Nitrate Removal Inline Filter RO Cartridge

Nitrate has no taste, color or smell, and it reaches wells quietly: from fertilizer, septic systems and animal waste soaking down into groundwater. Shallow wells in farm country are the most likely to carry it, and a water test is the only way to know your level.

If your test shows nitrate, this inline cartridge, part CQE-RC-04061, adds a dedicated nitrate-reduction stage where you drink: before or after a point-of-use RO membrane, on an ice maker or refrigerator line, or inside a water cooler or fountain. It is filled with nitrate-selective resin, and unlike a throwaway filter, its media can be restored with salt.

At a glance

• A dedicated nitrate stage for point-of-use systems, separate from your carbon and sediment stages
• Nitrate-selective resin that trades harmless chloride for nitrate as water flows through
• Restorable with salt: periodic salt regeneration puts the media back to work
• Fits where you need it: pre or post RO, refrigerator and ice maker lines, water coolers and fountains
• Made in the USA, as printed on the cartridge label

What you are looking at

A white, sealed inline cartridge with an elbow connector at each end. The label reads "Crystal Quest Nitrate Reduction Inline Cartridge" and shows the flow arrow, part number, operating limits and nine numbered replacement steps. The resin beads are sealed inside; you service the cartridge as one piece.

How nitrate-selective resin works

Ion exchange: a one-for-one trade

The resin is a bed of tiny plastic beads covered in positively charged sites. Out of the box, each site holds a chloride ion. Nitrate is also a negatively charged ion, so as water flows past, nitrate is pulled onto the sites and chloride is released in its place. The nitrate stays on the resin; the water leaves with a little chloride, the same ion found in table salt.

Why "selective" matters

Ordinary anion resin prefers sulfate over nitrate. In water with sulfate, an ordinary resin can let captured nitrate go again as it fills up, so the treated water can briefly carry more nitrate than the water going in. Nitrate-selective resin is built to favor nitrate, so it holds on to what it has captured and gives you a steadier result.

Regeneration: resetting the resin with salt

Every site that holds a nitrate ion is a site that cannot take another. When most sites are full, the resin is exhausted. Soaking it in a strong salt solution floods the beads with chloride, which pushes the nitrate off and reloads the sites, ready to work again. That is the periodic salt regeneration this cartridge is designed for. If it is skipped, the media stops reducing nitrate.

What it reduces

Primary target (printed on the cartridge label): nitrate.

Not designed to treat: chlorine and chemical tastes, VOCs, metals, fluoride, arsenic, or bacteria and viruses. Those are handled by other stages, such as a SMART inline cartridge and the RO membrane. Use it only on water that is microbiologically safe. Many wells with nitrate also need a bacteria test.

Is it right for my water? Start with a lab test for nitrate, and keep the result: your nitrate level decides how often the resin needs regenerating. Nitrate matters most in homes where infants drink the water or where formula is mixed. If your nitrate is high, or you want treatment for the whole house, talk to a Crystal Quest specialist before choosing a point-of-use stage.

Why Crystal Quest

• Selective resin, not a general-purpose filter. Nitrate gets its own stage with media built to favor it.
• Restorable media. Salt regeneration resets the resin, so one cartridge keeps working through repeated cycles instead of being thrown away at first exhaustion.
• Made for our systems. Crystal Quest lists this cartridge as the optional nitrate stage for its under-sink RO, countertop RO and water cooler systems.
• 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

• Thunder under-sink RO systems: listed as the optional nitrate cartridge, CQE-RC-04061, on Thunder system pages such as the Thunder 1000C.
• The Countertop Reverse Osmosis System: listed as its optional nitrate stage.
• Bottleless water coolers: listed as an optional cartridge in the water cooler manual.
• Refrigerator and ice maker lines: plumbed inline on the supply tubing. It is not a slot-in replacement for a refrigerator's built-in filter.

Optional inline specialty cartridges do not have one fixed position in every system. Its published applications include pre and post point-of-use RO; install it where your system's manual specifies. Need nitrate treatment in a standard drop-in housing? See the Nitrate Removal Filter Cartridge.

Common questions