It's Your Water

🎓 Summer School Replay

What can a toilet tank tell you about water? More than you might think.

In this Summer School Replay, Mike Urbans and Mike Heatwole discuss how a simple toilet tank inspection can reveal iron, manganese, sediment, biological growth, and even treatment equipment problems. Learn what to look for, why it matters, and how this often-overlooked diagnostic tool can help you make better treatment decisions and reduce costly callbacks.

Whether you're a water treatment dealer, installer, or service technician, this episode is packed with practical field tips you can use on your very next service call.

Trust the Frog. 🐸

 

Updated Technical Guide with a Form to Use in the Field

Improper storage can permanently damage ion exchange resin before it ever goes into service. Learn the best practices for storing cation, anion, and mixed bed resins, avoiding freeze damage, preventing moisture loss, and extending resin life.

Technical Guidelines - Ion Exchange Resin Storage

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

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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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

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 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

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

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

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