I have a relatively high concentration of clear water iron in my water
supply (well). I have been using a northstar water softener to help
mitigate the problem. This has been moderately successfull. The
softener model I have indicates that it can remove 5 ppm of iron.
Even with the water softener I am still seeing some iron staining,
particularly in my bath tub (more so when I run the jacuzzi jets). I
just had my water tested with the following results:

Without the softener:

9 grains of hardness
6 ppm iron

With the softener:

4 grains of hardness
1 ppm iron

It is my understanding that even 1 ppm of iron will cause staining.
So, I believe that my softener is doing everything it can but is
simply overmatched. The question I have is what my next step should
be? I have been looking at a more powerful softenere at Sears with
will clean out 8ppm of iron and costs about $550. Alternatively, I
could look at a more expensive iron filter and use it in conjuction
with my current softener. Or, would changing the resin to a "fine
mesh" be enough? Also, I currently use the Morton "Iron Free" pelets,
without them the problem is even worse. The big problem is that
trying any of these methods requires me to shell out a fairly large
amount of cash without even knowing if the problem will be resolved.
If anyone has any recommendations I would greatly appreciate it.
Specifically, any recommendations with brands/models would be
helpfull.