Bioattack! What do do? Algae party in my box...

[uOpt]

After some exposure to sunlight, the green stuff that came with my Switech kit turned brown and there's obvious biological activity in the reservoir.

What do I do now?

Can I take a Storm block apart and run it through a dishwasher?

Is this common?

[welshtom]

leave it to grow and see if it develops nuclear weapons?

on a serious note, drain the loop. clean everything with vinegar/water solution and refill with an anti algae solution or a few drops of iodine to prevent further attacks.

I wouldnt put the storm in the dishwasher, not the plastic parts anyway.

Tom

[NGPlease]

Take your whole loop apart and clean everything.

Open up the storm and scrub it down with a clean tooth brush and isopropyl alcohol. Clean the radiator with vinegar and distilled water. Clean the tubing or use new ones.

In the next coolant, add some iodine or other anti-bacterial stuff.

[phelan1777]

Gotta Love PETRAS (http://petrastechshop.com/pepcobi1.html)

[Nettwerk]

Yea I had a few bacteria spots growing in a tline and dropped a few drops of pt-nuke and it stopped it from growing. Will definatley use a few drops in every w/c system from now on.

Actually prolly will just use distilled water and pt-nuke by itself.

[IanY]

The answer is to get rid of whatever case windows you have and cover up your tubes. Water and sunlight do not mix.

[serialk11r]

The answer is to get rid of whatever case windows you have and cover up your tubes. Water and sunlight do not mix.
Hey, a lot of people here actually CARE about the looks of their PC!!! Just buy that PT nuke and dump 5 times more than you're supposed to in your loop:D And vinegar might not help... Perhaps alcohol, or even acetone? heheeh

[[XC] gomeler]

I wonder if any of the stuff that grows in waterloops has ever developed resistances towards the chemicals, would be hilarious but tragic if some sort of evil waterborne germ grew in your systems :p:

[Lurid]

Yes but how would said microbe spread? Don't be fools, wrap your tools....

[beanbag]

Hey, a lot of people here actually CARE about the looks of their PC!!! Just buy that PT nuke and dump 5 times more than you're supposed to in your loop:D And vinegar might not help... Perhaps alcohol, or even acetone? heheeh

Acetone? Dear god no!!!!

[Spawne32]

Hey, a lot of people here actually CARE about the looks of their PC!!! Just buy that PT nuke and dump 5 times more than you're supposed to in your loop:D And vinegar might not help... Perhaps alcohol, or even acetone? heheeh
best think to do would be to get a propane blow torch and torch everything down for a good few seconds to make sure you kill the fungus amungus :rofl:

[serialk11r]

hehe but that would not look pretty. I would just pour something really toxic down and be done with it.

[Petra]

Actually prolly will just use distilled water and pt-nuke by itself.
Based on some experiments that I've been working on recently, that may not be such a great idea... unless you also toss in some sort of a pH buffer (like the ones available at fish stores). See, the PT Nuke is mildly acidic (due to the Copper sulfate and Citric acid), which will result in a slight drop in coolant pH when used as suggested. When PT Nuke is added to coolant which already has additives in it, the effect on pH is very small. However, when PT Nuke is added to a liter of pure distilled (which, typically, seems to have a pH of around 6.3... or there's just something screwy about the distilled I've been getting from the grocery store), it has a substantial effect on pH because there's nothing else in the coolant. In this case, you'd be looking at a resulting pH of 4.9 for 1 drop/1L pure distilled and 4.5 for 2 drops/1L pure distilled.

Again, this is stuff that I've only recently acquired the necessary equipment for testing. If you're using the PT Nuke as suggested in a coolant with other additives, then you have nothing to worry about. If you're planning on running pure distilled with PT Nuke, then you'll probably want to add some sort of pH buffer solution.

*edit* I'll be updating the product page once I come up with some better "universal" guidelines for its use.

[uOpt]

Well, I have no side wall mounted on the case at all, and it is standing in front of a Window facing south.

