We drilled a new well on our undeveloped piece of rural land. I ran a complete analysis of the water before we decided to build our house. We had extremely hard water 69 gpg, 1.27 ppm iron and a little manganese and a significant amount of sulfate. I forwarded these results to Crystal Quest and hoped to get a straight forward answer and solution to our problem. I expressly asked for a solution to get the water safe to drink. With no hesitation they recommended a whole house filtering system which included a sediment filter, iron manganese filter, a conventional water softener and a GAC filter.

We had it installed by a licensed plumber when we had the house built. Shortly after moving in, one of the tanks started leaking. Crystal Quest replaced that without charge. During the next year we learned a few things the hard way. We found out that the water that passed through the filter was absolutely undrinkable. Firstly because all the calcium in the water is replaced by sodium and secondly that the system does not remove the sulfate at all. When I phoned Crystal Quest about the sulfate problem, with the necessary test results, they asked for more tests which was rather expensive to do, so I left it there.

We learned that nothing removes sulfate from water except for reverse osmosis. So we installed a RO system. This information led us to the conclusion that the $1000 GAC filter that they sold us was totally unnecessary. Then after just over a year two of their tanks got cracks at the top, one after the other. We had to pay to have them replaced by Crystal Quest, after which we found out that these tanks were available at other dealers for half the price, as well as the filter media.

We have been using this system for almost 2 years now. We are going through a bag of sodium per week and I cannot help but wonder where all those mountains of salt are going – into my septic system? I also know that if you want to kill plants, the best way is to pour salt on them. Then nothing will grow there again! The weeds on our septic field look rather anemic. The salt does not disappear into thin air! It builds up over time. Unfortunately for us, over a much shorter period of time, our septic system will become saturated with salt. Crystal Quest suggested we use potassium chloride in stead, which is about $20 a bag and rather difficult to get around here. I realised we should have bought the saltless water softener, which I asked for from the start. The Crystal Quest sales person had advised me against it and suggested a conventional water softener.

In the process we have become do-it-ourselvers. We have changed the media in the tanks a few times – what a tedious job. Now we are buying tanks separately, getting the media online and building our own system – two saltless water softeners in tandem – for a fraction of the price. Crystal Quest charges double what other retailers do.

Crystal Quest did not take our specific water problems or our situation into consideration. They sold us the wrong system. They did not inform us that the recommended system will not remove sulfate or make the water drinkable. They only wanted to sell the biggest system as quickly as possible. We also figured out that you should not regenerate a water softener with sodium chloride when all that water ends up in your septic system, unless you want to create a waste land next to your house!