Review on Fluidmaster 8102P8 Flush 'n Sparkle Blue Automatic Toilet Bowl Cleaning System Refills - 2-Pack by Jennifer Roberts

This is going to be a long review. First let me say that I have been using this product for many years. I was actually stocking replacement parts a few years ago when my local hardware store decided to stop selling them. I relied on them a lot because my water is very hard and it helped keep my bowl clean between manual cleanings so I didn't have to spend a lot of time trying to descale the bowl. I really liked them even though they were expensive and never lasted as long out of the cartridge as I had hoped. This year I used up my last supply of cartridges and ordered (same model number). Felt the difference immediately. Previously, when I first installed the cartridge, the water was so blue it was almost opaque. The cleaning effect was also good. When I installed this new one the blue color was faint, almost on par with 4 weeks of use on the old one. The blue dye is cosmetic so I figured the formula had been changed and waited to see how well it would work. After only a month there was very little paint left and he definitely wasn't doing a good job cleaning out (he went back to doing a lot of manual work to clean out the colon). I have contacted the company. They said the product formula hasn't changed and sent me two replacement cartridges and a prepaid box to return an unused cartridge from the box that I had a bad experience with. When I tried to get the new cartridge out of the dispenser (no longer blue and doesn't work for cleaning), I found that the dispenser was filled with a thick, sticky blue residue that didn't dissolve easily. I removed the dispenser and rinsed it out in the kitchen sink (it took a long time). The new cartridge the company sent me was better, but also SIGNIFICANTLY different. The blue tint again wasn't as dark as the old ones I ran out of but it was a lot better than the last one. So it is clear that the wording has been changed despite the company's statements. This new one helped with cleaning, unlike the previous one. Today there is almost no blue color left, so I went to change the cartridge. I took it out and found it wasn't empty and the dispenser was full of blue goo again (but not as bad as the last cartridge). Removing and reinstalling seems to have removed enough sediment to turn the cleaner bright again. I'll try this trick over the next few weeks as the color fades again. It seems quite obvious that the composition of this remedy has changed and the substance is turning into a blue goo (at least in hard water). I'm not sure what I'm going to do because, like I said, I really rely on these things. Maybe I'll try bleach cartridges.