Maybe that has to do with my problems :)

[Nettwerk]

Based on some experiments that I've been working on recently, that may not be such a great idea... unless you also toss in some sort of a pH buffer (like the ones available at fish stores). See, the PT Nuke is mildly acidic (due to the Copper sulfate and Citric acid), which will result in a slight drop in coolant pH when used as suggested. When PT Nuke is added to coolant which already has additives in it, the effect on pH is very small. However, when PT Nuke is added to a liter of pure distilled (which, typically, seems to have a pH of around 6.3... or there's just something screwy about the distilled I've been getting from the grocery store), it has a substantial effect on pH because there's nothing else in the coolant. In this case, you'd be looking at a resulting pH of 4.9 for 1 drop/1L pure distilled and 4.5 for 2 drops/1L pure distilled.

Again, this is stuff that I've only recently acquired the necessary equipment for testing. If you're using the PT Nuke as suggested in a coolant with other additives, then you have nothing to worry about. If you're planning on running pure distilled with PT Nuke, then you'll probably want to add some sort of pH buffer solution.

*edit* I'll be updating the product page once I come up with some better "universal" guidelines for its use.

good tip :)

[sanhacker]

I just use a capful of "Jungle" brand "No More Algae" in my loop with distilled water and it seems to work fine.

It contains .05% Copper Sulphate pentahydrate which is the same active ingredient found in PT_Nuke.

I'm no chemist so I don't claim to understand the long term effects. I just find it cheaper than PT_Nuke and it is readily available at any pet shop.

Here's a link to one of the hundreds of sources online:
No More Algae (http://www.strictlypetsupplies.com/productdetails.php?sku=047002806209)

[SlicerSV]

if you do a search through the pesticide regulation page (http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/nod/99-20.htm) for no more algae you see that it uses about the same amount of the copper stuff as PT-nuke (which is basically copper) and then an anti-photosynthesis chemical called Diuron (http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/diuron.htm)

Since those are the ONLY ingredients, it is STILL going to cause a PH imbalance, so if I were you i'd run a quick ph test on your water...

[Petra]

I just use a capful of "Jungle" brand "No More Algae" in my loop with distilled water and it seems to work fine.

It contains .05% Copper Sulphate pentahydrate which is the same active ingredient found in PT_Nuke.

I'm no chemist so I don't claim to understand the long term effects. I just find it cheaper than PT_Nuke and it is readily available at any pet shop.[/URL]
PT_Nuke contains approx. 4.4% Copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate... which is why you really only need 1 or 2 drops per liter of coolant. Each bottle of PT_Nuke is likely good for a hundred uses or more (I actually haven't calculated this...but could if you really wanted) and, I dunno about you, but I don't think that you're gonna get 50-100 cap-fulls out of a 6oz. bottle.

[sanhacker]

PT_Nuke contains approx. 4.4% Copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate... which is why you really only need 1 or 2 drops per liter of coolant. Each bottle of PT_Nuke is likely good for a hundred uses or more (I actually haven't calculated this...but could if you really wanted) and, I dunno about you, but I don't think that you're gonna get 50-100 cap-fulls out of a 6oz. bottle.


Good point. "No More Algae" calls for a capful per 10 gallons. PT_Nuke calls for 1 drop per liter. I have no idea how many drops per capful nor do I care. I use a capful per loop which is probably less than 1 gallon. I just like the convenience of buying it with the dog food.

Hopefully, there are no fish in my loop to be affected. :)

[Sparky]

Good point. "No More Algae" calls for a capful per 10 gallons. PT_Nuke calls for 1 drop per liter. I have no idea how many drops per capful nor do I care. I use a capful per loop which is probably less than 1 gallon. I just like the convenience of buying it with the dog food.

Hopefully, there are no fish in my loop to be affected. :)
If you have fish in your loop then you have worse problems than uOpt did ;)