diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java
index c3db0ac92a..71ba3099aa 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
 
 import org.apache.cassandra.config.DatabaseDescriptor;
 import org.apache.cassandra.dht.Range;
-import org.apache.cassandra.dht.IPartitioner;
 import org.apache.cassandra.io.*;
 import org.apache.cassandra.net.EndPoint;
 import org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService;
@@ -1437,7 +1436,7 @@ public final class ColumnFamilyStore implements ColumnFamilyStoreMBean
             if (!collated.hasNext())
                 return null;
 
-            filter.collectColumns(returnCF, collated, gcBefore);
+            filter.collectCollatedColumns(returnCF, collated, gcBefore);
 
             return removeDeleted(returnCF, gcBefore); // collect does a first pass but doesn't try to recognize e.g. the entire CF being tombstoned
         }
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/NamesQueryFilter.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/NamesQueryFilter.java
index fd580530ae..00237ba2be 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/NamesQueryFilter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/NamesQueryFilter.java
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@
 package org.apache.cassandra.db.filter;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.SortedSet;
-import java.util.Arrays;
-import java.util.TreeSet;
-import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.*;
 
 import org.apache.cassandra.io.SSTableReader;
 import org.apache.cassandra.utils.ReducingIterator;
@@ -64,10 +61,11 @@ public class NamesQueryFilter extends QueryFilter
         }
     }
 
-    public void collectColumns(ColumnFamily returnCF, ReducingIterator<IColumn> reducedColumns, int gcBefore)
+    public void collectReducedColumns(ColumnFamily returnCF, Iterator<IColumn> reducedColumns, int gcBefore)
     {
-        for (IColumn column : reducedColumns)
+        while (reducedColumns.hasNext())
         {
+            IColumn column = reducedColumns.next();
             if (!column.isMarkedForDelete() || column.getLocalDeletionTime() > gcBefore)
                 returnCF.addColumn(column);
         }
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/QueryFilter.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/QueryFilter.java
index 929ba251a9..984ca8047e 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/QueryFilter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/QueryFilter.java
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ public abstract class QueryFilter
      * by the filter code, which should have some limit on the number of columns
      * to avoid running out of memory on large rows.
      */
-    public abstract void collectColumns(ColumnFamily returnCF, ReducingIterator<IColumn> reducedColumns, int gcBefore);
+    public abstract void collectReducedColumns(ColumnFamily returnCF, Iterator<IColumn> reducedColumns, int gcBefore);
 
     /**
      * subcolumns of a supercolumn are unindexed, so to pick out parts of those we operate in-memory.
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ public abstract class QueryFilter
         };
     }
     
-    public void collectColumns(final ColumnFamily returnCF, Iterator collatedColumns, int gcBefore)
+    public void collectCollatedColumns(final ColumnFamily returnCF, Iterator<IColumn> collatedColumns, int gcBefore)
     {
         // define a 'reduced' iterator that merges columns w/ the same name, which
         // greatly simplifies computing liveColumns in the presence of tombstones.
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ public abstract class QueryFilter
             }
         };
 
-        collectColumns(returnCF, reduced, gcBefore);
+        collectReducedColumns(returnCF, reduced, gcBefore);
     }
 
     public String getColumnFamilyName()
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/SliceQueryFilter.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/SliceQueryFilter.java
index d0920eb385..cd01ed32f4 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/SliceQueryFilter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/filter/SliceQueryFilter.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package org.apache.cassandra.db.filter;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Comparator;
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Iterator;
 
 import org.apache.commons.collections.comparators.ReverseComparator;
 
@@ -66,13 +67,14 @@ public class SliceQueryFilter extends QueryFilter
         return isAscending ? super.getColumnComparator(comparator) : new ReverseComparator(super.getColumnComparator(comparator));
     }
 
-    public void collectColumns(ColumnFamily returnCF, ReducingIterator<IColumn> reducedColumns, int gcBefore)
+    public void collectReducedColumns(ColumnFamily returnCF, Iterator<IColumn> reducedColumns, int gcBefore)
     {
         int liveColumns = 0;
         AbstractType comparator = returnCF.getComparator();
 
-        for (IColumn column : reducedColumns)
+        while (reducedColumns.hasNext())
         {
+            IColumn column = reducedColumns.next();
             if (liveColumns >= count)
                 break;
             if (finish.length > 0