Hard water after new resin

I've been battling hard water for a number of weeks now and I am about out of ideas. I am on well water and the iron content is high. My whole house filter will turn a stained color fairly quickly (after 2 days). I have a GE SmartWater system. I've replaced all the salt with brand new salt for iron water. Last night I replace all the resin with brand new standard mesh. The venturi works correctly as water is put into and removed from the brine during the nightly cycle. I also stood there with a flashlight behind the resin tank as it went through the cycle and I saw that it was successfully backwashing the system as the resin would rise during backwash and pack itself during the rinse. What else could possibly cause hard water? Should I add more/different house filters before the softener? Currently I am using the 5 micron filter that look like a spool of yarn. I had a carbon filter, but read with my type of water and using it before the softener can cause quick bacteria build-up so I removed it. I bought test strips from Lowes and after the brand new salt and resin, my water hardness was still 25, which is what i read directly from the well 2 days ago when I had someone run a true water quality test. I'm not sure what else can be done to soften the water. It should at least drop a few points after going through the softener.