Each year at AquaRevival, we meet with dozens upon dozens of potential refurbishment and new build clients for our award-winning line of regenerative media aquatic commercial pool filtration systems.
And because so many folks know our thoughts and feelings on all things related to the design, construction, operation, and life cycle of these cost-saving pool filters, they often ask us, “Who are some of the other manufacturers of these type of filters?”
Never one to shy away from being blatantly honest about the competition, here is a list of some of the companies that have history building various types of regenerative media aquatic commercial pool filtration systems.
Neptune Benson Brand Defender Regenerative Media Filters
Neptune Benson is a brand owned by Xylem Inc. (XYL) with a market cap in excess of $25 billion and annual revenues exceeding $6B. The Neptune brand was acquired when Xylem purchased Evoqua in a $7.5B all stock deal in 2016. At the time of Xylem’s acquisition, I was part of the private equity team that had completed our mission to build upon and sell the privately held family business. I departed the business shortly after the transition.
Neptune Benson built the Defender with a limited number of filter models through a tightly controlled dealer network and strong relationships with most of the designers in the United States. At the time Neptune got involved in regenerative media filtration, in the early 2000’s, there were few competitors in the regenerative media filter market. This lack of competition, combined with a strong dealer network, supported a much higher CapEX than you’d expect given the materials of construction and warranty offered.
The Defender is manufactured from carbon steel and lined with a multi-component epoxy, with diameters ranging from 27-55” and heights from 85-110” but with an attractive presentation in the commercial pump room. Originally, the functional filtration area was calculated using the outside surface area of the tubes coated with media with the smallest and largest filters having 381 sq. ft. and1,625 sq. ft. respectively. The hydraulic performance is adequate for mid-sized to large pools, but with recent changes to NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 to match the 2023 NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 Standard update, filtration area must be calculated by the surface area of uncoated tubes. The new measuring standard effectively reduced the filtration area of Defender filters by roughly 33% making them insufficient for the largest pools (over 800,000 gallons) to handle singularly, thus requiring multiple filters to handle pools with flow rates over 2,283 GPM.
For almost two decades, the Defender was the highest selling commercial regenerative media filter and inarguably has the largest base of installed regenerative media filters in the United States. Their filters produce very clear water objectively better than backwashed sand bed filtration.
Larger Defender filters are (generally) sold with 10-year warranties that put annual maintenance of the liner (inspection and repair) in the OpEx cost bucket for the owner. Smaller Defender “Assero” models in some (or all) cases are sold with an 18-month warranty from date of shipment or 12-month from date of installation.
With significantly higher market competition today than 30 years ago, their strength lies in the dealer network more than in the technological prowess of the product. Regardless, as we said previously, their filters do produce crystal clear water and far surpass the abilities of backwashed sand bed filtration from an OpEx cost perspective.
Rating: 2.7 of 5.0
Aquify Brand Regenerative Media Filters
Aquify commercial regenerative media filters are a newer entrant in the commercial regenerative media space, incorporating in Washington (state) February 16, 2021.
They have commercial regenerative media filters available in either fiberglass or stainless steel, with the widest range of fiberglass tank models on the market (13). Aquify filters are available with a coated surface area ranging from 75 to 1600 sf and a recommended filtration rate of 1.5 GPM/SF and an NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 listing allowing up to a maximum of 2.0 GPM/SF.
Like Neptune Benson, Aquify’s RMF filters measure filter area based on the diameter of coated tubes. Because of this, their filter line will also be subject to revised sizing mentioned above to match the 2023 NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 Standard update, resulting in an approximate 33% reduction in filter area across all filter sizes.
I’ll focus on specifically the fiberglass version of the Aquify filters for a moment. Fiberglass construction offers the following advantages over lined carbon steel:
- Corrosion resistance
- No electrical bonding required
- Light weight
- Lower cost.
Historically, fiberglass construction has been reserved for backwashed sand bed filtration, where tank rupture and seam failure may occur due to improper operation such as dead-heading and/or cyclical loading.
