charmed's dress. Well, actually, I am marrying the dress of Charm's avatar. (I may wed Judy Teen as well. I'm a penguin. What are you gonna do?) Would you like to attend? Bring plenty of fish, please. We are all going to participate in the fish-slapping dance at the reception. (Michael Palin might be there. Uh, Jesus MIGHT be there... but don't count on it.) Pretty groovy, huh? You say "blue fingers" as if it's a bad thing. Are you prejudiced against Smurfs? I can hear the sneer in your typing! (It may have worked for Elvis but it won't work for you unless you possess a bizarre phoney-sounding voice and a willingness to gyrate like a fool. By the way, that's the name of my band... the Gyrating Fools.) My God, you're Groovy! FP aka Dracula's Penguin

Question: What causes well water and the outside air around the house to stink? We live out in the county and have well water. The past few days our water has had a very bad sulfur smell. We have a water treatment system in the house that pulls out the iron and other metals and gets rid of the sulfur smell. But the smell has been coming through the last few days. The odd part is when I go outside the air smells the same as the water. Once you get to the end of the driveway you can't smell it anymore. What is causing this? How can I fix it?

Answer: if you live in the country do you have propane? an under ground leak can contaminate everything, eventually coming up thur the ground. the further you get from the leak you won't smell it, the septic answer is good also

Question: How to remove well water taste? It isn't bad water or anything wrong with it. I just hate the taste of well water. I am use to city water. Anything we can do to make it taste more like bottled water or city water? I know that you can't drink water after it comes from a softner, the salt isn't good for you. But the well water flavor has to go. It is just nasty. And makes ice even taste funny.

Answer: Good well water tastes perzactly like bottled water. When we first moved to our present home the water tasted like sulpher. rotten eggs, phew. We had several companies visit to help remedy the problem and got estimates of up to 2600 bucks. We had one plumber come out and he said we need air in our tank and added air. Guess what! The smell went away and we have great tasting water. We also have a household filter between the tank and the house to help prevent sediment and I change that filter about every 3 months. We love our well water. It's even tastes clean!

Question: Can I water my outdoor plants and flowers with my well water? We cannot drink the water. It was not recommended anyway by a water purification company. We buy gallons of water to cook with and drink. Apparently the well water has a high sulfur content in it and we cannot consume it. Can I water my outdoor plants with it being it does come from the same ground the plants and flowers grow in?

Answer: You certainly can use that water for irrigation Most "irrigation wells" are simply shallow wells that may not meet drinking standards, but are fine for watering crops (or flowers). If your water is too acidic, it may cause some issues with certain plants that like "sweeter" soil, but unless you have thousands of dollars invested in your landscape and house plants, I would just let it rip and see what happens

Question: How can we make our well water odor free? Our new place has well water and unfortunately a sulfurous smell. I don't know much about well water, but the water softener is relatively new. Is there anything we can do to make it more like "normal" water? Any idea how much an activated carbon cartridge filter will cost and how much to have it installed? Ballpark figures of course.

Answer: you need to install a activated carbon cartridge filter on the line supplying the house after the well riser

Question: What causes well water to have a yellow brown colour? We recently moved to a rural site that has a well water and septic system. As city folk, what should we do to take care of the water colour issue and secondily any maintenence to the septic sysytem?

Answer: Well water should not be yellowish or brown. Was it tested before you guys closed on the house? Any of a number of things could cause that, a high bacterial count, rust, clay.. etc.. If it tests out fine, you can always add a filtration system. I wouldn't recommend drinking the water though. Even if it's not bacteria, if it has that much sediment in it you could cause yourself to get kidney stones or cysts. Though, you could set up a reverse osmosis faucet at the kitchen sink for drinking water. If you're in the states, you could go to a store like Home Depot and ask them if they have people that will install a reverse osmosis setup. If it's got a high bacterial count, nothing will fix it but getting a new well. what kind of well is it? Just a pipe going into the ground, or a pit with a pipe going into it through a cover? If it's the latter type, never drink the water. That's called a pit well. Your local area may still approve them, but, in general they are highly unsafe. We have one and the water from it almost killed my dog not one week after the local 'environmental and health' department said it was just fine.

Question: can well water with calligan water softener, kill house plants? we have been using bottled water because someone said well water with softener would kill the plants, the cost is getting to much for bottled water,so I need to hear from someone who would really KNOW,not just guessing. there are just too many plants to risk losing.

