Arsenic Removal + SMART Filter Cartridge

Arsenic has no taste, color or smell, so a glass of water with it looks exactly like one without it. It occurs naturally in rock and soil and can reach private wells, and the U.S. drinking water standard for arsenic is just 10 parts per billion (ppb). A water test is the only way to know where you stand.

The Arsenic Removal + SMART Filter Cartridge combines Eagle Arsenic Oxide, Crystal Quest's iron hydroxide arsenic media, with SMART filtration media: Eagle Redox Alloy 6500 and 9500 and granular activated carbon. It is the combined-media replacement for systems that specify arsenic treatment with SMART filtration.

At a glance

• Two treatments, one cartridge: Eagle Arsenic Oxide plus SMART carbon and redox media
• Designed for both forms of arsenic, arsenic V and arsenic III
• Crystal Quest redox media: ERA 6500 and ERA 9500 add chlorine, iron and hydrogen sulfide reduction
• Rated by the gallon: 500 to 3,000 gallons by size, published at less than 100 ppm hardness
• Four sizes, 0.5 to 6 GPM, for countertop, under-sink and whole house housings

What you are looking at

A sealed cartridge shell with polypropylene end caps, polyolefin inner and outer wraps, polyethylene netting and Buna-N gaskets. Inside, granules of Eagle Arsenic Oxide share the shell with black carbon granules and the metallic ERA granules. The size and part number are printed on the label. Each end cap has 1-micron pads behind its openings.

How the two halves work

Half one: Eagle Arsenic Oxide

Arsenic shows up in water in two forms. Arsenic V (arsenate) carries a negative charge at normal drinking water pH, which lets the iron hydroxide surface grab it and hold it. Arsenic III (arsenite) carries no charge at normal pH, which makes it the harder form for most media to catch. Eagle Arsenic Oxide is designed to capture both. As the media's binding sites fill, arsenic starts to pass through, so testing the treated water tells you when the cartridge is spent.

Half two: SMART media

Granular activated carbon adsorbs organic chemicals and the compounds behind tastes and odors, and converts free chlorine to harmless chloride. Eagle Redox Alloy is Crystal Quest's copper-zinc redox media: ERA 6500 targets chlorine and ERA 9500 targets ferrous iron and hydrogen sulfide, and the redox reaction also holds some dissolved heavy metals on the media.

Why pair them

Wells that carry arsenic often bring other complaints along: a sulfur smell, a trace of iron, or chlorine from shock treatment or a blended city supply. The SMART half deals with those in the same housing, so the cartridge improves the water you taste as well as the arsenic you cannot. If your system has room for two housings, a standalone SMART Filter Cartridge followed by an Arsenic Removal Filter Cartridge gives each media a full shell of its own.

What it reduces

Primary target: arsenic, both arsenic V and arsenic III.

Also addressed by the SMART media (capabilities of the media, not separate tested ratings for this cartridge):

• Chlorine and its taste and odor
• Ferrous iron and hydrogen sulfide at the low levels a cartridge stage is meant for
• Some heavy metals and dissolved organic chemicals

Not designed to treat: bacteria and viruses, fluoride, nitrate, hardness or total dissolved solids (TDS).

Is it right for my water? Start with an arsenic test. If your results show mostly arsenic III, high iron or a pH outside the normal drinking water range, talk to a Crystal Quest specialist before you choose, since those conditions change what works best.

Why Crystal Quest

• Arsenic treatment at every scale. Crystal Quest offers arsenic cartridges, this SMART combination and residential whole house arsenic systems, so you can treat one tap or the whole home.
• Published capacity. Each size carries a gallon rating and the hardness condition behind it.
• One housing, two jobs. Arsenic reduction and SMART filtration together, for systems with a single arsenic housing.
• Over 1,000,000 people served since 1994. Crystal Quest builds under ISO 9001 quality management, has made water filtration in the USA for over 30 years and offers lifetime support by phone, email or chat.

Where it fits

• Systems that specify the arsenic and SMART combination use this one blended cartridge.
• Not a drop-in for every SMART slot: a standard SMART position or a reverse osmosis pre-filter takes a standard SMART cartridge unless your system calls for this combination.

Choose the size printed on your current cartridge or in your order history: 2-7/8" x 9-3/4" (CQE-RC-04051), 2-7/8" x 20" (CQE-RC-04100), 4-5/8" x 9-3/4" (CQE-RC-04101) or 4-5/8" x 20" (CQE-RC-04102).

Common questions