Rena XP assembly help!

[Ian14]

I just got a xp4 and this just doesn't look right to me. Theres a rubber stop in one of the holes the intake flow goes into. Is this supposed to be there??

 

[molliwopp]

Nice filter youve got there. To me it looks like its there to stop any foreign objects getting into it while in transport and would be expected to take it out before using it.