Need Advice: Whole House system and/or RO System

[jatwell]

This is for a house in Maine running off well water. I bought a kit from Lowe's to test the water ($10) and it had basic tests. Results:

Chlorine = 0
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0
Copper = 0
Alkalinity = 80 ppm
Ph = 6.5
Hardness = 3 grains / 50ppm
Iron = 3ppm

I think there is rust in the water. It will clog sink taps and shower heads with a orange/red muck. When you first turn the water on in a shower (white floor) you can actually see a reddish tint to the water, although it clears up a little as you run it. Light clothes get stained a orange/pink color.

When you're taking a shower, you can actually smell a "rust" odor if that makes any sense. It's not really a rotten egg, smells like a rusty bumper or something.

I'm only here a week and would like to do something to help my mother-in-law out with this, so I really need to find something local... Kind of limits me to Lowes or Home Depot.

Questions:

1. What does it sound like my problem is?
2. I do not need a water softener, right?
3. Lowes has this: http://www.ecodyne.org/cwfs/ Is it a possible solution? I could put a sediment filter before this to get rid of rust (or whatever I have)
4. Lowes also has a $150 Whirlpool RO system I could possibly put on the kitchen sink, but would I need this if I got the above?
5. Do I just need a whole house sediment filter?

I'm trying to do this as economically and quickly as possible. People in this area say they've gotten a plumber to install a $1500 system. I'm guessing it something like the Aquasana EQ-300.

Any help would greatly be appreciated to point me in the right direction.

HELP

[Andy CWS]

First of all, I could never recommended a big-box model softener for reasons mention elsewhere.

Your water is slightly acidic and that will affect your plumbing if you have any metal pipes or fixtures. Your iron is most likely dissolved so a softener will handle both iron and hardness.

The Aquasana EQ 300 will NOT handle the iron, the hardness or the acidity. It may be a good supplemental piece of equipment but not the tasks you have presented here.

Remember that going cheap can be very costly.

Andy Christensen, CWS