I'm Matt — I install and service water treatment systems around Clearwater, Largo, and St. Pete, and I answer my own phone. Free 20-minute test at your tap, straight price after. No kitchen-table sales pitch.
Takes about 20 minutes. You keep the results whether you buy from us or not.
The city's own water quality report puts Clearwater at 10–14 grains of hardness — 'very hard' by any measure. That's the crust on your faucets, the spots on your dishes, and the reason water heaters die young around here.
Past EPA testing also found PFOS at 5.9 parts per trillion in the Clearwater system — above the federal 4 ppt limit. That was a single point-in-time sample, not a violation, but it's why people keep asking me about PFAS.
On a well? Different animal: iron, sulfur — that rotten-egg smell — tannins. Nobody tests well water but you.
The free test takes 20 minutes at your tap and checks hardness, iron, chlorine, pH, and TDS — the stuff behind most Clearwater water complaints. I also sell a certified PFAS lab test: I take the sample, send it to the lab, and walk you through the results. Then you decide.
Hardness: City of Clearwater / Pinellas County water quality reports. PFOS: EPA monitoring via mytapwater.org.
Every photo here is a job I actually did. No stock, no models, no fake smiles.
Guys ask me about salt-free systems every week, so here's the straight version from someone who services all three. Ion exchange is still the most proven way to actually remove hardness from water — here's why.
| What changes | Ion exchange (salt softener) | TAC 'salt-free' conditioner | Cartridge filters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness minerals | Actually removed from the water | Not removed — turned to microscopic crystals; a hardness test still reads hard | Not removed |
| Dissolved iron | Removed at low to moderate levels | Not rated for it — iron fouls the media (specs call for under ~0.3 ppm) | Not removed — rust particles only |
| Maintenance | Add salt every month or two | No salt — but the media gets replaced every 3–5 years | Cartridges clog and get swapped constantly |
| The catch | Adds a little sodium; needs a drain | Minerals stay in your water — no soft feel, spots stay | Handles sediment and that's about it |
Conventional well-water setups can take a lot of equipment and attention. My proprietary Aqua Pro treatment process is designed around the actual test results, with a smaller footprint, less maintenance, and fewer service calls.
For the homeowner, the benefit is simple: dependable iron and sulfur treatment without turning the side of the house into an equipment yard. About half the tanks of many conventional setups, and less to keep up with.
About half the tanks. Smaller footprint, less to maintain.
Spots, scale, smell, and staining each point in a different direction. The right fix starts by identifying the actual water condition.
Spots on dishes, white crust on faucets, extra soap, and scale inside water-using appliances are all common signs. Our proprietary Aqua Pro treatment process takes the hardness out—helping protect appliances while dishes, skin, and hair feel better.
Try the hard-water cost estimator →
Get My Free Water Test →Sulfur odor in the shower, orange rings in toilets, and stained laundry do not start on the surface. Scrubbing cannot fix water chemistry. Our proprietary Aqua Pro treatment process addresses iron and sulfur at the source for clear, better-smelling water.
Get My Free Water Test →Iron, sulfur, hardness, sediment, and other conditions are not always obvious in a glass. A free in-home test gives you a useful baseline and a plain-English explanation before anyone talks equipment.
Take the 60-second water quiz →
Get My Free Water Test →Simple on purpose. No equipment recommendation before we understand the water.
Pick a callback time and tell us whether you have city water or a private well.
In about 20 minutes, we check the conditions that affect your options.
We explain the results in plain English. No pressure to buy.
No scare tactics. No high-pressure sales pitch. No upselling to pad a quota. Just an honest read on your water—if a simple fix beats a new system, we'll tell you.
Real Aqua Pro work from finished jobs. A matched before-and-after gallery will appear here only after both views from the same job are available.
Orange ring? White crust? Tea-colored tint? Add a photo so we can see what your water is leaving behind.
Continue to free test →Your email app opens at the end. Attach the selected photo there before sending.
Rather skip the email? Call or text (727) 342-0091 and we'll set up your free test.
