K1 Filtration for rays plug!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Well obviously there's a reason for some breaking down while others' does not......

I've been running mine for like 7 years and like I said I can net some out and it doesn't break, it only smushes flat, it is NOT brittle enough to break and I'm pretty sure I'm in the top 3% for hard water on this board. After 5 years mine actually fills with mineral deposits and no longer boils.....
 
Unless you guys have water that is so soft its actually absorbing something from the media? Not sure if this is even feasable but I've heard soft water is so inert of anything that it can absorb stuff from the containers its in??? Sounds wierd to me, but have heard this before.

This isn't the first time I've heard of the stuff breaking down though so I really think there's a logical explination out there......
 
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I have pretty hard water. I have been googling and there are a few posts of people's media breaking down like mine but equally nothing K1 definitively related.

I spoke to someone today who blocked his drain but that was loose new media that just got through and blocked, easily cleared and fairly easily planned for, he gated off his sump
 
I just bought this stuff from a pond store to replace the Japanese media I had before. Just based on the post I did not want to have to clean it and could see it eventually being clogged. This stuff is rigid plastic (instead of fabric) and definately does not have to be cleaned. Big enough to let water pass through but does not let the k1 through. They called it Malata (type).

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I mentioned my K1 issue to Stuart at Maidenhead aquatics, he runs Farnham, Guildford, Ashford and one other. He sent me this pic of his genuine K1 that was fitted to his Guildford system about 10 yrs ago, this happened in June this yr.IMG_1353.JPG
 
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Wow thank you for sharing. I have never witnessed anything like that in my time using moving bed filters. K1 or knockoff brand. I've never even seen a single piece of k1 degrade let alone a mass of them that large.

I cannot explain it. I can say I've never seen anything like it in any system I have visited in the past decade. I'm beginning to think there are chemicals in the European water supply that aren't present in the USA that are breaking the plastics down. There also seems to be a pattern with this happening to the UK keepers, anyone in USA experience anything like this?
 
I guess here in UK maybe they use a slightly different material or methos to make it. As over here EvolutionAqua have the patent and make it.

But also,maybe it does have a lifespan, it's only plastic after all. If it was ceramics they get clogged up over time so guess all media has it's lifespan!
 
Mine is nearly 10 years old counting the previous owner. It's easy enough swap it out fresh and check again in another decade :) I greatly dislike having things like this to worry about. J Just Toby thank you for all of the information you have shared. I have learned a great deal here.

Many thoughts going through my mind now. Some more plausible than others. It could be possible that the UK/EU has a different plastic formula than USA. Also possible UK has chemicals in the water that degrade the plastics faster. Also possible USA has chemicals in the water that preserve the plastics better. USA users could and should in theory start noticing this in our systems soon, assuming all causative factors are equal here. I feel strongly like there is something that is a factor here, maybe still overlooked. I know UK and EU has some strict industrial manufacturing guidelines, I am starting to wonder if the plastic composition is different in the product sold over there. By now we should be experiencing the same thing. Someone in the USA should be having this happen. It could be I just haven't seen it yet.

Many thoughts and questions, let's see if we can find answers. I really want to prevent what I've read about in this thread and see in these pictures. I'm hesitant to abandon the media entirely, but maybe I'll come up with a preventative replacement schedule.
 
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