Activated Carbon Filter for Versa Flow

Last year I took my son camping in the Catskills and the water was very discolored from tannins. My pump filter had a carbon filter which helped, but this year I made a switch to a Hydroblu Versa filter to try to same some weight and space. Since that filter is just a micron filter, I figured I would pick this up for my trip to the Adirondacks. Turns out the water where we went was very clear but we used this anyway. The only issue we had was the first bit of water had carbon debris in it. We just dumped that and rinsed out the bottle. Our water tasted great, not sure if it was this add on or not but for the slight weight and size penalty I will continue to take it on future trips.

My primary filter experienced a critical failure, and this carbon filter paired with the Versaflow Hydro Blu filter, exceeded my expectations as a just-in-time backup. Now this pair is my go-to for my primary filter, and a second set packed as a backup, because "one is none, and two is one".

the filter has a micron screen on one side where the water goes in. This one apparently does not have one on the outlet side. All the carbon falls out or gets pushed out by water..... not sure if i just got a dead on arrival item or not.

The carbon is falling out of the outlet end of the filter. Why is that? Is it defective or something? I will change my star count if this is normal.