TT's for around $500.00

[dick benbow]

I'd heard of the stuff but had never seen it. So does it slowly "melt away" as the water absorbs the buffer and have you had to replace it?

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by dick benbow I'd heard of the stuff but had never seen it. So does it slowly "melt away" as the water absorbs the buffer and have you had to replace it?

Yes, I have had to replace it. It lasts 5 to 7 years.

[JasPR]

Melt? Maybe some, but bacterial action on it's substrate is a universal trait in the microbial world. Rust, decay, etc is a process of oxidation and reduction. The same happens in ponds with biofilm attachment. We tend to think of bacteria as sitting and 'snatching out of passing water' ammonia as food. But that isn't the big picture. In usable and accessible substrates, the bacteria is also working on IT. That is after all how an ulcer erupts after several days of bacterial activity living on the demis layer of a koi's skin.

The action on buffering material is resistant to dissolving at neutral and alkaline pH. It happens due to the mechanical/eroding efforts of passing water and active biofilm that loves the calcium within. The nitrifiers in a lush diversified biofilm, will be aided by other species in this breaking down of tissue.
You could see this as the 'mixed infection' in an ulcer where aeromonas is the prime infector but in hours and days following, new species ( such as pseudomonas and flexibacter) are incorporated into the wound to further infect the area.
JR