Aqua Live Tech Is Not CRC — Here's the Difference
When QCi Labs introduced Aqua Live Tech in 2019, the cannabis concentrate market was in the early stages of a debate about CRC — color remediation concentrate — a process that strips unwanted compounds from extracts, including color, but often takes terpenes along with it. Sano Gardens wanted to make something clear: Aqua Live Tech is not CRC, and the distinction matters.
What CRC Does
Color remediation concentrate uses media filtration — typically silica gel, bentonite clay, or similar materials — to remove color and certain impurities from cannabis extracts. The result is a lighter, more visually appealing product. The tradeoff is terpene loss. The same filtration that removes unwanted compounds also strips the terpene profiles that define a strain's aroma, flavor, and effect.
What Aqua Live Tech Does Instead
Aqua Live Tech is a closed-loop, water-assisted extraction process designed specifically to preserve terpene integrity while still achieving purity in the final concentrate. Rather than filtering out undesirable compounds after extraction, the process selectively extracts only what it wants — terpenes, cannabinoids, esters, and flavonoids — leaving water, chlorophyll, waxes, fats, and lipids behind from the start.
The terpenes are the product. Any process that compromises terpene preservation is a process that compromises the experience. We refused to compromise.
Why It Matters
Terpenes are responsible for the aromatic distinction between strains — and increasingly, the scientific community recognizes their role in modulating the effect profile of cannabis through the entourage effect. A concentrate without its terpene profile is a concentrate that has lost its identity. Aqua Live Tech was built on the conviction that identity is worth protecting.