cistern filters

[jamie]

I recently bought a house that gets its water supply from a cistern. The roof of my shop and house is piped in to my cistern. So when it rains, thats how I supply water to my house. I have 2 In line filters with one being a carbon 5 micron filter and the second a pleated 20 micron filter that filters the water before it comes to the house. My question is, is using a 20 Mic filter ok to use following a 5 micron carbon filter or do I need to use a 5 micron pleated filter as well? This is a 2000 gallon cistern and I treat it once a week with 1- 2 gallons of bleach, depending on the amount of rainfall I get. Any helpful ideas for a cistern with anything will be helpful. Ive been using the Watts Maxetw--FF20 carbon filter and the watts FM-BB-20-20 pleated filter. These are pretty expensive! Is there another filter out there that cheaper but holds up just as good?

[Alex]

You will want to use the pleated 20 micron filter First, and then use the 5 micron carbon filter last. You will want to remove the particulate and dust from the water before going through the carbon filter.

The micron rating of your filters depend on the how small of particles that are in your cistern. The smaller the micron rating, the smaller the particle that your filter will remove.

So, with running a 5 micron filter first, your 20 micron sediment filter currently isn't doing much because all of the sediment was filtered down to 5 microns with the carbon filter.

Your filters are standard 20inch x 4.5inch sizes, and you can use other filters that will do better filtration and are cheaper.

First Stage (5 microns): Pentek DGD-5005-20
Second Stage (5 microns): Hydronix CB-45-2005

If you have any questions, let me know!

[jamie]

Thanks for the info. I will try these filters and it makes sense the way you say to use the 20 micron first. I should have thought of that meaning I work with different micron filters at work everyday. Thanks for the help!!