A while back I bought a place that needed a water softener. I picked up a Pentair 9100 (recommended here). I now notice, no matter the amount of cleaning or tank chemicals I have rings in my toilets. Additionally, the shower heads are getting jacked up.

Do I need to get a separate system for bacteria or is there some sort of "add-on" or correction that can be made?

You're dumping a shit ton of salt into your home water pipes.

It doesn't use salt.

What led you to conclude bacteria was the culprit?

Sounds like the softener is not softening and you've got salt issues.

Uh, sounds like you've got hard water, bro...



 

Water test from a plumber.

yeah, I think I need to get the system adjusted as its leaving that white residue on my shower heads....and changing the projection of the spayers....

Are you referring to a reddish pink staining?

http://www.martinwater.com/faqs/whats-this-pink-stuff-in-my-bathroom/

It comes from my well. Problem with "adding chlorine" is the system is sealed tanks filled with rocks and minerals designed to be replaced every 7 years or so. It's controlled by a "computer" on top. No place to add anything unless I added an additional system to the water line.

No, not that..... I'm colorblind, but it looks like I'm not cleaning enough, but some toilets aren't used beyond being flushed and it looks like something is forming on the waterline. Which is strange because I put those 2000 flushes things in the tanks AND clean regularly.

This thread is full of

Water softeners don't remove bacteria, they remove the hardness/calcium & magnesium.  Salt is required for this as its an even ion exchange.

Salt less systems are a scam and don't work and will still give you build up throughout the house.

If its city water it's already chlorinated, therefore no bacteria. Unless you're in Toledo then there's that toxin issue - which chlorine doesn't fix either.  High levels of chlorine will kill the algae (Cyanobacteria) but will NOT remove/kill the toxin (microsystin) it produces.

I don't know how a plumber can tell you that he tested for bacteria, this needs to be done in a lab.  

If you're on well water and do in fact have a bacteria issue, you need a chlorination, ozone or even better yet a UV setup.

ETA - see you're on well water. You could infact have iron bacteria and this will cause an oily slick in the back of the toliet and could lead to other slimy areas.

Do you have any odors, particularly sulphur?  (The rotten egg smell)

That's it.

No odor, the system fixed that within a few hours.

ETA: Sorry for all the confusion, I really don't know a lot about this stuff, but I knew when I moved in I needed a water softener system. That seems to be fine (no odor), but I have the two other mentioned issues.

Best solution for iron bacteria is an air injection iron filter designed to remove it. A chlorination system would remove it as well but will be more expensive compared to an air injected iron filter.  You can buy them for around 3k or rent them for around $30 per month usually.

If you're not using salt then I'm not sure that you have a water softener, these require salt to make brine to clean/flush/recharge the softener. Perhaps you have a carbon unit?

ETA - I guess that 9100 is a water softener, although I just don't think that is going to work as good as a traditional water softener that uses salt - and sounds like part of your issue with having build up all over your shower heads and faucets etc.  I really don't quite understand how this particular system works with no salt, but back washes itself with soft water. I guess it just must juggle enough soft water back & forth between the two tanks to keep the resin semi-charged to remove some of the hardness, but with out a salt brine ion exchange, I just can't beleive these would remove all of the hardness and solve that problem. It just seems to lower the hardness and making it less of a problem, but not the best solution.

Here it is

Water Softener

ETA: They have free support so I'll call to find out.