Shower Filter Replacement Cartridge

That bleach smell when the shower heats up. Hair that feels dry and straw-like. Skin that feels tight after you towel off. On city water, the usual culprit is chlorine, and hot water makes it easy to notice.

This shower filter replacement cartridge puts fresh media back to work in your Crystal Quest shower filter. Inside one compact, reversible cartridge, Crystal Quest's SMART multi-stage media blend, made for hot shower water, works to reduce chlorine and the other compounds behind shower-water smell, so every shower feels like you upgraded your water, not just your shower head.

At a glance

• Built for hot water: the redox stage of the SMART blend reduces chlorine by reaction, not adsorption, so hot water does not slow it
• Independently lab tested for chlorine: tested to NSF/ANSI 177 for chlorine reduction (details in the questions below)
• SMART multi-stage media blend: its stages include copper-zinc redox media, coconut shell activated carbon and ceramic media
• Reversible: flip it in the housing to back-flush the media and help prevent channeling
• One cartridge for four Crystal Quest shower products, replaced every 6 to 12 months

What you are looking at

The cartridge is a molded ABS cylinder 2.25" across and 3" tall (57.15 mm x 76.2 mm), packed with filter media and capped with 306 stainless steel filter screens that hold the media in while water passes through. It drops into the housing of your Crystal Quest shower filter, seals against two O-rings, and the shower head threads on as usual. Nothing about your shower routine changes except the water.

How a shower filter cartridge works

The SMART blend: several media in one cartridge

SMART is Crystal Quest's own multi-stage media blend, and this cartridge holds a SMART blend made for hot shower water. Each stage in the blend does a different job, described below.

Redox stage: chemistry that likes hot water

The redox stage is copper-zinc granular media. As water flows over the granules, electrons move between the metals and the dissolved contaminants. This oxidation-reduction reaction, redox for short, is how the stage reduces chlorine. Because redox is a chemical reaction rather than adsorption, it does not depend on cool water, so hot water does not slow it.

Why carbon alone is not enough in a shower

Activated carbon works by adsorption: contaminants are attracted to the carbon and held on its huge internal surface. Adsorption needs contact time, and a shower gives very little. Water moves through this small cartridge at shower flow and is out of the head almost instantly. That is why a good shower filter leads with redox media and uses carbon as a partner, not the other way around.

Coconut shell carbon: the polisher

The coconut shell granular activated carbon (GAC) in the blend picks up chlorine, chloramines and organic compounds that make it past the redox stage, so the water that reaches your hair and skin is cleaner and smells fresher.

Ceramic media: conditioning

Ceramic media rounds out the blend, conditioning the water and helping balance its pH.

Why it reverses

Water tends to find the easiest path through any media bed. Over time that path, called a channel, carries more water than the rest of the media. Turning the cartridge around sends water the other way, back-flushing the media and putting the whole bed back to work.

What it targets

Primary target (independently lab tested):

• Chlorine, the source of the bleach smell in a hot shower

Also targeted by the media blend:

• Chloramines
• Hydrogen sulfide and sulfur odor
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and trihalomethanes (THMs)
• Pesticides
• Dirt and sediment held back by the stainless steel screens

Not designed to treat: hardness minerals (it is not a water softener), bacteria and viruses, fluoride, nitrate or total dissolved solids. Use it only on water that is microbiologically safe. For whole-home chlorine and chloramine treatment, see Crystal Quest whole house water filters.

Why Crystal Quest

• Our own media. SMART is Crystal Quest's own multi-stage media blend, the same media family we use in our drinking water cartridges and whole house systems.
• Tested, and we show the report. The test report for this exact cartridge is linked below, with its flow rate, volume and results.
• Made in the USA. Over 1,000,000 people served since 1994, under ISO 9001 quality management.
• Real help. Call, email or open a ticket with our water filtration team whenever you have a question.

Where it fits

This cartridge, part number CQE-RC-04045, is the replacement for:

• Shower Filter
• Handheld Shower Filter
• 2-in-1 Handheld and Shower Head Combo Filter
• The shower filter in the 2-in-1 Combo Shower Filter and Bath Ball Bundle

The Bath Ball uses its own cartridge, the Bath Ball Replacement Cartridge (CQE-RC-04052). Single, Pack of 2, Pack of 4 and Pack of 6 all contain this same cartridge, so choose the quantity that matches how many shower filters you run.

Maintenance and care

• Replace every 6 to 12 months, or sooner if water flow drops or a chlorine smell returns. Actual life depends on feed water quality, system configuration and usage.
• At each change, check that both housing O-rings sit in their grooves and coat them lightly with a non-petroleum oil (not coconut oil).
• After installing, run hot water for 2 to 3 minutes to flush loose media fines. They are normal in a new cartridge and more than one flush may be needed. Let the water cool before you step in.
• Between changes, reverse the cartridge in the housing to back-flush it.
• Protect the cartridge from freezing and direct sunlight. The filter is not intended for outdoor use.

How to replace it

Never let a cartridge run past its prime. Choose Subscribe & save above and a fresh cartridge arrives on the schedule you set.

Common questions