follow this irrigation schedule after planting your new seeds. water 15-20 minutes twice a day for two weeks water 20-30 minutes once a day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day every other day for one week water 30-45 minutes once a day twice a week for one week move into deep irrigation, increasing the time to provide 1 inch of water all over and decreasing the frequency to just once a week. If you have to move the sprinklers at any point, the new location also receives 1 inch. After seeding, baby the grass by staying off for 1-2 months. Mow when the new seeds reach 4 inches and mow it back to 3.

1) How much should I water the first time after I've planted? It is a 10 gallon aquarium so should I try to get the soil wet enough that some drains down to the gravel layer and I can see it? Hi Xiao! Unfortunately there is no surefire answer as it depends in part on what kinds of plants you use, how MANY plants you have in there, as well as the media's ability to hold water, etc. As a general rule of thumb, the soil when you you first put it in should be moist enough to stick together a bit when squeezed into a ball. Begonias tyically do NOT like realy wet soil. Impatients tend to like more moisture then the begonias. This could make this terr a challenge -- what may be nice for the begonias may be too dry for the impatients. Consider this terr an experiment. :) You didn't mention how MUCH soil you have in the tank, but assuming you have the soil at least 2 inches deep -- if you stick your finger into the soil about an inch down and it is dry to the touch then you probably need to water. The impatients will also let you know they are too dry by wilting.(Not that you want to wait that long on a regular basis -- as that is stressful to the plants) Water the plants a little bit at a time. Enough to moisten the soil surface. Let this sink in for a few minutes then if it looks like the water has not penetrated the soil deeper down, add some more. Remember that it is always better to go back to add more than to grossly over water by giving too much. Having a bit of water amongst the gravel will act as a bit of a reservoir so you can water until you see a little bit of water in the gravel area. However it isn't NECESSARY to do so. If I don't have the tank top sealed with saran wrap, will I still see any condensation on the glass? If not, is the water cycle not happening so I will need to just water more often? You might see some condensation on the glass down at the gravel or soil level but don't count on it. And yes you are correct that the water cycle will not be happening so you will indeed have to water more often. If I do need to water more often, how much should I water each time? Like a quart of water or so when the soil is dry? Sorry there are too many factors that will affect this so there is no simple answer for you -- except that a "quart" of water for that size tank with the plants you have will almost definitely be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much. :) The time of year could affect how much water you need or at least how often you need it. Office air tends to be quite dry -- especially in the winter. But depending on how strong you winter light is and the temp the office is kept at over the winter you may still find you need less water than in the summer when the sunlight coming in the window is a lot stronger. Afraid you'll have to wait and see. Again plan on giving only a cup or two of water and see how that works. You can always add more later. Hope...

The FIRST thing to do is get a COMPLETE INDEPENDENT test of your well water. You need to know more than just the hardness and nitrates. With those results you can begin to gather the information you'll need to provide safe and quality water to your home. The fact that a water softener is already there says that there is harness and maybe iron and manganese in your water that needs to be treated. If you can identify the brand and model of the softener you might find a local water treatment pro that can check to see if the softener is properly sized for your home, operating correctly, and recommend the necessary repairs. I'd call around and get at least three water treatment companies to come out, assess your needs, and quote their solutions. They all should test your water. Ignore the ones who don't. When you have their proposals and your own COMPLETE independent water test to compare their water tests to, post your findings and their quotes so we might be of assistance. With the specific problems with your water identified and properly treated all the water for the house will be "safe". For many people that is adequate. For some, and I am among them, I also have an RO unit under the kitchen sink with the "extra" faucet. I use the RO water for drinking, cooking, making coffee, and the icemaker in my fridge. Sometimes I space out and drink the softened water from the kitchen faucet and it's OK for me. Living with a well is more complicated than being on a municipal water system. You take the responsibility to make the water SAFE and correct the problems that will cost you lots of money in the long run by prematurely wearing out appliances, plumbing, water heaters, and such or make you and your family sick. Living on a well requires some education, some training, and doing some routine maintainence on the treatment devices. A softener will require periodic cleaning of the brine tank which is EZ and no big deal. If your softener is a big box store softener (like a Sears softener) it's harder to clean out the brine tank but you can do it. You'll need to make sure there is salt or potassium (whichever you decide to use) in the brine tank sufficent to cover the water in there. RO units require filter changes which are not hard to do. Your water quality is IMPORTANT. Take your time. Ask questions.

Hi Ed. So the person you really want to hear from on here is Aliceinwonderland. That said, here's my 2 cents. You can't really design a filtering system until you get the water sample tested at a reputable independent lab. Water reports aren't all that helpful. There are some things that will come back in that test that will significantly change the design of any treatment system (such as iron being present). If you are concerned about chlorine, consider the higher cross-linked resin in a water softener. I think that carbon filtering all of the water going through the softener would be vastly more expensive (in filters) and introduce more pressure drop than just changing out the resin in 10 years. In my home, I have a big blue housing and carbon filter on the drinking water, but not anything else. My toilets just don't need carbon filtered water. Note that pressure drop is not a good indicator of a carbon filter's ability to remove contaminates. There look to be some very high-flow applications (multi head shower, large tub) that you need to put some numbers to as far as gallons per minute. Those numbers are important in the design. You will also need to determine how many gallons per day used in the household. I think a normal estimate is 75-80 gallons per person per day. Just a couple tips about PEX: Pex pipe is cheap, but the brass fittings are stupid expensive. After doing my manifold / filter / tankless setup in pex I realized it would have been much easier / cheaper in copper because of all the fittings. After the manifold it makes sense to use pex. Also, pex has a smaller ID and the fittings fit inside the pipe, rather than outside the pipe like copper. Don't assume the same flow rates for 1" copper and pex, for example. So, to reiterate: Post back here when you have your test results. Provide the GPM on the high-flow uses. Also let us know how many people in the house so we can estimate the gallons per day. Lastly, reconsider doing whole house carbon / sediment filtering using big blue filter housings and instead think about filtering drinking water.