It's Your Water

🎓 Summer School Replay: The Troublesome Trio – Iron, Manganese & Hydrogen Sulfide

This summer we're revisiting some of the most popular and educational episodes from the It's Your Water Podcast archive. In this episode, Mike and Denise discuss the "Troublesome Trio"—iron, manganese, and hydrogen sulfide—and the treatment technologies commonly used to address these challenging water quality issues.

Show Notes Troublesome Trio 2026

Quick Tips: Freeboard & Minimum Bed Depth – Avoiding Common Tank Filling Mistakes

What is freeboard? How much media should really go into a tank? Mike Urbans explains freeboard, minimum bed depth, backwash expansion, upper screens, and common dealer mistakes that can damage control valves and reduce treatment performance.

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🐸 Quick Tips: ORP – The Missing Number Behind Better Oxidation

Most water treatment professionals use chlorine, ozone, or hydrogen peroxide—but how do you know how effective those oxidizers will actually be in the water you're treating?

In this Quick Tips episode, Mike and Denise Urbans explain ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) and why it can be one of the most valuable diagnostic tools for iron, manganese, sulfur, and disinfection applications. Learn how contaminants lower ORP, why oxidizer demand matters, and how a simple ORP meter can help you troubleshoot systems and optimize treatment performance.

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Show Notes ORP Oxidation Reduction Potential

Quick Tips: Catalytic Carbon Explained: Chloramine, Sulfur & System Design

Not all catalytic carbon is the same—and choosing the wrong one can lead to early failure, poor performance, and unhappy customers.

In this Quick Tips episode of It’s Your Water, Mike and Denise Urbans break down the real differences between catalytic carbons and how to apply them correctly in the field.

Learn when to use coconut vs. coal-based catalytic carbon, why oxygen is the key to performance, and how TOC, contact time, and system design impact results.

If you're dealing with chloramine, hydrogen sulfide, or underperforming carbon systems—this episode will help you get it right.

 

Show Notes Quick Tips Catalytic Carbon Explained

 

catalytic carbon, chloramine removal, hydrogen sulfide, water treatment, activated carbon, RO pretreatment, dealers, water filtration, TOC, ozone, peroxide

Distribution Systems Explained

Distribution systems inside softeners and filters may be hidden—but they’re critical to performance.

In this Quick Tip, Mike and Denise Urbans explain distributor baskets, hub & laterals, diffusers, and how design impacts flow, efficiency, and media retention.

Show Notes Distribution Systems Explained

 

water treatment, water filtration, water softener, distribution systems, hub and lateral, distributor basket, water system design, Urbans Aqua, Its Your Water, Quick Tips

CeraPure AC: Skunk-Free Carbon & Smarter Pretreatment

In this episode of It’s Your Water, Mike Urbans and Derek French (Wateropolis) explain why Cerapure AC is a smart alternative to traditional GAC and KDF—especially for RO pretreatment, whole-house RO, and systems where biofouling and backwash limits matter.

A practical, dealer-focused discussion on cleaner carbon, tighter filtration, and smarter pretreatment design.

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Link to Specifications

Show Notes

water treatment, dealer education, RO pretreatment, filtration media, activated carbon, ceramic media, copper zinc alloy, biofouling, whole house RO, commercial water treatment

Quick Tips: Mixing Media: What Works — and What Doesn’t

Can you mix filtration media or resins in the same tank?

In this Quick Tips episode of It’s Your Water, Mike and Denise explain when mixing media can work — and when it leads to serious problems. While it may look like a space-saving shortcut, mixing media often creates backwashing issues, calcification, drain clogging, and contaminant leakage when system design limits are pushed.

Learn why cation and anion resins shouldn’t be mixed on hard water, when mixing is especially risky for health-related contaminants, and why chambered (plated) tanks are usually the safer, modern approach. 

Show Notes Quick Tips Mixing Media

Quick Tips: When to Use Zeolite Filter Media

Mike and Denise explain zeolite filter media — what it is, how it works, and when to use it. Learn why zeolite delivers true 5-micron deep-bed filtration and longer filter runs — plus its limits. A fast field-smart guide for dealers. Trust the Frog.

Show Notes Quick Tips Zeolite

zeolite media, clinoptilolite, Filter-Ag Plus, Turbidex, Next-Sand, RO pretreatment, water filtration, dealer education

Quick Tips - Repair or Replace the Softener

Is it time to repair the water softener—or replace it entirely?

Not sure whether to repair or replace the customer's water softener? This Quick Tip breaks down the key signs of aging resin, chlorine damage, iron fouling, and when a simple rebuild makes sense. We also cover why high-efficiency softeners outperform older units and why “no-salt softeners” don’t actually soften water.

water softener repair, water softener replacement, resin rebed, chlorine damage, Clack valve rebuild, high-efficiency softeners, iron fouling, no-salt softener

Show Notes: Quick Tips - Repair or Replace the Softener

 

Quick Tips - Why Isn't the Softener Softening?

A fast field guide for dealers and service techs. 
In this Quick Tip from It’s Your Water, we cover the top reasons a softener stops softening — resin fouling, salt bridging, injector and brine-draw problems, and programming mistakes — plus quick ways to diagnose hardness leakage before the callbacks start.

Show Notes - Why Isn't the Softener Softening One short page with the tips listed.