Potable Aqua and PA Plus tablets in PSK

Does anyone know if it is possible to store both the iodine and PA Plus tablets in a single vile? I'm almost finished with putting my PSK together and it is overflowing, so I'm trying to find ways I can cut back and/or or repack some of the items. AT this time, I am using two large viles to store these tablets in. I'm considering taking out the aluminum foil and using tape to attach it under the tin. That much foil takes up quite a bit of room so I thought that this would be a solution to the problem of finding ways to save space, without having to remove any of the other necessities. My PSK is in the larger of the two tobacco tins. Does anyone have any ideas? Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks! <br>Dora

the PA tablets function is to get the iodine taste away, so it isnt very importent in a PSK. If you want to save more space in your PSK you could get those "aquaclear" tablets who are stored in papersheets ( or whatever you call it ) and save a little bit of space. they are hard to get though.

Why do you have two water purification chemicals? Redundancy in equipment is a given, but this isn't one of them. I would just stick with one in a PSK. Use the other one up, or stow with other gear

Dora,<br><br>No, do not co-mingle the PA and PA plus. The PA plus will degrade the PA - that is what it does. The PA plus simply removes residual iodine taste from the water and has little or no effect with regard to killing pathogens. In fact - my opinion - by inactivating the residual iodine, the PA plus may actually be detrimental - think about it. I've never used it; iodine-tasting water is pretty easy for most folks to get accustomed to.<br><br>Someone else mentioned "aquaclear" in paper envelopes. I'm not sure, but I think what he's refering to is trademarked here as "Chlor-Floc", which you can get from Major Surplus and Survival and other places. My opinion on Chlor-Floc is that it is 1) bulky for the amount of water it disinfects compared to iodine and 2) a pain to use in a minimalist situation because it requires two containers and a "filter" (paper or cloth) to use. However, if someone is unable to ingest iodine, it probably is the best packable chemical disinfection method for water and is probably more effective against oocytes than plain iodine. It works by floculating suspended solids - all the bugs and dirt stick together in clumps - and then filtering them out with a coarse filter and treating the residual "clean" water with chlorine, IIRC.<br><br>Get in touch with Barry and get some small vials - you can repackage some PA tablets into MUCH smaller space that way.<br><br>HTH,<br><br>Tom

actually i was refering to the Chlorine tablets "aquaclear" withs you can find them in most B.C.B. kits. but they are also availible in smal box's with 2x50 tablets in "foil wrapped". <br>http://www.bcbin.com/itm00443.htm

The PA Plus tabs are not for water purification, rather they are like vitamin C which will neutralize the iodine of the Portable Aqua tabs, eliminating the iodine taste that many find objectionable. I'd not include them in a PSK, but some folks do find the taste extremely objectionable to the point of not being able to drink the water. <br>

The chlorine-based Aquatabs and the like from outside the U.S. are hard to get because they have not been EPA approved and thus are technically illegal to sell in the U.S. for water pruification purposes, thus nobody, to my knowledge, imports them separately. Regarding their inclusion in the kits, well, better to let some dogs lie. <br>

Hi Tom: Thanks for your helpful info. I had previously decided to include the PA Plus tablets to remove the iodine taste in the water. If I decide to still include them I'll put them in a small Ziplock bag, so they'll be in my PSK. <br>Dora

Hi: I'm always ready for new ideas, so I'll see if I can get the "Aquaclear" tablets. Thanks! <br>Dora

Wow, the things you learn on this forum!<br>I never knew that Auqatabs were not EPA approved. We've been using that stuff in the Army for years to purify water (yeah it tastes like crud, Iodine is the better flavour!!). The first time I heard of iodine based water purification was on this site and was wondering why no chlorine based tabs were being used. Now I know the reason.<br>Time to do more research on the web......

I have corresponded with the Aquatabs folks in Ireland, and they have deemed the expense of obtaining EPA approval too high and no potential U.S. distributor has expressed any interest in doing so. The active ingredient is, as I understand the chemistry, essentially the same as Chlor-Floc, which is EPA approved, and other products with this active ingediant are used for pool water and community water disinfection, but it apparently doesn't matter as far as testing is concerned, or some such thing. (I am not a chemist mode) As far as I can tell, the U.S. is the only country that these tabs are not approved. As for the military, that is the government and they rarely have to obey the rules the rest of us must obey.