I can't believe how many reviews here have the opinion of how this is gross and moldy and dirty.... CLEAN YOUR DRAINS FIRST. Buy a bottlebrush and scrub them. (you can get a bottlebrush for $1 at dollar tree) They are BLACK and DIRTY. Of course they are dirty, you spit bacteria in them when you brush your teeth, more bacteria when you wash your hands....hard water and mineral build up, conditioners, soaps, toothpastes, shaving creams....…….Don't expect to put this in a dirty drain and expect it to come out pristine with a few hairs on it. It works great but you need a little common sense and a tiny bit of effort. If you have too much iron in your water (city or well water) your shrooms may turn a pink color. This is caused by a bacteria feeding on the iron from the water. If your shrooms turn black, other than all the products you use that go down the drain, there is manganese in the water. EVERYONE has this, city water or well water, a water softener and filters will help with this. Take a cloth and rub the faucet (aerator) You will see the manganese (black). Look at your shower head too..... If our shroom turns an orange color, it is from the rust (most likely if you have well water) I do think that the MAIN reason your drains and the shrooms turn black is mostly from toothpaste, or the calcium in it. If you are brushing your teeth, make sure you rinse the shroom and sink REALLY GOOD or just remove it for tooth brushing. I did have a shroom in my son's sink that he never rinses......typical kid....and it did turn black. I took a 1" pool and spa chlorine tablet and let it soak overnight in a solo cup in an inch of water to remove the black.... DO NOT do this!! although it did remove the black to a much lighter color that is not gross looking .... The fumes were extremely offensive and it discolored/pitted the top of the "chrome" shroom. Remove the chrome shroom top before experimenting with cleaning agents and to avoid the fumes, do it OUTSIDE! an FYI to anyone owning stainless steel kitchen appliances, you should NEVER use chlorine in any room that has stainless steel as it will cause RUST... the fumes will do this, it is not necessary to apply chlorine to the metal itself!!! To the reviews that have stated that is "blocked" their drain...… CLEAN THE HAIR OFF OF IT and STOP SPITTING GOBS OF TOOTHPASTE INTO THE SINK while you have the shroom in!! I do love this product and I have owned it for several years in my tub, shower and sinks. As a side note, did you know that you can spackle a nail hole in a wall with toothpaste??? Yes you can!! Well, if that same toothpaste can dry and keep a hole in the wall closed, what do you really think it can do to your drains??? Please, clean them. UPDATE: I have noticed that all 3 of my bathroom sinks where we brush our teeth have overflow drains. When you look into the drain, there are 4 holes that come from the top of the sink overflow. When the sinkshroom is in the drain, the bottom of it hugs the drain just below these 4 drain holes from the overflow. I have never used the overflow from the sink for its' intended purpose. I didn't even know it was really there until I tried to do a very thorough cleaning of my drains when I suspected I might have drain flies. I then purchased a very pliable drain cleaning brush and meticulously cleaned them from the top overflow down, and then from each drain hole up. This took 2 days and yes, I am anal and I used my waterpick for a few hours with tons of cleaners..... You would be too if you saw the bio slime coming out of these overflow drainholes. This would not surprise me if I had drain flies living off this crap I removed from my drains. Here is what was happening. Any water, toothbrushing spit, mouthwash.......was never backing up into the sink. I had a nice flow always. It was apparently going into the overflow drains from the bottom up instead of through the sinkshroom holes and down into the drain. The funk that was growing in overflow drain was completely gross. Again though, I do believe that the problem was caused by toothpaste spitting which is usually thicker and foamy compared to water. If you have hair on the sinkshrooms, this will back up into the overflow drains too. You have to be mindful with these and I suppose they do need to be cared for more than I have. I honestly love the shrooms, and I am going to replace the sink and counters with one piece units without an overflow drain as I hate my counters anyway. I do not know if I will be using the shrooms anymore once I make this change. I may get a pop up drain and forget it. Who knows. BUT, I just wanted consumers to be aware of what is involved with this item as I recently found this out myself. You have to be mindful with this which does not work with kids. If you don't have an overflow drain in your sink, this is great, but NEVER have it in the drain when you are brushing your teeth. and still clean your drains. I have resorted to toothbrush spitting into dixie cups that get tossed into the garbage. I'm trying to be rid of drain flies now.... and I am NOT saying these caused drain flies. But, they will remain here if there is a food source for them.