Aqua Pro installs professional-grade softeners and filtration around the results of your water test. Our proprietary Aqua Pro treatment process is designed for better results with less maintenance and fewer service calls, backed by local service and a clear, fair quote.
Tap water hands you last year's report. Bottled water hands you a label from a plant a thousand miles away. Neither one tells you what's in your glass today.
Every reverse osmosis system I install has a digital readout showing parts per million — live, every time you fill your glass.
That number stays low, your membrane's doing its job. It starts climbing, your membrane's failing — and you see it before your water goes bad, not after.
RO water comes out almost too clean, so I put the good minerals back: a remineralization filter for taste and steady pH — or a pinch of sea salt in your glass, your call.
Each service starts with the same question: what is your water actually doing?
HARD WATERRemove hardness minerals that create scale, spots, and poor soap performance. Sized for your home and your water.
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EVERY TAPTarget taste, odor, sediment, or other confirmed conditions with treatment matched to your flow rate.
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IRON · SULFUR · TINTClearer, better-smelling well water using a proprietary Aqua Pro treatment process designed for Florida conditions.
Learn more →Final travel availability is confirmed when we schedule your test.
No jargon. No mystery about what happens next.
Simple: we come to your home and test your water right at the tap — it takes about 20 minutes. You get results on the spot, in plain English, with zero obligation to buy anything. If a simple fix beats a new system, we'll tell you. Call (727) 342-0091 or book online.
Clear-looking water can still carry hardness, iron, sulfur, or sediment. PFAS compounds have no taste, smell, or color, so they can only be detected with a lab test. Federal rules will require public water systems to treat PFAS by 2029-2031, but private wells aren't covered — talk to us if you want lab testing, or start with our free in-home test for everything else. I sell the certified lab test — ask me about it during the free visit.
One upfront price — no surprises. It depends on your home's size, your water quality, and which equipment fits best. That's exactly what the free test determines: we test first, then quote a straight price you can say yes or no to.
A softener removes the hardness minerals that cause spots on dishes, crusty faucets, and worn-out appliances. A filter targets taste, smell, and specific contaminants like iron, sulfur, or sediment. Many Florida well homes benefit from both — the free test tells you which your water actually needs.
A well-installed, well-maintained system typically lasts 10 to 15 years or more. We install professional-grade equipment built for Florida water, and our proprietary Aqua Pro treatment process is designed for less maintenance and fewer service calls over the life of the system.
Very little. Keep the salt tank filled and we'll handle the rest — our service plans cover salt delivery, filter changes, and annual water testing, and every system is checked during service visits. Our proprietary Aqua Pro treatment process is designed for fewer service calls than conventional setups, so you never have to think about your water.
Maybe. City water is treated and safe to drink, but Florida's hard limestone water still leaves scale and spots, and chlorine can affect taste. Well water is unregulated — nobody tests it but you. Either way, the free 20-minute test tells you what's actually coming out of your taps.
The big brands make excellent equipment — and typically charge $3,500 to $6,500 for it, sold by a commissioned sales rep at your kitchen table. We're locally owned: the owner does the installs and answers his own phone. You get professional-grade equipment, our proprietary Aqua Pro treatment process, and a fair local price — no sales pitch.
Pick a callback time. We'll call you back as soon as possible during business hours.
We come to you, test your water, and explain the results in plain English—free. No obligation and no sales pitch.
Confirm the home, water source, and a good test time.
About 20 minutes at your home.
Keep the results. No pressure.
A water softener, carbon filter, iron system, and drinking-water filter solve different problems. Testing keeps you from buying the wrong equipment or replacing a system that only needs a simpler correction.
Licensed & Insured · Locally owned · Owner-installed
Use your own assumptions. Nothing is pre-filled as an industry average, and the result is a hypothetical planning scenario—not an estimate of your actual cost or savings.
Most of my customers are on wells. I'm Matt — I install and service water treatment systems around Clearwater, Largo, and St. Pete, and I answer my own phone. Here's what I'd tell you if you were my neighbor with a well.
