[Q] How to remove Hydrogen sulfide from well water

[Moontanman]

I am trying to start back up my aquarium fish collecting and breeding business. One obstacle is the well water I have to use. Raw it is full of iron sulfates and hydrogen sulfide, and other noxious chemicals. If the raw well water is left to sit it goes from a being a thick green to being red orange and red orange mud settles onto the bottom. Once I run it through water a softener system it comes out clear and very soft but still full of hydrogen sulfide and almost totally anoxic. I need to be able to remove the H2S and add oxygen. I have thought of using H2O2 to add oxygen but will this also remove the H2S?

[Turtle]

Natural Handyman's Removing Hydrogen Sulfide H2S From Water Page

Chlorination and activated carbon filter

 

The second method is to install a chlorine feeder and an activated carbon filter. As with the previous method, the H2S is oxidized by the chlorine and the insoluble sulphide particles are removed by the activated carbon filter. This filter also removes any residual chlorine that is left after oxidization of the hydrogen sulphide. ...

[modest]

I have thought of using H2O2 to add oxygen but will this also remove the H2S?

 

Yes, it will. H₂O₂ will oxidize the H₂S in the same way as Turtle recommends above with chlorine. You'd then have to filter out the precipitate.

 

~modest

[jab2]

In the tannery we remove Hydrogen Sulphide from a pH ~9-10 water by bubbling air in the presence of manganese sulphate and add a bit of Hydrogen Peroxide to keep the reaction from reversing in anaerobic sewer condition by bacteria. This might be a bit drastic for you but I have found the following which might help.

 

Treating Sulfur Water

 

Natural Handyman's Removing Hydrogen Sulfide H2S From Water Page

 

Pond aeration well water aeration and sulfur removal through aeration.

 

As mentioned in the links, a source of H2S can be bacteria which break down the sulphate to H2S, if I'm not mistaken. These can be killed, or shock treated, as they call it, to lower the population density. Total eradication is however not possible. So it might be worth your while to have the well checked and treated, if this specific bacteria are present. A friend of mine used to run a field of wells to supply water to a local community. The water they extracted were found in Sandstone and had a pH of about 5.0. They had to pull the submersible pumps, lines and remote control valves and the telemetric flow modules quite regularly to clean out this bacteria which reduce the flow of the water by quite a bit.