well water in Western Washington

My Well Water
1. Iron - about 10 times to much
2. Manganese - about 18 times to much. When oxidized turns everything orange and brown. Also caused my neighbor's finger nails to darken and crack.
3. pH of about 6.
4. Dissolved Sulfur - it smells.
5. Lots of dissolved solids and tannins.
6. Iron fixing bacteria. Not good for children....
I know part of the solution is a green sand filter which will filter the high Manganese but I need to raise the pH to about 7 first.

I had my water tested by a Culligan Systems guy. He has said that for about 8 grand that he can fix me right up...
I have a friend that thinks that is crazy. He thinks that a slow sand filter (with some kind of organic slime) that has green sand in it is the solution...
Is there some kind of organized way to address these problems?

Thanks for any insights...
Rocklock

Well, you have quite a bit going on. Do you have the water analysis report? There is not one fix all solution for all of these issues.

The sulfur odor is usually caused by hydrogen sulfide and can be reduced with activated carbon. Hydrogen sulfide tends to use the carbon up quickly depending on how much is in the water and how much water you use. For this I would recommend some of the larger carbon filters like the 20" Big blue GAC20-BB. These will fit into a standard 20" big blue filter housing.

Tannins can be removed by ion-exchange, using anion exchange media. Ion-exchange can also remove a limited amount of dissolved Iron form your water but you may need cation exchange so a mixed bed may be necessary. This can help some with manganese as well.

You may want to add an iron reduction filter after the softener but the pH must be at or above 7 to effectively function.

So...

#1) 10" Big blue canister with DGD-7525 (prefilter)

#2) Water softener with anion/cation exchange
**note: pH adjustment may be needed to bring to 7 or greater before iron reduction**
#3) Iron reduction filter (RFFE-20BB)

#4) 10 micron carbon block (Pentek EPM-20BB)

The iron reduction will cause dissolved iron to coagulate and be mechanically filtered by the carbon as well as the carbon will remove taste and odor.

The above is a general idea but further water analysis may be needed before installing a system.