SMART Inline Filter Cartridge / Reverse Osmosis

When water from your cooler or RO faucet starts to taste like the tap again, the stage that polishes it has usually run its course. This SMART inline cartridge is that stage: the replacement SMART cartridge, part CQE-RC-04040, for Crystal Quest floor-model bottleless water coolers and for Thunder M under-sink reverse osmosis systems.

Inside one sealed inline housing sits Crystal Quest SMART media, a blend of coconut-based carbon, catalytic carbon, Eagle Redox Alloy and ion exchange resin. Each medium handles a different job, so one cartridge covers the chlorine, chloramine and chemical taste problems a single carbon stage can leave behind.

At a glance

• Several media in one cartridge: premium coconut GAC, catalytic carbon, ERA 6500 and ERA 9500 redox alloy, ion exchange resin and ceramic media
• Targets chlorine, chloramine and VOCs, the usual sources of chemical taste and odor in city water
• Plumbed on the water line: a sealed inline cartridge with threaded connections at each end, not a slot-in appliance cartridge
• The listed part in Crystal Quest's water cooler manual and Thunder under-sink RO manual
• Made in the USA, as printed on every cartridge label

What you are looking at

A white, sealed inline housing with an elbow connector at each end and a flow arrow on the label. The label reads "Crystal Quest SMART PLUS Inline Cartridge" and carries the part number, the operating limits and nine numbered replacement steps. There is no sump to open: when the media is spent, the whole cartridge is replaced, which keeps the swap quick and clean.

How SMART media works

Carbon that adsorbs

Coconut-based granular activated carbon is riddled with fine pores. Dissolved organic chemicals, the compounds behind most "chemical" tastes and odors, stick to that enormous internal surface as water passes through. Coconut-based catalytic carbon adds a surface built to react, not just hold, which is what breaks down chloramine, the longer-lasting disinfectant many cities now use instead of chlorine.

Redox alloy that converts

Eagle Redox Alloy (ERA) is Crystal Quest's high-purity copper-zinc granule. Copper and zinc are dissimilar metals, so water flowing over them drives an exchange of electrons. Free chlorine takes those electrons and is reduced to harmless chloride. Because the alloy converts chlorine rather than only holding it, it protects the carbon in the same cartridge from doing all the work. ERA 6500 is the chlorine grade; ERA 9500 is the grade made for iron and hydrogen sulfide.

Resin and ceramic media

Ion exchange resin beads carry charged sites that trade places with dissolved metal ions, which is how SMART media adds heavy metal reduction to carbon's chemical reduction. Ceramic media rounds out the blend and helps condition the water.

What it reduces

Primary targets: chlorine, chloramine and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the main causes of chemical taste and odor in treated city water.

Also addressed by SMART media (capabilities of the media blend described in Crystal Quest's SMART data sheet, not separate tested ratings for this inline size):

• Heavy metals, through the ion exchange resin and redox alloy
• Pesticides, herbicides and petroleum-based compounds, through the carbon
• Pharmaceutical by-products and other dissolved organic contaminants

Not designed to treat: total dissolved solids and salts (that is the RO membrane's job), fluoride, nitrate or arsenic as a dedicated stage, or bacteria and viruses. Use it only on water that is microbiologically safe. For a dedicated contaminant stage, add the matching inline cartridge, such as the Fluoride Removal Inline Cartridge.

Why Crystal Quest

• Our own media blend. SMART media and Eagle Redox Alloy are Crystal Quest products with their own data sheets, so you know what is inside the housing.
• Made for the system you own. This is the part number our cooler and RO manuals list, so it matches the connections and position your system was built around.
• Printed guidance on every cartridge. Flow direction, operating limits and step-by-step replacement instructions are on the label.
• 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

• SHARP floor-model bottleless coolers: the SMART cartridge in both the SHARP Ultrafiltration and the SHARP Ultrafiltration + Reverse Osmosis coolers. In the UF cooler it is cartridge #4, after the sediment (CQE-RC-04037), GAC (CQE-RC-04038) and UF (CQE-RC-04039) cartridges.
• Thunder M under-sink RO systems: the inline SMART post-filter after the RO membrane. Thunder C models use the inline carbon cartridge instead.
• The Countertop Reverse Osmosis System: its SMART stage, alongside the GAC cartridge and the RO membrane.
• Other point-of-use uses: its published applications are pre and post point-of-use RO, ice maker and refrigerator lines, and water coolers and fountains.

Own a Countertop Turbo cooler? It takes a different cartridge, the SMART Inline (Turbo) Filter Cartridge (CQE-RC-04057). Order the part number your system lists.

Common questions

Published cartridge specifications

Applications

• Pre and post point-of-use reverse osmosis
• Ice maker and refrigerator
• Water cooler/fountain

SMART media (Crystal Quest data sheets)

*Use only on water that is microbiologically safe. Flush about 15 minutes before first use.

*Cartridge color is subject to change without notice.