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Orange rings in the toilets. Orange streaks in the tub. White laundry coming out dingy no matter how much bleach you throw at it. That's iron. Well water around here is loaded with dissolved iron — you can't always see it coming out of the tap, but you'll see it on everything it touches. The good news: iron is one of the easiest problems to fix when the system is sized right.
Before you spend a dime, here's a trick worth knowing: if the smell only shows up in the HOT water, it's probably not your well at all — it's your water heater. The anode rod in the tank reacts with bacteria and makes hydrogen sulfide. Smell in both hot AND cold? That's your well, and that's mine to fix.
Yellow or brown tint, usually worse after a big rain. Here's my honest take: a tannin filter is overkill on about 9 out of 10 well systems I see. The exception is a shallow well near a lake — then it's cheap insurance after a storm. If someone tries to sell you a tannin system on day one, get a second opinion.
This is the one people sleep on. After Hurricane Ian, 22% of private wells tested in Seminole County came back positive for coliform or E. coli. Floodwater gets in, and suddenly the water's not safe to drink. The state health department tells well owners to test every year for bacteria and nitrates — most people never test it once. The free test I do at your tap screens the water; when bacteria is the question, I take a sample to a certified lab and walk you through the results. If it's positive, I chlorinate the well and retest until it's clean.
A conventional well-water setup can mean a long row of equipment and a long maintenance list. That's a lot to own, a lot to service, and a lot to squeeze beside the house.
My systems use a proprietary Aqua Pro treatment process designed to handle the iron and sulfur the test actually finds. The homeowner gets about half the equipment of many conventional well setups, a smaller footprint, and less to maintain. I keep the process private. I make the result and the price easy to understand.
Quick heads-up most people don't know: Florida doesn't require a well-water test when a house sells. But if your buyer has an FHA, VA, or USDA loan, the lender requires one — no passing test, no closing. I do free pre-listing screenings at the tap so there's no surprise a week before closing. And if the official test comes back bad, I fix it — chlorination and retest for bacteria, real treatment for iron and sulfur — and handle the certified lab test for the lender. One call, the water side's handled. Call (727) 342-0091.
Nobody tests it but you. City water gets tested by the utility on a schedule; the EPA's rules don't cover private wells at all. That's why the state health department tells well owners to test every year — for bacteria and nitrates at minimum. The free test I do at your tap takes 20 minutes and shows you the hardness, iron, and sulfur levels behind most well-water complaints — and I'll tell you straight when something needs a certified lab test instead.
A typical whole-house well setup from me runs $2,700 to $3,200 installed. The big dealers charge $3,500 to $6,500 for their version. The free test at your tap tells me exactly which version of the system your water needs — one straight price, no kitchen-table sales pitch.
Probably not. A tannin filter is overkill on about 9 out of 10 well systems I see. The exception: a shallow well near a lake, or tea-colored water that gets worse after rain — then it's cheap insurance. I'll tell you straight at the test.
Sulfur — hydrogen sulfide gas. Quick check: smell only in the hot water, and it's your water heater's anode rod reacting. Smell in hot and cold, and it's your well. Either way, the free 20-minute test sorts out which one it is.
The equipment runs 10 to 15-plus years with normal maintenance. My setups carry about half the equipment of a conventional well system, which means fewer parts to fail and fewer service calls. For hardness, see my water softeners page.
Yes. Floodwater is the number-one way bacteria gets into a well — after Hurricane Ian, 22% of wells tested in Seminole County came back positive. Test after any flooding, and don't drink it until the test is clean. I do the screening free and run the certified lab test when it's needed.
About 20 minutes at your tap. You keep the results whether you buy from me or not.
I'm Matt — I install and service water softeners all over Clearwater, Largo, St. Pete, and Tampa. City water here runs 10–14 grains hard. That's 'very hard,' and it's quietly eating your water heater alive. Free 20-minute test at your tap, straight price after. No sales pitch.
I'll put the numbers in front of you before I sell you anything. An independent lab — Battelle Memorial Institute, hired by the Water Quality Research Foundation — put real water heaters on hard water and softened water side by side. Gas tank heaters on softened water held their factory efficiency rating for 15 years. The same heaters on hard water lost up to 24% of their efficiency — every 5 grains of hardness cost another 4%. At Clearwater's 14 grains, your heater's been working harder for years to give you the same hot shower.
