Which is better Doulton Filters or Aquacera water filter?

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BubbaTheNut@reddit

I bought a Doulton Ultra Fluoride filter and an Aquacera Cerametix water filter. They both claimed to remove fluoride.

I bought a very expensive lab grade fluoride testing machine that uses a combination of chemical reagents and electronic measurements to test the water very accurately.

My testing:

Lab grade deionised water measured 0.00 ppm fluoride.

Pre filtration city water measured 1.02 ppm fluoride.

Post filtration with the Doulton filter measured 0.03 ppm fluoride.

Post filtration with the Aquacera filtration measured 0.83 ppm fluoride.

I primed both filters with 100 gallons of water before testing.

Now i was disappointed with the Aquacera. But unfortunately the water that came out of the Doulton tastes like metal (probably the Aluminium it uses to remove the fluoride), and frankly i think i'd prefer fluoride to aluminium.

I'd rather have neither but that really doesn't seem to be an option with any of the filters.

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HarmKO@reddit (OP)

Is there a better filtration system that you would recommend that can go into the same Berkey Tower filter?

Or is there another type of tower filter that you would recommend that doesn't have aluminum and still removes all of the fluoride and other chemicals from our water.

Thank you for your response above and all of the work that you have done, I await your answer us everything you have stated is extremely helpful. I do not want aluminum but I also do not want fluoride.

So if you have any alternative suggestions that can help provide a decent gravity water filter. If you come across one, please let me know.

Otherwise, what would you use for filtering your water if you lived in an apartment?

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BubbaTheNut@reddit

I have looked at a few options now, bone char is one method to remove fluoride without adding aluminium, but unfortunately there are no pre-made bone-char type gravity filter cartridges around (business opportunity anyone?)

If i was an entrepreneurial type person i would engineer a gravity filter that had 3 layers:

Ceramic 0.5 micron absolute to remove sediment/rust/cysts/etc
Activated catalytic carbon block to remove vocs, chlorines, chloramines etc
Bone char GAC to remove fluoride, without adding aluminium.

Now given that i'm not an engineer i have to rely on current technology, so if you want truly clean water without chlorine, chloramines, voc's and also fluoride (the hardest thing to remove). Then for an apartment i would recommend a bench top water distiller. The best brand for water distillers is Megahome.

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Nobody247365@reddit

I've often pondered the idea of stacking canisters or putting 2 sets of canisters side by side

The first cannister could have bone char filters to remove flouride and the second could have a Aquacera, Dolton Pro One or whatever to remove the other stuff

OR, I even thought about putting bone char pellets in the top cannister after the normal ceramic candles have been installed. Not perfect I know because a lot of water is not guaranteed to contact the bone char before being filtered by the ceramic candles in to the bottom finished product canister. Like I say not perfect but perhaps better than nothing.

I often am in the circumstance where I have a larger canister than I need so assuming that contact time is the name of the game I will sometimes (quite often actually) take the water from the bottom canister and dump it back in to the top for a second pass. Obviously not an option if you don't have excess capacity and it does take a little extra time. I have the time so I do it.

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HarmKO@reddit (OP)

Thank you for your reply and the knowledge.

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

Hey Bubba - how many gallons did you let run through the filters before testing/tasting? It’s recommended the British Berkefeld Ultra Fluoride has 6 gallons of water flushed through before consuming to avoid any taste and odor issues.

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freelancerjoe@reddit

Thanks for your posts about this, I just got 2 Aquacera Imperial AMB Cerametix to replace my Berkeys :)

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lArchEnemyl@reddit

whats the difference between Aquacera Cerametix Vs Aquametix

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lArchEnemyl@reddit

Hello, I am also thinking about these 2 brands. How does Aquacera filter remove fluoride? Does this introduce any fluoride to the filtered water? did you do any testing on this?

Also, whats the difference between Aquacera Cerametix Vs Aquametix

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chom237@reddit

Hi! I used to have an RO countertop system and had a challenging time lifting the wastewater tank with my hands. I'm looking at a ceramic water housing that only has space for one filter. Do you think one filter is enough? I'm debating between the Doulton Berkefeld Ultra Sterasyl Filter or Aquametix. Thank you.

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CyclingDutchie@reddit

Both are NSF certified. Doulton has filters specifically for Fluoride.

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

Both are not NSF certified. Aquacera is NSF 42 for materials only. Not the performance of the filter. British Berkefeld (Doulton) is NSF 42/53/372 certified (big difference) for their W9121226 Ultra Sterasyl gravity filter.

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toonfan71@reddit

hmmm. Get your facts straight Doulton boy. NSF 42 is the most important standard as it determines whether a filter is fit for purpose. Testing to validate specific claims via other labs is simply more cost effective. AquaCera has had an all in one CeraMetix gravity filter for over 12 years. Best part is, the Ultra Fluoride does NOT have NSF 42 certification. That's the bottom line. Ultra Fluoride uses activated alumina. CeraMetix does not, has not and will not.

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AngelHeart-@reddit

I’m looking for replacement filter for Berkey filters and found this comment.

I’m not clear about what you’re saying. Are you saying AquaCera is better than Doulton? Is activated alumina bad for health?

I looked on the NSF site for AquaCera. AquaCera is not in the listing for NSF certification.

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Outrageous_Laugh5532@reddit

Which Doulton filters fit in a berkey?

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

W9121226 - This is the Ultra Sterasyl. Think of this as the black berkey filter on steroids. It's been NSF 42/53/372 certified, 800 gallons of water has been tested based on it's claims, and it's half the price of berkey.

