Be aware that iron bacteria is harmless to aquatic organisms. In fact some water treatment plants use it to remove iron.

I get a film occasionally in my trout pond that uses well flow 24/7. Doesn't seem to cause any problems.

Are you sure you have iron bacteria in the well itself? Typically the iron had to be precipitated for the iron to be available for the bacteria,and for that to happen there has to be oxygen. With few exceptions well water is usually devoid of oxygen until it comes to the surface. Often supersaturated with nitrogen gas though.

Edit: after doing more research to verify my assertion it appears that iron bacteria is anaerobic or lives in a transition zone between anaerobic and aerobic so it may indeed live in the well itself. My bad! Never-the-less it would seem the iron precipitates needs to be present and from my understanding that doesn't happen without the precense of at least 0.15 mg of oxygen.

The iron precipitate itself can be harmful to small fish in tanks as it irritates their gills. Pumping it into a pond shouldn't be an issue as it diffuses and setlles out. My 2.5 mg/l iron that comes in via 45 gpm well water diffuses out to 0.4 mg/l in my 1/10th acre trout pond.

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 09/20/14 09:23 AM.
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