I use Micropur tablets to treat my drinking water. My 1 qt. Gatorade bottles and my 1 liter hard plastic bottles are a no brainer.

My question is how do you use Micropur tablets and 1.5 liter Nalgene water bottles together?

What would the effects be if you were to use 2 tablets in a 1.5 liter bottle?

Party On ! 2010

Newton

Reduced treatment time.

Edited by greg23 on 05/15/2010 17:54:40 MDT.

Yes, Greg is right, you can reduce treatment time somewhat -- but them tablets are expensive! A better way IMO is simply to break the tablet in half -- 1.5 tablets for 1.5 liters. Conversely, one can also use just half a tablet for treating 16oz or half a quart/liter of water.

+1 What Ben said

1 tablet for 1Litre of water.

1 1/2 tabs for 1.5L of water.

It really is that simple.

My advice is don't use 1.5 liter bottles. To me, micropur tablets tend to crumble too much to try cutting in half. You'd have to be prepared to deal with separating a crumbled tablet.

double post, website not completing posts very well.

Edited by jshann on 05/16/2010 02:40:22 MDT.

I appreciate all the input but I have one other point that I am wondering about.

Accepting these conditions;

Using 1.5 liter bottles and two whole Micropur tablets per bottle.

With the resultant + 25% increase in the amount of Micropur would there be any negatives like gastric distress etc.

I'm already balding & gray so is there any chance I'll become a platinum blond or grow a third ear? ;-)

Is there a doctor in the house? :-)

Party On ! 2010

Newton

John S. -- Yes, back when I was using Micropur tablets, they do sometimes crumble into powder. But really, when you open up a bubble wrap, how hard is it to pour half of the powder instead of all the powder?

John D. -- Why would you want to put in more than instructed in the first place?

Edited by ben2world on 05/16/2010 11:52:08 MDT.

Does any of you doots believe that using 1 tablet on 1.5 liters of water would be ok? I've been in this situation and just used 1 tablet and called it good. No ill effects. You guys think I was lucky, or is this a reasonable practice?

PS- I don't really know 'how' the stuff works, so I'm under the impression that they are a little more potent than need be, so I should be able to treat more than 1l.

Jeff:

Not an expert here, but I feel pretty confident that you can indeed treat 1.5L of water with just one Micropur tablet -- by increasing treatment time accordingly. OTOH, if the water is very cold, do people really want to extend treatment time from 4 to 6 hours -- overnight treatment excepted??

Just the other day, there was a poster here who wrote that he never treats his water -- and nothing ever happens! That's the thing about water treatment -- we can't see the baddies and unless we do lab tests, we really don't know...

Well the 4-6 hour times is when the water is near freezing. At these temps chemical reactions are slower and it takes longer for the chemicals to get through the cyst that protects the protozoa. (protozoa, right?)

And your body has the baddies anyway, its just having too many of them to where they overwhelm your immune system. That guy is probably drinking semi funky water a lot, so he has a stronger immunity than some city slicker.

Ben,

I'm thinking of using the 1.5 liter bottles that I already own for the extra capacity over and above my 2 Gatorade bottles.

I'm not really a fan of hydration systems and drinking tubes.

Cutting the tablets in half while on the trail is just a clumsy operation IMHO. Packing a pill cutter is simply out of the question. Also since I'm already working with water and my hands will likely be damp, I don't want to get any of the Micropur on any of my gear due to its corrosiveness.

I am just curious, if I were to do this are there any adverse health effects from adding the resultant +25% more Micropur to the 1.5 liters of H2O.

Party On ! 2010

Newton

Pill cutter? No need at all.

Maybe give it a try (if you haven't already)... my hands are always wet after scooping up water. But even with damp fingers, I've never had trouble tearing open a bubble wrap and breaking a tablet into halves. As stated, if the tablet has crumbled, then I simply pour half the powder into my water container. I do this all the time when all I needed was half a liter of water.

As for the 33% over and beyond the instructed dosage (it isn't 25%) -- it's just wasting money, but no ill effects health wise.

Edited by ben2world on 05/16/2010 13:50:13 MDT.

Benjamin,

Point taken about the percentage. :-)

>>it's just wasting money<<

My questions were never about the cost. I was simply interested in the effect on the water and the hiker.

I have not as of yet used the 1.5 liter bottles on a hike. Still I do believe I'd rather "over treat" my water if I choose to than "be treated" later at a much higher cost.

BTW I am considering using your method of filtering and treatment described in one of your other posts. :-)

Party On ! 2010

Newton

Newton:

Yeah, I like pairing a Frontier Pro with household bleach. Maybe it will work for you -- and then you won't have to fumble with Micropur / Aquamira tablets or droplets.

Anyway, have fun experimenting. :)