Tankless heaters did worse: on 26-grain hard water, one scaled up and quit after the equivalent of 1.6 years. It cost 30% more to run while it lasted.
Then the everyday stuff: a dishwasher needs up to 70% more detergent on hard water. Showerheads clogged up after about a year and a half. Spots on every dish, white crust on the faucets, laundry coming out stiff.
Hard water doesn't break anything overnight. It just makes you pay more, every single day, until the big things start dying early.
Water runs through a tank of resin beads. The beads grab the calcium and magnesium — that's the hardness — and swap in a little sodium. When the resin fills up, usually overnight while you're asleep, the system flushes itself with a salt-water rinse and starts over. Ten minutes of drain water, done. You keep a bag of salt in the tank. That's the whole job.
Every 5 grains of hardness costs you 4% on the water heater. Here's the math that matters at your house: grains per day = your hardness times your gallons used. A family of four on Clearwater's 14-grain water, about 300 gallons a day: that's 4,200 grains a day. A standard 40,000-grain softener regenerates roughly every 9 days — not every three days on a timer like the cheap big-box units that waste salt and water. I size the system to your test numbers, so it regenerates when it needs to and never before.
You'll see ads for salt-free systems and magnets and descalers. Here's my honest take: they don't take hardness out of the water. They turn the minerals into tiny crystals so they don't stick to things as fast — but a hardness test on the treated water reads exactly the same as before. And that media fouls up fast if you've got iron in the water over about 0.3 parts per million, which plenty of Florida wells do. Ion exchange — a real softener — actually removes the hardness. That's what I install.
A softener does add sodium. Every grain of hardness it removes puts roughly 7–8 milligrams of sodium per liter in the water. At Clearwater's 14 grains, that's around 100 milligrams a liter. Sounds like a lot until you compare it: an 8-ounce glass of softened water has about 24 milligrams of sodium — the FDA calls that 'very low sodium.' A slice of white bread has 160.
That said — if your doctor has you on a strict low-sodium diet, we'll plan around it. I can leave your kitchen cold line unsoftened, or put a small reverse-osmosis unit under the sink for drinking and cooking. Tell me at the free test and we'll set it up right from the start.
Check the salt level once a month. Once a year, have me — or anyone qualified — look the system over. A softener that's sized right and not neglected lasts 10–15 years without drama.
I don't quote off a menu. The free test tells me your hardness, your water use, and where I can tie the drain in — then you get one straight number. Fair local price. No commissioned sales rep, no kitchen-table pitch. And if a simple fix beats a new system, I'll tell you that instead.
A softener takes out hardness — calcium and magnesium, the stuff that scales up your water heater and crusts your faucets. A filter takes out tastes, smells, chlorine, and sediment. Most Tampa Bay homes need both doing different jobs. The free test tells you which ones you actually need.
Ten to fifteen years, easy, when it's sized right and not neglected. Check the salt monthly and have it looked at once a year. The units that die young are the ones that were undersized or left to run dry.
No. At Clearwater's hardness it adds roughly 100 milligrams of sodium per liter — about 24 milligrams in an 8-ounce glass, which the FDA grades 'very low sodium.' You won't taste it. On a strict low-sodium diet, I leave the kitchen cold line unsoftened or add an under-sink RO.
They don't remove hardness. They condition the minerals so they don't stick as fast, but a hardness test reads the same before and after. Iron over about 0.3 parts per million fouls the media too. If you want the hardness gone, you want ion exchange.
If your problem is hardness, yes. But most Florida wells bring iron and sulfur along for the ride, and a softener alone won't fix those. The free test tells us what you're actually dealing with — see my well water treatment page for the full picture.
I come to your house, test your water at the tap — about 20 minutes, results on the spot in plain English, zero obligation. You keep the results whether you buy from me or not.
Figures from the Battelle/WQRF study, 2009–2010 — via wwdmag.com, eponline.com, cleanwaterva.com, WQA study findings.