What control valve?
What are your water conditions?
What is your water usage?

Here's the data from the water test of our new well, untreated sample,by the State health dept:

Chloride=110 mg/l
Fluoride=0.60mg/l
Hardness as CaCO3= 309 mg/l
Iron(automated)=3.5 mg/l
Nitrates not detected
Sodium(automated)=52
Sulfate not detected

The valve is a 255/460i on a 10x54 tank, I'm told it's a 48000 grain tank

Not a very comprehensive water test for well water. Is that all they tested for?

If the softener has a 10x54 tank and 1.5 cu ft of resin then it is only 48k at the least efficient settings and will waste salt and water.

Is this a new softener you bought? If yes, didn't the seller ask for details of your water conditions? Number of people in the house? Number of bathrooms? Size of the plumbing at the installation point? SFR of the plumbing?

Did you install the softener yourself?

The softener was in the house when we purchased it last year. The water test was a 'standard' test that I requested from an independent source so I could determine the harness and iron content.

What other tests would be necessary?

Just to start...
hardness
iron (ferric and ferrous)
manganese
pH
TDS
bacteria
nitrates

Then we need to know...
Number of people in the house?
Number of bathrooms?
Size of the plumbing at the installation point?
SFR of the plumbing?

Is the softener currently operating properly and softening the water?

Why are you wanting to change the softener settings?

As I stated in one of the emails:

Hardness=305
Iron--not sure which one =3.5
No bacteria--that was another test done by our County health Dept.
No Nitrates

2 people in the house
2 bathrooms
1 inch inlet pipe from the well pump
What's SFR??

Yes the softener is working properly, we just had a new well dug and I wanted to see if I needed to change the settings based upon the new 'source' of water.

Sorry to make this confusing but it's our first time on a well

So, this water test is from to new well to the softener... raw, untreated water?

Have you had the water tested AFTER the softener to see if the softener is doing its job?

Correct, new well tested untreated water, wanted to confirm settings on the softener

Since we don't know what the water conditions WERE and we don't know that the softener wass working properly you don't just change settings at random. We don't know what the settings are and we don't know that the softener was working properly on the old well... but that doesn't matter cause you have a new well.

You know the conditions of the new well raw water (to a point) so get the water tested AFTER the softener and see if iron is ZERO and hardness is ZERO and if the water holds soft all the way to the generation or goes hard before that.

I can tell you this, with 3.5 mg/l (ppm) of iron the resin is fouled if there isn't an iron treatment device before the softener (that is working) or you haven't been doing routine resin cleaning.

I understand most of this but the 3.5 Iron is before the softener, how does that indicate fouled resin??

Did I miss something??

You're missing a lot...

To correctly size a softener we need to know water conditions, plumbing requirements, and water usage.

To correct set a softener we need to know water conditions and water usage and softener parameters.

Softeners are good at removing hardness and can remove iron (of one type not the other) up to a point but to survive iron that must be a consideration in sizing the softener. The practical limit of a softener's ability to remove iron is at about 3 ppm (mg/l) and that is only successful with more frequent regenerations and routine resin cleaning. Without that routine maintenance the resin will foul and cease to remove iron and hardness to the point it may restrict the flow of the water though the softener.

If you 're a DIYer and want to undertake the maintenance of the softener here's what you need to do...

Find a local certified independent lab and have the water tested before and after the softener. When we know the exact water conditions before and after the softener we'll know if the resin is OK and if the softener is working properly.

If the resin is OK I'll tell you how to maintain the resin and we'll look at the softener settings to see if they can be improved.

If the resin is fouled or the results indicate the softener is not doing it's job then we'll cross that bridge.

Living on a well is more complicated than living on a water system cause you need to make the water safe (all the county cares about) and you want to make the water nice for your appliances, fixtures, and plumbing.

You can always look around town for a local independent water treatment pro and get them out to evaluate your system and settings. Consider the cost tuition.