Open the tank on a TotalCare conditioner and the media inside is not the amber resin you would find in a standard softener. It is Crystal-Right™, a manmade zeolite custom-engineered by Mineral-Right in Phillipsburg, Kansas, and it is the reason one tank can do work that normally takes two or three. WaterCare uses it exclusively in its TotalCare conditioners, so if we have recommended one of those for your well, this page explains what is actually doing the work.
What a zeolite is, and why this one is manmade
A zeolite is a crystalline mineral with a structure that lets it exchange ions with water passing through it, which is the same basic principle a softener uses. Natural zeolites have long been used to treat water, but WaterCare's point is that the mined kind runs dirty and inefficient: the mined material carries whatever came out of the ground with it and performs unevenly. Crystal-Right is manufactured instead, engineered as a clean, consistent, multi-functioning media for treating problem water. The manufacturer calls it one of a kind; our narrower claim is that it does a specific job on a specific kind of well, and the test tells us when.
What it does in the tank
Three things, and a fourth that matters for keeping the bed alive.
Reduces hardness. The media softens water, which on a Hill Country well means dealing with 15 to 25-plus grains per gallon from the limestone the Trinity and Ellenburger aquifers sit in.
Reduces iron and manganese. This is what separates it from softener resin. Resin pulls in dissolved iron and then fouls once the iron oxidizes on the beads, which is why our iron and sulfur removal page insists on an iron filter ahead of a conventional softener. Crystal-Right is built to take iron and manganese out as part of its normal work.
Raises low pH. The CR-100 grade corrects acidic water, which protects copper and brass plumbing from being eaten slowly from the inside.
Tolerates chlorine. Crystal-Right has a high tolerance for chlorine, and the TotalCare conditioner uses chlorine to keep the system clean while it softens. Iron and sulfur bacteria are a common reason a media bed goes bad on a well; a bed that can be disinfected without damage stays in service.
CR-100 and CR-200
Crystal-Right is engineered as two grades, and the TotalCare line is built around them.
- CR-100 goes in the TC1 models. It reduces hardness, iron and manganese and raises low pH.
- CR-200 goes in the TC2 models. It is made for high amounts of hardness, iron and manganese.
The test picks between them. Hardness and iron numbers are the main inputs: a deep Ellenburger well like the USGS sample near Spicewood Beach that measured 459 mg/L of hardness, roughly 27 grains, sits firmly in CR-200 territory, especially with iron riding along. A pH reading below neutral pulls toward CR-100. Around here that is the less common case, because water that has spent years in limestone tends to come up alkaline; the pH-raising ability is a bonus on most of our wells rather than the reason we specify the media.
How the crystals are made
The process is worth describing because it explains why the media is consistent in a way mined zeolite is not. A custom-engineered liquid mixture is made and stored, filled into a tanker truck and transferred to a purpose-built field truck that lays out media beds. The mixture is poured into frames and solidifies; as the full field of beds dries, crystals begin to form and then crumble. The dried beds are harvested, washed and packaged for distribution.
When we specify it
Crystal-Right is well-water technology. Municipal and lake-water customers in Lakeway, Cedar Park or on Austin Water are dealing with scale and chloramine, not iron, and a dedicated water softener with the right carbon filter serves them better. The wells we see between Round Mountain, Johnson City and the Pedernales side of Spicewood are where hardness and iron show up in the same sample, and that is where a conditioner built on this media replaces a two- or three-tank layout with one.
We do not decide from a description of the stains. We test at the pressure tank for hardness, total and dissolved iron, manganese, pH, hydrogen sulfide and flow rate, and the numbers say whether a TotalCare conditioner is the right tool, which grade of Crystal-Right belongs in it, or whether an oxidizing iron filter needs to go ahead of everything. If your well is putting scale and orange stains on the fixtures at the same time, call (512) 587-8188 or request a free estimate and we will schedule a business-day visit to test it.