Answer: Softener salt builds up on the surface of the soil as the water evaporates from the plants and will also build up on the stems and leaves in contact with the soil. I lived with a softener for 20 years and used the bypass spigot to get unfiltered water for my plants. Check your softener to see if there is access to water before it goes into the softener. Most have them due to outdoor faucets not needing soft water. I also used an old decorative water pitcher and a cute painted barrel tub to collect rain water, I always watered on rainy days when stuck inside. Epson salts (not a sodium salt) is a great plant food supplying sulfur and magnesium, mix according to directions and feed away. Good Luck! P.S. If you collect rain water, find a cover for your collection barrel to keep debris and mosquitoes out and also to reduce evaporation.

Question: How can I keep clean the water the runs from my well to my air condition? I have an air conditioner that runs off well water. The problem is, my well doesn't have the cleanest of water. So about once I year I pay about $500 to get my coiled cleaned. What options are out there of keeping my well water clean so it doesn't corrode my a/c coil?

Answer: run the water through a water softener and a charcoal whole house filter

Question: How can I filter high volume well water that is corrosive? My well water is highly corrosive. It has destroyed 3 pressure tanks in two years and has caused numerous leaks in the system. I am using a slow sand filter. The well supplies the water used for irrigation on our property too. We consume roughly 15,000 gallons of water a day from that well. Does anyone know a good system to handle that high a volume of water? Thanks

Answer: I'd get the water tested and find out exactly what causes the corrosion. Once you know that, you can search for filters or other corrective action. If the corrosion is caused by acidity, for example, you need something different from a filter. If the irrigation is working OK, you can just filter the water that is used for your house and not that used for irrigation. .

Question: How do you I achieve water pressure from a domestic well? I have got a house in spain with a domestic well. Water is pumped from the well to a holding tank, but I need pressure on the water for use in the house.

Answer: Attach a secondary pump between the tank and the house. Make sure it is designed for potable water usage. The pump rating should be low as your pipes may not be able to take pressure without leaking.

Question: How do I find well water for well drilling? I am considering a water well I have 8 acres and I am skeptical of dowsers. Is there a scientific way to find well water that is less expensive than paying $30,000 to drill a dry hole like my neighbor did?

Answer: There is much proven scientific evidence that dowsing does not work. In fact if you can prove it does work you could pocket One Million Dollars... just copy and paste this web address to your browser and good luck. http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/1m-challenge.html The answer to your question is Yes, there is a scientific way to find groundwater... There are several groundwater surveyor companies who will research the geology, water tables, well logs, and do EKS testing to find the right location and depth to drill for you. Then they can make recommendations for drillers, and save you much grief and money. There is much more to well development than drilling a hole in the ground. Every step is important but the first step is to find the best well location, and know how deep to drill and how much water you can expect. Then it is vital that your driller knows all the aspects of well development, and how to not cause damage to the aquifer. Most drillers are good at drilling but do not have the experience or ability to find the best well location. That, and believing in myths and fairytales is why people pay $30,000.00 for dry holes.

Question: how do I convert from well water to a nearby city supply? The house I'm looking to buy has it's own private water supply through a well. I want to tap into a nearby subdivision's supply instead. I'm looking for potential costs, as well as who to contact to do it? Thanks in advance!

Answer: If the water supply for your current well is decent and the water tastes good, I can't think of a single reason to change. If the sub-division's water supply runs past your house, as it must if you're that interested in switching, you already have the best of both worlds. You probaby have a hydrant within a short distance, yet you have your own well, from which you can pump water enough to do what ever you want, water your lawn, fill a swimming pool, water the cows, wash your car, whatever, and all it costs you is the electricity to run your pump. You are not yet at the mercy of the people who manage the sub-division's water supply, and I would resist to my dying day, having to hook up to it. The costs will be substantial and they will insist that you have the existing well(s), abandoned permanently,by a licensed plumber. That means they pour concrete down them till it comes out the top. Average costs in our neck of the woods for a 3 month bill is between $60 - $100, for what ever water you've used. At that rate you could afford to have a new pump put on an existing well about every 3 or 4 years and probably have better water all the while.

Question: Why does my well water smell like sulphur and what can I do about it? We live in Maine and have our own well. The water smells no matter what temperature it is (hot or cold). Looks like we have a lot of iron in the water as well because the toilets and sinks get stained brown.

Answer: invest in a purification system ... That would consist of brine salt and charcoal

Question: With a house using well water, what purpose does a reverse osmosis system serve, and is it necessary? Looking to buy a house with well water. The people are taking their reverse osmosis system. What does it do? Is it required to have safe drinking water? Any idea of the cost of such a system? Anyone using well water, please help!

Answer: MAINLY TO TAKE OUT DEBRIS THAT WOULD BE IN YOUR WELL--POSSIBLY RUST,ROOT REMNANTS,& ANY OTHER FLOATABLE UNDESIRABLE DEBRIS....