That said, Aquify offers a 10-year warranty on their tanks regardless of material of construction—same as the lined carbon steel Defender filter from Neptune Benson. We have no knowledge of fiberglass regen filter tank failures and can only speak to the comparable backwashed sand tank failure modes, as fiberglass backwashed sand filters have been around for decades by a multitude of manufacturers, while fiberglass regenerative media filters have only been around for a few years.
When comparing Aquify and Defender filters, both have nearly identical square footage available relative to the physical envelope of the tank. However, Aquify fiberglass regenerative filters have a substantially lower dry and operating weight than the equivalent Defender lined carbon steel product offering along with a lower overall installed height Hydraulic performance on par with the Defender product line, and the warranty is equal at a lower CapEX cost point.
While Aquify has claimed for 7 years now that they have patent-pending technology, there is no evidence of that in real terms with no patents produced in 7 years of the claim. Additionally, their claim of being “the only NSF 50 tested and certified filter using NSF 50 approved perlite media” is not substantiated by their NSF 50 listing. When testing Defenders in the 2010’s, Neptune Benson used NSF 50 certified media, and AquaRevival’s filters were tested with NSF/ANSI/CAN 50-certified perlite. While Aquify does make a nice filter, baseless claims like this are nothing more than marketing hyperbole.
Commercial regenerative media filters produce crystal clear water and Aquify is no exception to that rule. They, as a class of NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 filters, reduce operational costs and produce safer water than backwashed sand bed filters.
Rating: 3.0 of 5.0
Paddock Brand Regenerative Media Filters
Paddock commercial regenerative media filters have been around for even longer than the Defender brand, which were introduced to the market around 2003. Years ago, you could look at the official listing page for NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 and you would see that the Paddock brand and the Filtrex brand filters (no longer in business, but as a brand of an acquiring company NAF Aquatics DBA Treatment Specialties) had identical square footages and ratings. They both shared Filtrex’s technology for many, many years. Now, Paddock is listed to NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 with 3rd party test company IAPMO.
Paddock builds their Regenerator regenerative media filters from 304L stainless steel, and depending on the job, might offer a 10-year or 15-year warranty. Just this past month, Paddock regenerative filters were subject to a 38% reduction in square footage to align with the new NSF/50/CAN 50 standards update from 2023, which previously measured the outside diameter of the media, rather than the uncoated surface area, much like Neptune Benson and Aquify listed above.
Paddock’s new square footage ranges from 69.91 to 1042.88 sf across ten models with recommended flow rates that put the Regenerator in line with the Defender and Aquify product lines. Like their competitors above, the hydraulic performance is adequate for mid-sized to large pools, but with a 38% reduction in filter area, Paddock filters are insufficient to singularly handle the largest pools requiring multiple filters to handle flow rates over 2,086 GPM.
When comparing the square footage of the filter model range to the physical envelope of the tank and the manufacturers recommended filtration rate, Paddock is comparable with the Defender lined carbon steel product offering—albeit at a taller operational height, which will impact feasibility of installation based on pump room ceiling height.
Paddock’s hydraulic performance is on par with the Defender and Aquify product lines, but utilizes much more perlite or DE media per filter run which negatively impacts OpEX costs over the life of the filter.
Rating: 3.3 of 5.0
Filtrex Brand Regenerative Media Filters
Filtrex filters today are essentially identical to Paddock in terms of sizing, materials of construction and performance but they reportedly lack in production volume, available support, and verifiable testimonials. Filtrex listings are now under NAF Aquatics DBA Treatment Specialties. NAF will be subject to those same regulations as are all regenerative media filter manufacturers.
Rating: 3.3 of 5.0
AquaRevival Brand Regenerative Media Filters
AquaRevival is also relatively new in the commercial regenerative media filter market, but has demonstrated technical leadership from the beginning. AquaRevival was founded in Delavan, Wisconsin in 2018. The Founder and President of AquaRevival was formerly SVP Operations/Chief Engineer at Neptune Benson before the business was sold out of Private Equity to Evoqua in 2016. While at Neptune, he wrote several patents for regenerative media filtration, control systems, and other technology.
Starting with a clean sheet of paper, the AquaRevival regenerative media filter design was intended to eliminate a lot of the Achille’s heel of prior competitor designs. The tank design is of 304L Stainless Steel ASME Section VIII Div 1 (stamped or unstamped) and only built with components with ASME tier material traceability reports, hence the ability to be the first to offer a 15-year tank warranty. Most importantly, all AquaRevival filters are made right here in the USA.