The W9120133 is the Ultra Fluoride. This is not NSF certified because of the fluoride reduction claim. Any filter making fluoride reduction cannot be NSF certified. It does everything the Ultra Sterasyl does, but also removes a certain percentage of fluoride.

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jessuckapow@reddit

1/2 the price, sure, but also only 1/8 of the filtering capacity. Def not more cost effective.

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

1/8th of the filtering capacity? Can you please elaborate on that? Our filters are tested to NSF/ANSI standard which means twice the capacity of the filter (800 gallons). By doing the right thing, you only advertise it can last 50% of that (400 gallons). Aquacera's comparable 7" gravity filter lasts for 700 gallons per their website. Does their testing data show 1400 gallons (on all contaminants) to make this claim? Let me know.

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toonfan71@reddit

Considering the size of the carbon rod inside the Ultra Fluoride or the amount of carbon inside your Ultra Sterasyl, I would say AquaCera has you beat either way. Their AMB variant has a larger carbon rod inside hence more capacity. The GF variant from AquaCera has at least the same internal volume as your 2.6" diameter Ultra variants so capacity claims in that regard will always be similar.

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

One key component you're skipping is the ceramic quality, and the adhesive between the ceramic and the mount. Making quality ceramic filters is not easy. There's only a handful of companies that do it in the world for this reason vs a basic carbon block which is a dime a dozen. To each their own and I'm happy you're enjoying Aquacera and using a ceramic gravity filter.

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toonfan71@reddit

The company behind AquaCera helped develop most of what Doulton has sold globally for the past 35 years. True, ceramics do need to be technically well made. I would also say that clever companies know how to glue any product properly. Andy Clark would be happy you are paying attention in class.

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jessuckapow@reddit

Oh my apologies… I thought you were doing a capacity comparison to Berkey, not Aquacera. I was topic hopping and losing track of parent threads, apparently.

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

No worries! While we're on the subject though, the same could be said for Berkey. 1/8th the filtering capacity in what regard? Taste and odor? I wouldn't disagree Berkey lasts longer but it's nowhere near your 1/8th the capacity claim. They claim 3000 gallons per filter, correct? Show me the testing data for 6000 gallons (on every contaminant). You won't find it, nor will you find testing data to anywhere remotely close to 3000 gallons on most everything besides chlorine. Yes, they last roughly 2-3 times longer based on their testing data for chlorine, but every other relevant contaminant falls wells short of our 400 gallon claim (with 800 gallons tested).

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space-mothers-son@reddit

Do Doulton filters fit in AquaCera or Purewell tanks?

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toonfan71@reddit

Yes, and more importantly, vice versa. AquaCera produces filters that will fit ANY branded gravity system.

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space-mothers-son@reddit

I went w/ the Doulton but am going to give the ProOne filters a try next

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

Yes, they’ll fit.

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Rocco330@reddit

Even though the W9121226 filter resembles the white flouride candles in Big Berkey, it does the job of the black ones? I feel like im missing something.🤔 Im looking at the British Berkefeld gravity SS system on Amazon, comes with the 2 white filters. Do i need to buy the black ones also?

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

Hey Rocco! The only resemblance between the two of them is the color. The W9121226 is our standard filter that would be a direct replacement to the Berkey black ones. It's NSF 42/53/372/401 certified and tested up to 800 gallons.

If you are looking for fluoride reduction, you'd be after the W9120133 Ultra Fluoride filter. It's an all in one fluoride filter that sits upright in the dirty water chamber compared to the white berkey ones that attached to the black ones down in the clean water chamber. If you want the system along with the fluoride filters, you'd want to search for W9361132 on Amazon and it comes pre-loaded with 2 fluoride filters instead.

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Rocco330@reddit

Awesome thank you!

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

You bet! Reach out or DM me if you have any additional questions.

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Rocco330@reddit

Will do thank you! Ive been researching a countertop gravity filter for years. Got on the Berky train, then Alexapure, ProOne, now British Berkefeld. Never purchased any of them because i keep running into negative reviews. Im honestly looking for something for safe, clean water, and if SHTF, i want to be able to filter rain water from my catchment system. Im thinking of puting a Camco TastePure RV filter on the water storage tank, then filtering it through the gravity filter. So far the BB filter are the only ones that i can recall that filter out viruses and is certified.

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Spiritual_Escape_676@reddit

Do you mind sharing what the negative reviews say about AquaCera? I've been shopping for gravity filters and almost decided on AquaCera because it can be used for freshwater and the imperial size lasts very long, and they are more affordable. I looked at BB too but the UK site doesn't ship to the US, and the US site looked kind of fishy, with blurry pictures and no data. I wish there was an easier way to compare the products on the market instead of researching for days.

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

BB are certified up to log 6 on E.coli (99.9999%) with testing data to verify. However, they are not certified for virus removal, nor is any filter to my knowledge. UV and RO would be recommended for that. You could add a handheld UV component like a Steripen to the mix to help combat that though. Certain viruses are smaller than our certified micron rating so while our filters likely catch a good majority, they will not catch all and no filter should be making virus claims unless they catch the all.

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Gold_Grapefruit9784@reddit

Can you provide a link to a test or report to show they actually tested 800 gallons? I have not been able to find it on their site and their customer service has not responded to me.

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MNtroutslayer@reddit

https://www.britishwaterfilter.com/berkefeld-faqs/ The 6th one down has testing data. All of the sterasyl testing is relevant for the Ultra Sterasyl and Ultra Fluoride filters.

https://www.britishwaterfilter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/QFT-Ultra-SS-Chemical-Reduction-Test_Ultra-Sterasyl-2.pdf This shows it in liters (3030 liters) which is 800 gallons. Feel free to PM me if you have any additional questions.

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