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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Water Filter question

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    • 1000Needles
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        First and foremost, I’m inquiring about a specific topic. As I am a very particular individual, please do not comment or make suggestions outside of the scope of my inquiry please!  I’m not asking for advice about other, better, pet fountains or anything. I just want an answer to my stated inquiry below. Nothing more, nothing less.

        I purchased a auto-water fountain for my rabbit earlier this year. I also got one for my cats.

        The problem I am having, and I am not sure if it’s because the water here is just garbage (hard water), there is that much dust in the air (..I mean, it’s possible) or the filters just suck – but I am having to change filters about every week – which I think is absolutely ridiculous. I could understand in my cat’s water fountain, because the kitten likes to stand on top of the thing…

        But for my rabbit, Lulu, there is honestly no reason for it to get so dirty so quickly. It’s not covered in hair, which I WOULD understand – its grime and yuck. By the end of the week, the filter looks like someone took it and scrubbed a dirty floor with it, and it makes me SO MAD! I’m endlessly spending money on these stupid filters! I did have a gravity pet fountain for Lulu, which also had a filter, but it NEVER got this dirty. EVER! And the only thing that stops me from going back to it, is the fact that it sits lower and the water gets dirtier faster. Lulu will also bury the bowl part with paper or hay and, yeah.

        So, with that bit of backstory, I have come up with the idea of making my OWN filters. I have kept a few of the filter cages and washed them. I purchased air vent filters (linked below) and also a mix of Zeolite and Carbon. I was going to straight up just do the activated carbon, but I had read somewhere that using zeolite will also help. Plus, oddly, the mix of the two was cheaper?

        Now, I have tried to research of using zeolite (already know carbon is good) in a pet fountain is safe – with very limited return on resolution. Everything I read indicates it’s safe for pets in a different capacity, as in, using it for odor control in litter boxes and such. But, just because it’s safe for animal peets and toe beans, doesn’t mean it’s safe to ingest, or at least whatever it might put in to the water when the water is filtered through it. And, now I can’t even find that one article/forum post I read where someone else claimed to have used it in a pet fountain (for their dog I think? but a rabbit is not a dog).

        Therefor, that lead me to here. My question being…

         

        IS IT SAFE to use a mix of activated carbon and zeolite for filter medium in my rabbits water fountain? Or even my cats for that matter. But this forum is for rabbits, so that is more my focus.


      • LBJ10
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          What type of zeolite is this?


        • LBJ10
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            There is natural zeolite and synthetic zeolite. Both are used for filtration and water softening. The type you linked to is natural. In general, zeolite is said to be non-toxic. I know there have been studies where it was actually fed to mice in powder form and they saw no ill effects. I don’t think using it in a water filter will hurt anything.

            Zeolite is able to exchange ions like calcium and magnesium. This is why it is used as a water softener. You will find it in those water softening shower heads.


            • 1000Needles
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                That’s good!..because as I said, I have hard water 🙁 and it tastes gross. The animals seem to be doing okay with it, I don’t know if they care either way about the taste.

                The other thing I’ve been indecisive about, is if I should get the marineland brand, which has MORE zeolite to carbon mix, or if I should spend the money on the imagitarium petco brand which has more carbon to zeolite, which also appears to have larger carbon pieces.

                The pieces that were originally in the filters I disassembled were cylinder shaped like in imagitarium, but the carbon in marineland looks more fish rock shaped.


              • LBJ10
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                  I don’t know if it will do much for the taste. But what you linked too should filter and also soften the water a bit. I think BZOO is right that the bigger/rougher fish rock-like pieces probably work better.


              • BZOO
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                  Personally, the more rock shaped carbon seems to be a bit better than the pellet type.

                  Natural zeolite is safe, heck, the fish live and breathe it! 🙂

                  We just use Britta filtered water, better than our straight water.


                  • 1000Needles
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                      Fish rock shapes over pellet, got it! So I suppose that would mean the marineland would be the better choice, even with it’s higher zeolite content to carbon.

                      I did have a filter on my kitchen faucet, but I sadly cannot afford to replace the filters carts for it. They seem to be just as expensive as the device itself, plus, I was hoping the filter would make the water taste better. It didn’t.

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                Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Water Filter question