Ci-Gel turning black?

[groucho]

When I bought my last humi I got a few jars of Ci-Gel with it. I use them in the winter to supplement the viper beads I use year round. Since I hadn't refilled the jars in a while the Ci-Gel had shriveled up into little reddish/brownish blobs.

I was checking the jars today and I noticed that the gel had expanded as it should. However, several of the gel blobs have black tips to them.

Is this possibly mold? Or did letting them dry out for several month damage the chemical compound and that shows up as black on the gel?

 

[NullSmurf]

sure as hell can't be good. I would toss it without delay.

 

[smoke76]

Are you using tap water to fill the jars instead of distilled water? I used tap water in mine at first and it turned it brownish red but never black. The brown color comes from the Iron in the tap water usually.

 

[groucho]

Are you using tap water to fill the jars instead of distilled water? I used tap water in mine at first and it turned it brownish red but never black. The brown color comes from the Iron in the tap water usually.

No, I've been using distilled water. I may pull the black pieces out and keep the gel hydrated (out of the humi) to see what happens.

 

[jstrat]

I would toss the gel and add more beads. More beads means less maintenance, even in the winter.