brita is a waste of money. if you want a filter buy a real one. look at the hydrologic filters. sure its a bit more but they arent that much and last way way longer so in the end its cheeper. and if doing the kdf upgrade you double the life of the filters cleaning capabilities. think my whole set up was under 200 bucks and lasts me for months and months. i change once a year. all works on gallons for filter life. look at small boy or big boys for those. i also have a chart that shows what diff machines remove what amounts from our waters and what the diff carbons do for us if anyone would like to see