Water travels through 8 stages of filtration:

Stage 1:
Water flows through a 5-Micron reusable sediment filter cartridge that removes sediment, silt, sand and dirt. Also extends the life of the water filters. CRYSTAL QUEST® pleated cartridges outperform wound, spun, melt blown, resin bonded and other "depth" type filter elements because our cartridges are pleated to provide increased surface area and longer life.

Stage 2:
water flows through pre and post one - micron filter pads (1 micron equals  1/25,000th of an inch), which remove suspended particles such as silt, sediment, cyst (Giardia, Cryptosporidium), sand, rust, dirt, and other un-dissolved matter.

Stage 3 and 4:
water flows through a bed of media made of a special high-purity alloy blend of two dissimilar metals - copper and zinc (KDF-55D ®, and KDF-85D ®.) KDF is a major advancement in water treatment technology that works on the electro-chemical and spontaneous-oxidation-reduction (REDOX) principles. Chlorine is instantaneously and almost inexhaustibly oxidized.

Tests on KDF/GAC cartridge have shown 99+% chlorine removal past 20,000 gallons of water. In comparison, carbon cartridges of comparable volumes drop below 90% effectiveness after only 4,000 gallons.

travel through a solid carbon cartridge for removing volatile organic carbon compounds (VOC's), insecticides, pesticides and industrial solvents

Stage 5:
Water flows through ion exchange resins, reducing heavy metals such as lead, copper, aluminum, and water hardness.

Stage 6:
water flows through granulated activated carbon (GAC). GAC is universally recognized and widely used as an effective adsorbent for a wide variety of organic contaminants, such as chlorine (99.9%), chemicals linked to cancer (THM's, benzene) pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, volatile organic compounds (VOC's),  PCB's, MTBE's and hundreds of other chemical contaminants that may be present in water causing bad taste and odors in your drinking water.

Carbon is extremely porous and provides a large surface area for contaminants to collect. Carbon-only filters must also use their capacity for chlorine removal, resulting in a shortened life. They also may use a bituminous coal carbon, which is good at removing chlorine, but not as effective at removing chemicals. We use a high-grade coconut shell carbon that is most effective at removing chemicals. Coconut shell carbon provides a significantly higher volume of micro-pores than either coal, wood or lignite based carbon. As a result, it is more effective than other carbon types in removing trihalomethanes (THM's) and other chemicals from municipally supplied water. Since our REDOX media removes the chlorine before it reaches the carbon, the carbon capacity is not wasted on chlorine and is free to concentrate more effectively on organic contaminants.

Stage 7:
Water flows through another one-micron filtration pad for further reduction of undesirable particles. The end result is a great reduction or total elimination of a wide variety of contaminants.

Stage 8:
Water travel through a solid 5-Micron coconut based carbon cartridge. CRYSTAL QUEST® Carbon Block simultaneously removes chlorine, bad taste and odor, and organic chemicals that contribute to taste and odor, while providing the particulate filtration and dirt-holding capacity of an efficient 5µm nominal sediment filter. The extrusion process allows the production of a carbon block with more carbon, but a lower pressure drop. CRYSTAL QUEST® Carbon Block filters deliver extended life, while removing sediment, chlorine, bad taste and odor, and organic contaminants from water, aqueous solutions or suspensions. The CRYSTAL QUEST® Carbon Block is also widely used in filteringorganic solvents.