Filter cartridges including tubular filter media having ovate cross-sections and filter systems using the ovate tubular filter cartridges are described herein. The inner perimeters of the ovate cross-sections of one or more of the filter cartridges may be asymmetric, i.e., the inner perimeters of the cross-sections of the tubular filter media in the filter cartridges may have no lines about which they are symmetric. The inner perimeters of the ovate cross-sections of the tubular filter media in one or more of the filter cartridges may have only one line of symmetry.