As of this writing, the AquaRevival filter has over a dozen U.S. patents and foreign patents (Japan, Australia, The European Union). The AquaRevival filter is built in Wisconsin, USA. A few of the patented features of the AquaRevival regenerative media filter revolve around the hydraulic performance that doubles and triples the performance of competitive designs.
What that translates to is a much smaller operating envelope, allowing for AquaRevival to retrofit into extraordinarily tight locations. AquaRevival’s transformative design translates to significant cost savings on newly built mechanical rooms and enables significant retrofit opportunities where traditional regenerative media filters simply won’t fit. Both new and retrofit opportunities could realistically offset the cost of the filters by designing a smaller mechanical room or obviating the need to demolish walls to get a new (competitor’s larger) filter into the room.
The base design of the AquaRevival filter has one influent connection and one effluent connection, with the effluent nozzles, controller mounting, all field or factory pre-set to your room’s requirements at no additional charge. A newer, (also multiply patented) version of the AquaRevival filter has two or more influent connections and two or more effluent connections, typically two and two. This configuration cuts the pipe velocities in half and allows for the maintenance of one pump while the other keeps running and the filtration system runs at half capacity. Given that the current top end of one single filter may be over 6600 U.S. GPM, half of that is still more than double what the nearest AquaRevival competitor can provide. This also allows for a simpler retrofit installation where a single AquaRevival filter can replace two alternative regenerative media filters, each with their own pump—two pumps, one filter.
A few of the other patents deal with things that improve the lives of operators: Clean In Place (CIP) technology that means you do not need to disassemble the filter to clean it, the only filter NSF/ANSI/CAN50-certified cleanability with automated air scouring; inclusive design with photo-driven maintenance screens; intrinsically safe design features.
Non-patented but important features of the AquaRevival filter are:
- Dual qualification for recreational and drinking water (NSF/ANSI/CAN 50 & 61).
- Automatic suspension of chemical feed, UV, and heaters during regeneration.
- Multiple NSF 50 listing points for Cryptosporidium capture.
- The smallest footprint with the most power and best economics in its class.
- Power-loss recovery with automated controlled shutdown and restart.
- Internet-ready as standard, at no added cost.
The most important thing to consider when purchasing a piece of equipment that is going to run 24/7/365 is:
- Warranty length: 15-year warranty.
- Responsive, knowledgeable staff, reachable by call, text, or email.
AquaRevival operates their aquatics business by the Happy Moms Theory of EngineeringTM. This means if the attraction is available and in great shape when mom gets the opportunity to get the kids out of the house, off their devices, and into the water for some fun memories and exercise, we have succeeded.
As evidence of aquatics leadership and innovation, AquaRevival was selected by world-class leisure destination designer Blue Mar Basins, who said in their own words, “To create pristine swimming environments with the best filtration on the market, Martin Aquatic turned to the Wisconsin-based manufacturer of regenerative media filters, AquaRevival. From there, the companies expanded on AquaRevival’s leading filtration capabilities to develop an entirely new standard of filtration system exclusive to Blue Mar Basins, which is now installed in the largest freshwater lagoons in the Caribbean at Carnival’s private destination, Celebration Key.”
Beyond the largest fresh-water lagoons in the Bahamas, AquaRevival powers the Blue Mar Basins technology around the globe, driving high-performance water at Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Great Tides Waterpark on Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Great Life Lagoon on Great Stirrup Cay, Miramar Cove, Shell Point Beach and Surf Club, The Point Surfpark, among others in design.
Rating: 4.7 of 5.0
How We Developed Ratings for Other Brands’ Regenerative Media Filters
Straight averages were used in the calculation of the rating. One could, at their discretion, add a weighting to some or all of the criteria chosen to dial in their particular interest.
Of note: as mentioned in the narrative, Neptune Benson has two iterations of their filter. One group has a pro-rated 10-year warranty, and the other has a 12-18 month warranty. We calculated that as (4+2) = 6 divided by 2 = 3 rating, which is the average of the two iterations.
