Aqua Mira Frontier Pro + Tablet Question for Ben or Dan

It was in this post by Dan from this thread by me that Dan contacted Aquamira.

I have been wanting clarification on this also, since it is not clear to me if he specified which filter he was talking about, and if it was indeed the Frontier Pro, did the rep on the phone understand that there is charcoal in it.

I am almost certain that activated carbon removes chlorine (and chlorine dioxide) from the water to some degree.

Roleigh,

I'm on my iPhone, so I can't post this message to BPL due to the lack of copy/paste, so feel fee to post it in it entirety. Below is what I asked and the response I got. Hope it helps.

-Dan

Begin forwarded message:

From: "John Gustave"
Date: April 1, 2009 4:13:50 PM CDT
To: "'Dan Cunningham'"
Subject: RE: Frontier Pro + Purifier Tablets

Dan,

We actually recommend this method you just described. The filter will not deactivate the CLO2.

Thanks,

John

From: Dan Cunningham
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 6:59 PM
To: sales@aquamira.com
Subject: Frontier Pro + Purifier Tablets

I recently picked up a Frontier Pro and your purifier tablets that I intend on using to treat my water in the back country. My understanding is that the tablets will take care of viruses/bacteria in 15-20 minutes regardless of water temp, but that protozoa can take 30 minutes to 4 hours depending on water temp. My plan is to treat the water with tablets, then filter the water with the Frontier Pro to take care of the protozoa and get rid of that long treatment time.

My question is, can I treat with tablets and then immediately filter the water with my Frontier Pro (home made gravity setup) if I still wait 20 minutes to actually drink the water after it’s done filtering? Does the filter deactivate the chemicals in any way?

Thanks,
Dan

Well that pretty much answers my questions.

But I still have a hard time with the carbon not absorbing the CLO2.

I guess if you can't believe the manufacturer, who *can* you believe?

Anyway, this appears to be a great system, no?
And since we're depending on the Frontier Pro to remove the larger protozoa, there is really no reason not to use the AquaMira drops.

I say that, because I tried the tabs for the first time last weekend, and was annoyed by the little wrappers every time. (It was hot and I went through a lot of water).
Hint: Don't just shove them in your pocket… they poke right through the pocket liner into your leg!

If I remember corectly, the AquaMira tablets supposedly have a much greater (about 4X) concentration of chlorine dioxide than does AquaMira liquid.

I think additional clarification is still needed. Can the filter be used with either tablets or liquid systems without affecting the CLO2?

Thanks for posting that Roleigh. I just emailed directly to sales@aquamira.com and got my answer within a day. If anybody has further questions or would like more clarification, I suggest you follow the same path, as they appear to be very responsive.

I did some quick googling and was able to verify that activated carbon filters definitely absorb/remove some chlorine from water – specifically sodium hypochlorite. I don’t know how much, but it’s measurable.

You can read the abstract I found here: Efficiency of a Carbon Filter

They don’t mention chlorine dioxide in the abstract, so I don’t know what assumptions can be made about that. Bottom line for me, since I’m using sodium hypochlorite (bleach) instead of chlorine dioxide… I’ll definitely be waiting my 15 minutes or so before filtering. While I wait, I’ll be nibbling on some gorp and relaxing. I’m glad the discussion was brought up.

Chlorine dioxide does not offer any advantage over household bleach when you are pairing it with the Frontier Pro. The bleach I have is 6% sodium hypochlorite, so I intend on using 2 drops per liter before filtering. I have a 1 ounce dropper that will do 25 gallons of water for me (1/2 the life of the filter). This much bleach is literally pennies, whereas enough chlorine dioxide tablets to do 25 gallons will cost you approximately $43.

If you choose to use bleach, please read the EPA’s page on Emergency Disinfection of Drinking Water and use the number of drops you are comfortable with. They say for available chlorine of 4-6% that 2 drops per L is adequate, and than for 7-10% that 1 drop per L is adequate. They also say to double the amount of chlorine for cloudy, murky or colored water or water that is extremely cold.

The chlorine dioxide does have one advantage over household bleach: it tastes better. It even will improve the taste of some water. I used aquamira drops on some sulfury water and it removed the sulfur taste.

Diane, once your run it through a charcoal filter, you don't really taste either. If using without a filter, yes – a big difference. Not sure about sulfery water though.

Thanks for posting the link to that summary, Dan.
Appears to be a high school (or younger) science project.

I also seem to remember Ben using carbon to get the chlorine taste out of his water.

This talk got me searching also.

HERE is a link to a pdf on an industrial dechlorination filter that uses activated carbon.
It states, in part:

“Whether free chlorine,
chloramine or chlorine dioxide is added, it
can be removed in an activated carbon
filter, before the water is used for process
or drinking water purposes.”

Also found this link that states in part:

“Different types of activated carbons possess different characteristics beneficial to specific applications. However, all activated carbons have the ability to perform the same thing on a basic level, which is adsorb contaminants and catalytically decompose chlorine and chlorine dioxide disinfectants.”

Removing CLO2 with AC filtration appears to be a common practice, and this brings considerable doubt to the information given out by AquaMira.

FWIW

> The chlorine dioxide does have one advantage over household bleach: it tastes better.

I agree completely.
I generally treat my water (with AquaMira drops) after filtration for this reason.

The charcoal filter definitely removes the chlorine dioxide and therefore stops the treatment process. Wait long enough to kill all bus except protozoa, which the Frontier Pro will remove.

The manufacture's rep was either thinking the filter did not contain carbon or, simply didn't know what they were talking about.

As has been mentioned, the carbon filter removes the taste of the ClO2, therefore it removes the ClO2, duh!

I just tested my Frontier Pro + bleach system on a day hike. I wanted to see how it worked/tasted before I took it out. I added the 2 drops of bleach to a liter of tap water, and after filtering it through the Frontier Pro, I don't know that I would have tasted a difference if I hadn't known the bleach was in there. At worst, it tasted like watered down swimming pool water.

I don't like water anyways, so the little bit of added taste is no difference to me.